The Jona is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, t ...

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

and

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

Geography

Murerplan - Oberes Zürichseegebiet IMG 2383

The Jona rises on the eastern slope of Bachtel hill near

Gibswil Fischenthal is a village and a municipality in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Besides the village of Fischenthal, it includes the villages of Gibswil and Steg, as well as nearly 100 smaller settlements. History ...

and

Fischenthal Fischenthal is a village and a municipality in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Besides the village of Fischenthal, it includes the villages of Gibswil and Steg, as well as nearly 100 smaller settlements. History ...

in the

Zürcher Oberland The Zürcher Oberland ("Zurich highlands") in Switzerland, is the hilly south-eastern part of the canton of Zurich, bordering on the Toggenburg, including the districts of Uster, Hinwil, Pfäffikon as well as the Töss Valley as far as the dist ...

. Passing an impressive waterfall, the river flows near the municipality of

Wald WALD (1080 kHz) is an AM radio station licensed to Johnsonville, South Carolina. The station is part of the Worship and Word Network and is owned by Glory Communications, Inc., based in St. Stephen, South Carolina. It carries an Urban Gosp ...

through a little valley eastward and changes its direction to the south by a ravine, which a viaduct of the '' Tösstalbahn'' ( S26) is crossing. The Jona turns to the west, dividing the municipalities

Dürnten Dürnten is a municipality in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History Dürnten is first mentioned between 743 and 747 as ''Tunriude''. Geography Dürnten has an area of . Of this area, 60.4% is used for agricu ...

and Rüti, passing the village of Tann and Rüti in the so-called ''Tannertobel''. Once again, it changes its direction, flowing to the south (and slightly

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...

ing) through Rüti and the so-called ''Joner Wald'' (forest of

Rapperswil-Jona Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, the municipality includes Bollingen, B ...

), followed by the S-Bahn Zürich lines S5 and S15. The river underneaths here ''Oberland Autobahn'' ( A53 highway), now reaching the

canton of St. Gallen The canton of St. Gallen, also canton of St Gall (german: link=no, Kanton St. Gallen ; rm, Chantun Son Gagl; french: Canton de Saint-Gall; it, Canton San Gallo), is a canton of Switzerland. The capital is St. Gallen. Located in northeastern ...

and

, flowing nearly in straight direction through the village of

Jona (SG) Jona is a former municipality and since January 2007 part of the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Before the merger with Rapperswil, the former munici ...

. Finally, it forms a small

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition (geology), deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, res ...

near

Busskirch Busskirch is a village (''Kirchdorf'') within the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Geography The village is located along the northern shore of the ''Obersee'' lakeshore between Jona and Bollingen. ...

and flows at ''Stampf'' lido in the ''Obersee'', the upper section of the

Zürichsee __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich (Swiss German/Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used to ...

History and some facts

The river's name was first mentioned in 834 AD, the former municipality ''

Jona Jona may refer to: * Jona, Switzerland, a village of the municipality Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland * Jona (river), in the cantons of Zürich and St. Gallen in Switzerland * Jona (album), ''Jona'' (album), an album by Jona Viray People with the giv ...

'' was named much later. It is assumed that the name originates as either

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

''Jauna'' (the cold one) – the Jona is still largely determined by forest area – or, as

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

''yamam'', meaning ''

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 certain characteristics, a stream ...

''. Latest interpretations say that the Indo-European word ''jeu'' roughly means ''to move'', followed by the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

name ''Jouna ''.Website detten.ch Its

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...

was used for a larger number of medieval

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

s along the small river. As a renewable source, in the 19th century, the river was important for

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

of the textile industry of the communities of Wald, Rüti, and Rapperswil-Jona. The Jona measures in all, rising at (m.ü.M, i.e. above sea level) and flowing in ''Obersee'' at asl. The river belongs to the

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The confluenc ...

→ Aar→

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

system. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

measures

Gallery

Jona - Tannertobel IMG 2016.JPG, ''Tannertobel'' between Tann and Rüti Tann - Rüti Joweid IMG 2032 ShiftN.jpg, ''Joweid'' (= Jona river meadow) in Rüti (ZH),

Bachtel Bachtel is a mountain of the Zurich Oberland, located between Hinwil and Wald in the canton of Zurich. It lies approximately halfway between the Schnebelhorn (the highest point of the canton) and Lake Zurich. On the summit is the Bachtel Tower, ...

mountain in the background Jona - Holzwies IMG 2396.JPG, The Jona at ''Holzwies'' in

Jona (SG) - Jona IMG 1803.JPG, The river within the village of Jona Jona - Jona (SG) Stampf IMG 1886.JPG,

River delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition (geology), deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, res ...

called ''Stampf'', ''Obersee'' in the background

References

External links

Dorfverein Wagen
{{Lake Zurich Rivers of the canton of St. Gallen Rapperswil-Jona Rivers of the canton of Zürich Tributaries of Lake Zurich Rüti, Zürich Rivers of Switzerland