The Beaver Kill, sometimes written as the Beaverkill or Beaverkill River, is a
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
of the
East Branch Delaware River
The East Branch Delaware River is one of two branches that form the Delaware River. It is approximately 75 mi (121 km) long, and flows through the U.S. state of New York. It winds through a mountainous area on the southwestern edge of Ca ...
, a main tributary of the
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...
, approximately long, in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. The
kill
Kill often refers to:
*Homicide, one human killing another
*cause death, to kill a living organism, to cause its death
Kill may also refer to:
Media
*''Kill!'', a 1968 film directed by Kihachi Okamoto
* ''Kill'' (Cannibal Corpse album), 2006
* ...
drains a
[Baldigo, Barry; ; ]United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
; 1999, p. 7. area of the
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...
and has long been celebrated as one of the most famous
trout
Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...
streams in the United States. Its preservation helped establish many of the basic conservation principles of rivers in the United States.
The river has been popular as a trout stream since the early 19th century, when it became one of the first resort destinations in the United States. The subsequent depletion of the
brook trout
The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...
population by the 1850s led to an early conservation movement to preserve the river, including the introduction of hatcheries for
brown trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...
. Its popularity as a trout stream arises in part from the many cold springs and deep pools in the upper river that keep the water at an even cold temperature. The
fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...
industry is centered on
Roscoe, home to several fly-shops and bed and breakfasts catering to fishermen from around the world. More local fly fishing history and information can be found at the
Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum
The Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum is a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to: preserving America's fly fishing heritage; teaching its future generations of fly fishers; and protecting its fly fishing environment. The museum is ...
located in
Livingston Manor
Livingston Manor was a tract of land in the Province of New York granted to Robert Livingston the Elder during the reign of George I of Great Britain.
History
Livingston Manor was a tract of land in the colonial Province of New York granted ...
.
Course
The Beaver Kill rises in western
Ulster County
Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster.
History
...
, beginning at an elevation of just south of the
col between
Graham
Graham and Graeme may refer to:
People
* Graham (given name), an English-language given name
* Graham (surname), an English-language surname
* Graeme (surname), an English-language surname
* Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer
* Clan G ...
and
Doubletop mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...
s, two of the
Catskill High Peaks
The Catskill High Peaks are all of the mountains in New York's Catskill Mountains above in elevation whose summits are separated either by ''or'' a vertical drop of at least between it and the next nearest separate summit. By usual standards, ...
in the
Town of Hardenburgh. It descends gently from here, first on private land belonging to the descendants of
Jay Gould
Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...
, then into the
Big Indian-Beaverkill Range Wilderness Area
Big or BIG may refer to:
* Big, of great size or degree
Film and television
* ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks
* '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show
* ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...
, part of the
Forest Preserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
in the
Catskill Park
The Catskill Park is in the Catskill Mountains in New York in the United States. It consists of of land inside a Blue Line in four counties: Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, and Ulster. As of 2005, or 41 percent of the land within, is owned by ...
. Shortly after entering state land, it receives its first
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
, an unnamed stream that flows down steeply from the southeast slopes of Doubletop.
At its first crossing, the
Neversink-Hardenburgh Trail, the stream turns west and enters a different state-owned parcel, the
Balsam Lake Mountain Wild Forest, paralleling the trail for two miles (3 km) to the Quaker Clearing
trailhead
A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...
at the end of Beaverkill Road. Here it turns southwest again and parallels the road through the minimally developed valley, widening slightly as it does, and receiving from the north tributaries such as
Alder Creek. It gradually moves to a more westerly direction until just short of the
Delaware County line it turns southwest again and parallels it just past the small hamlet of
Lew Beach where it enters
Sullivan County.
Here it keeps the same course. The
covered
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of co ...
Beaverkill Bridge
Beaverkill Bridge, also known as Conklin Bridge, is a wooden covered bridge over the Beaver Kill north of the hamlet of Roscoe in the Town of Rockland, New York, United States, that carries Conklin Road through Beaverkill State Campground. It wa ...
crosses it at the
Beaverkill State Campground Beaverkill may refer to:
In New York:
*Beaverkill Bridge, a covered bridge in Sullivan County
* Beaverkill Creek, a former tributary of Esopus Creek
*Beaver Kill
The Beaver Kill, sometimes written as the Beaverkill or Beaverkill River, is a tribu ...
, a popular fishing spot. After briefly bending into Delaware County it reaches the only significant settlement along its length, the
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
of
Roscoe, where its largest
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
,
Willowemoc Creek
Willowemoc Creek is a tributary of Beaver Kill. It is a popular trout fishing stream near the Catskill Park in Sullivan County, New York.Francis, Austin M. , ''Catskill Rivers: Birthplace of American Fly Fishing,'' Nick Lyons Press (1983) Ch. 9.
...
, joins it from the east at the Junction Pool, the Beaver Kill's best-known fishing hole. The
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
also marks the point where the Beaver Kill becomes part of the
Blue Line, the boundary of the Catskill Park.
It also starts to parallel another road, the
NY 17
New York State Route 17 (NY 17) is a major state highway that extends for through the Southern Tier and Downstate regions of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in Mina and follows the Southern T ...
expressway slowly being converted into
Interstate 86. Widening and turning westward again, it soon enters Delaware County and the
Town of Colchester for good, passing the small hamlet of
Cooks Falls shortly afterwards. The river and the highway remain close, intersecting several times. At the
Hancock Hancock may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Hancock, Iowa
* Hancock, Maine
* Hancock, Maryland
* Hancock, Massachusetts
* Hancock, Michigan
* Hancock, Minnesota
* Hancock, Missouri
* Hancock, New Hampshire
** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshire
* ...
town line, the Blue Line leaves the river.
For its last few miles, it bends northward slightly, staying alongside Route 17. At the hamlet of
East Branch, it drains into the
East Branch, approximately northeast of where it joins the
West Branch West Branch may refer to:
Communities
* West Branch, Iowa, city in Cedar and Johnson counties
* West Branch, Michigan, city in Ogemaw County
* West Branch, New Brunswick, in the Local Service District of Weldford Parish
* West Branch River John, i ...
to form the
Delaware's main stem.
Tributaries
Right
Gulf of Mexico Brook
A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...
Black Brook
Beecher Brook Beecher may refer to:__NOTOC__
People
*Beecher (surname)
Places United States
*Beecher, Illinois
*Beecher, Michigan, a census-designated place and unincorporated community near Flint
*Beecher, Wisconsin, a town
*Beecher (community), Wisconsin, an ...
Scudder Brook Scudder, a surname, may refer to:
People
* Bernard Scudder, translator from Icelandic to English
* Edward W. Scudder (1822-1893), Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court
* Horace Scudder, American editor
* Henry Scudder (clergyman) (d. 1659?), Eng ...
Alder Creek
Upper Beech Hill Brook
Upper Beech Hill Brook is a river in Delaware County, New York. It flows into Beaver Kill
The Beaver Kill, sometimes written as the Beaverkill or Beaverkill River, is a tributary of the East Branch Delaware River, a main tributary of the Delawar ...
Mary Smith Brook
Mary Smith Brook is a river in Delaware County, New York. It flows into Beaver Kill
The Beaver Kill, sometimes written as the Beaverkill or Beaverkill River, is a tributary of the East Branch Delaware River, a main tributary of the Delaware Rive ...
Berry Brook
The Berry Brook is a stream
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or ...
Spring Brook
Horse Brook
Roaring Brook
Russell Brook
Russell Brook flows into Beaver Kill by Butternut Grove, New York
Butternut Grove is a hamlet in Delaware County, New York, United States. It is located east-southeast of East Branch on the north shore of Beaver Kill
The Beaver Kill, someti ...
Crystal Brook
Horton Brook
Spooner Brook
Twadell Brook
Left
Shin Creek
Shin Creek flows into Beaver Kill by Lew Beach, New York
Lew Beach is a hamlet in the town of Rockland, New York, United States. It is at the northernmost corner of the town and thus also of Sullivan County, near the tripoint with Delaware and ...
Voorhees Brook
Voorhees may refer to:
Places
* Voorhees Township, Kansas, located in Stevens County, Kansas
* Voorhees Township, New Jersey
* Voorhees (CDP), New Jersey, located in Somerset County
* Voorhees Mall, a section of Rutgers University's College Avenu ...
Jersey Brook
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
Willowemoc Creek
Willowemoc Creek is a tributary of Beaver Kill. It is a popular trout fishing stream near the Catskill Park in Sullivan County, New York.Francis, Austin M. , ''Catskill Rivers: Birthplace of American Fly Fishing,'' Nick Lyons Press (1983) Ch. 9.
...
Abe Wood Brook
Abe or ABE may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Shinzo Abe (1954–2022), former Prime Minister of Japan
* Abe (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname
* Abe (surname), a list of people and ...
Cook Brook
Cook Brook flows into Beaver Kill by Cooks Falls, New York
Cooks Falls is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet in Delaware County, New York, United States. It is located east-southeast of East Branch, New York, East Branch on the north shore of Beaver K ...
Whirling Eddy Brook
Roaring Brook
Trout Brook Trout Brook may refer to:
*Massachusetts
**Trout Brook (Massachusetts), a stream in Holden, Massachusetts
*Minnesota
**Trout Brook (Ramsey County, Minnesota), a stream in Ramsey County, Minnesota
** Miesville Ravine Park Reserve#Trout Brook, a strea ...
History
The combination of its remoteness and contentious disputes over land titles in the Catskills stemming from the
Hardenburgh Patent
Major Johannes Hardenbergh (1670–1745), also known as Sir Johannes Hardenbergh, was the owner of the Hardenbergh patent of land in the Catskill Mountains.
Biography
He was born in Albany, New York, in 1670. He was Sheriff of Ulster County, New ...
kept the Beaver Kill area unsettled and undeveloped well into the 19th century. Only loggers and
trappers
Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management.
History
Neolithic ...
visited the area, on a road built in 1815. They told others of the river's clear waters and ample supply of trout, which
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...
wrote of in 1819, noting that its isolation kept it out of easy reach of city dwellers attracted to the new sport of
angling
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...
.
Later in the century the valley's first significant industry adversely affected the water quality the trout depended on.
Tanneries
Tanning may refer to:
*Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather
*Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin
**Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun
**Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...
opened up, harvesting
tannin
Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.
The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'', ...
from the bark of the extensive
Eastern Hemlock
''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...
stands on the mountain slopes. There were eventually eight in the valley, their effluents clouding the river and making it less attractive to trout.
Charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
makers also released acids into the river, further affecting its quality. The industries were prosperous enough to sustain the settlements of Beaverkill, where
the oldest extant bridge over the river was constructed in 1865, and Shin Creek (today
Lew Beach).
Those industries faded away due to changes in technology and depletion of forest resources in the 1880s. That same decade, New York created the
Forest Preserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
, by which state landholdings in the
Adirondacks
The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...
and Catskills were to be kept forever wild. This shift to
conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...
helped the region sustain a new tourism economy, as rail connections, and later the automobile, brought
dry-fly fishermen to the valley. Many of the new sport's early publicizers, like
Theodore Gordon
Theodore Gordon (September 18, 1854 – May 1, 1915) was an American writer who fished the Catskill region of New York State in the late 19th century through the early 20th century. Though he never published a book, Gordon is often called the ...
, wrote about the trout of the Beaver Kill, particularly the Junction Pool, rich in fish because the trout could not decide which river to swim up, and the waters from there down to the East Branch.
The new attention caused different problems.
Overfishing
Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...
led conservationists and private clubs to buy large sections of the river's banks all the way up to almost its headwaters. The state built Beaverkill campground in the 1920s, one of its first in the Catskill Park, to concentrate angler impact in one area.
In the years after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the river faced the prospect of being dammed by
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
for its
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...
, along with the Willowemoc. The fly-fishing community opposed this strongly, and eventually when test
borings showed that the bedrock in those valleys could not support the necessary dams, the city relented. It chose to acquire land along both branches of the Delaware and build
Cannonsville and
Pepacton reservoirs instead.
Anglers later protested the construction of the Quickway, the expressway section of Route 17, along the river. Their efforts resulted in some slight rerouting, and a section near Cooks Falls where the two roadways were stacked on each other in a narrow passage between state Forest Preserve land and the river. It does not appear to have had, by itself, the adverse impact on
runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
and stream flows that was originally feared, although both have increased since the highway's construction.
See also
*
List of New York rivers
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
* ''The Beaverkill: The History of A River and Its People'' (), by Ed Van Put
External links
"The Beaverkill" by Ed Van Put with history, fishing information, imagery, and moreBeaverkill Rod CompanyRecent Beaverkill River TopicsTrends in Base Flows and Extreme Flows in the Beaver Kill Basin, Catskill Mountains, New York, 1915-94United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
*
Beaverkill River fly fishing photography
Recent Beaverkill Pictures/photographs
{{authority control
Rivers of New York (state)
Rivers of Ulster County, New York
Tributaries of the East Branch Delaware River
Interstate 86 (Pennsylvania–New York)
Rivers of Delaware County, New York
Tourist attractions in Delaware County, New York
Rivers of Sullivan County, New York
Tourist attractions in Sullivan County, New York