The Moose River is a mountain waterway in

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

which consists of three branches: the North Branch, the

Middle Branch Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

and the South Branch. The outlet of

Big Moose Lake Big Moose Lake, at the head of the Moose River, is a large lake about north of Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. The lake is within both Herkimer and Hamilton counties, and covers portions of the towns of Webb and Long La ...

forms the North Branch in northern

Herkimer County Herkimer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,139. Its county seat is Herkimer. The county was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. It is named af ...

. The Middle Branch originates at the

Fulton Chain Lakes The Fulton Chain of Lakes is a string of eight lakes located in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, United States. The chain is the dammed-up Moose River, and the dam which creates the chain holds back nearly of water. The lakes are locate ...

in Old Forge. And the Southern Branch has its headwaters in Little Moose Lake in Hamilton County. The North and Middle branches merge in old Forge, New York, then flow a few miles before merging with the South branch, and then becomes just Moose River. It flows generally westwardly through

into Lewis County, reaching its confluence with the Black River in Lyons Falls.

Geography

Owing to its high

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...

as it drops out of the mountains, The Moose is a favorite destination for

whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

rafters, kayakers and canoeists. There are three whitewater sections below McKeever with increasing degrees of difficulty. The Middle Moose is a Class II-III section of river from the gaging station in McKeever to Rock Island. The Lower is a Class III-V section from Rock Island to just above Fowlerville Falls, which is run commercially in early spring and includes drops such as Tannery, Froth Hole, Mixmaster and Miller's Falls. The Bottom Moose is a Class V+ section from Fowlerville on. In the Spring and Fall of each year, hundreds of whitewater paddlers descend on the Moose from all parts of the US and eastern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The Bottom Moose (see below), in particular, is a favorite run for paddlers who enjoy Class-V whitewater. This run has several waterfalls, ranging from straightforward and easy to difficult and dangerous. Also because of its high gradient, there are several

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 ...

projects along the Moose's course.

References

External links

American Whitewater River Inventory: Middle MooseAmerican Whitewater River Inventory: Lower MooseAmerican Whitewater River Inventory: Bottom Moose
{{authority control Rivers of New York (state) Rivers of Hamilton County, New York Rivers of Herkimer County, New York Rivers of Lewis County, New York Rivers of Oneida County, New York

Geography

See also

References

External links