The Tioughnioga River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed August 8, 2011

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

Chenango River The Chenango River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in central New York in the United States. It drains a dissec ...

in central

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 * '' ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It drains a

dissected plateau A dissected plateau is a plateau area that has been severely eroded such that the relief is sharp. Such an area may be referred to as mountainous, but dissected plateaus are distinguishable from orogenic mountain belts by the lack of folding, me ...

area east of the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

at the northernmost edge of the watershed of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

. The name comes from a native word for "forks of the river" or "meeting of waters". The river was also called "Tiohujodha" by the

Moravian Indians The Christian Munsee are a group of Lenape (also known as ''Delaware''), an Indigenous people in the United States, that primarily speak Munsee and have converted to Christianity, following the teachings of Moravian missionaries. The Christian M ...

. At one time it was called the Onondaga, as leading to that town, and Teyoghagoga was another early form.Aboriginal place names of New York, By William Martin Beauchamp, page 51
/ref> It rises in two branches in upstate New York southeast of the city of

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

, with the East Branch sometimes regarded as the main branch. The West Branch, long, issues from

Tully Lake Tully Lake, of Royalston, Massachusetts, is a reservoir and flood control project constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in 1949 for 1.6 million dollars. The project prevents flooding of the greater Connecticut River and ...

, approximately south of Tully on the

Onondaga Onondaga may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League * Onondaga (village), Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capita ...

- Cortland county line, and flows south. The Tully Valley is a preglacial valley of a northward flowing river that flowed into the

Ontarian River {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 The Ontarian River is the term used for the pre-glacial river that began the creation of the valley in Silurian age shales and limestones now occupied by Lake Ontario. The valley was greatly deepened by glacial a ...

(preglacial

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

). Near Tully, during the glacial retreat, the valley was dammed by ice to form a lake. For a period of time the retreating of the front by melting matched the forward movement of the glacier, so that the captured

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

and

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

was deposited into the lake. This huge quantity of material approximately half filled the valley, and reversed the flow direction to the southward. It left enormous quantities of gravel from Tully to Cortland, some of which was used as building material for

Interstate 81 Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island ...

. The gravel also forms a major aquifer for the area. Tully Lake is a glacial

kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...

, being formed by a large chunk of ice that was buried in the glacial debris. As the ice melted the land collapsed, causing a lake to form. The East (main) Branch, long, rises in northeastern

Cortland County Cortland County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Cortland County was 46,809. The county seat is Cortland, New York, C ...

at the confluence of Tioughnioga Creek and the West Branch Tioughnioga Creek. The East Branch flows southwest, receiving the West Branch at Cortland. The Tioughnioga River then flows south-southeast, receiving the

Otselic River The Otselic River (aht-SEEL-ik), formerly known as Otselic Creek, is a tributary of the Tioughnioga River in central New York in the United States. It drains a hilly area, mostly forested and agricultural, east of the Finger Lakes at the northe ...

from the northeast at Whitney Point. It joins the Chenango from the northwest at Chenango Forks, approximately northeast of

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

Tributaries

* Halfway Brook * Whitney Point Lake * Jennings Creek * Trout Brook * West Branch Tioughnioga River ** Factory Brook * East Branch Tioughnioga River ** Cheningo Creek ** Fabius Brook ** Carpenter Creek ** West Branch Tioughnioga Creek ** Tioughnioga Creek *** Middle Branch Tioughnioga Creek *** East Branch Tioughnioga Creek

References

External links

{{authority control Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of New York (state) Rivers of Broome County, New York Rivers of Chenango County, New York Rivers of Cortland County, New York Rivers of Madison County, New York Rivers of Onondaga County, New York

Tributaries

See also

References

External links