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Saranac River ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is an 
The river is also part of the 740-mile
Image:Franklin Falls New York.jpg, Franklin Falls in the Spring
Image:Middle Saranac Lake - Stony Creek Mtn.jpg, A small island in Middle Saranac Lake, Stony Creek Mountain behind
Image:Saranac Lake - Saranac River bridge.jpg, The river passes through Saranac Lake
Saranac River ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is an 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 ...
in the U.S. state 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
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* '' ...
. In its upper reaches is a region of mostly flat water and lakes. The river has more than three dozen source lakes and ponds north of Upper Saranac Lake; the highest is Mountain Pond on Long Pond Mountain. In the last third of its length it drops two-thirds of its total drop, and is known for having navigable rapids, which make it a popular site 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 ...
kayak
A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word '' qajaq'' ().
The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each s ...
ing and canoeing
Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other act ...
.
The Saranac River empties into Lake Champlain
, native_name_lang =
, image = Champlainmap.svg
, caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed
, image_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry =
, location = New York/ Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada
, coords =
, type ...
at the City of Plattsburgh in Clinton County, New York
Clinton County is a county in the north-easternmost corner of the state of New York, in the United States and bordered by the Canadian province of Quebec. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 79,843. Its county seat is the ci ...
. The river flows in a northeasterly direction from the Adirondack Mountains
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 ...
.
The river encompasses Upper, Middle and Lower Saranac Lakes, as well as Oseetah Lake, Lake Flower
Lake Flower is a lake in Franklin County and Essex County in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York in the United States. The lake was created by damming the Saranac River in 1827. It was originally called the Mill Pond, but was later n ...
, Franklin Falls Pond and Union Falls Pond
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
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* Union (band), an American rock group
** '' ...
, and flows through the village of Saranac Lake; there are lock
Lock(s) may refer to:
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*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
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s between Middle and Lower Saranac Lakes and between Lower Saranac and Oseetah, although the drop is only a few feet. Thirty-three miles further northeast, the river flows through the Town of Saranac, before winding through Plattsburgh, reaching Lake Champlain after a further 23 miles.
The Saranac River has a fairly diverse fishery, including northern pike
The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are kno ...
, largemouth bass
The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, ...
, smallmouth bass, rock bass
The rock bass (''Ambloplites rupestris''), also known as the rock perch, goggle-eye, red eye, and black perch, is a freshwater fish native to east-central North America. This red eyed creature is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish ...
, pumpkinseed
The pumpkinseed (''Lepomis gibbosus''), also referred to as pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small/medium-sized North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Lepomis'' (true sunfishes), from family Centrarchi ...
, fallfish, brown bullhead
The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (' ...
, 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'' morp ...
, and landlocked atlantic salmon
The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...
.
The river is also part of the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail
The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) is a marked canoeing trail in the northeastern United States and Canada, extending from Old Forge in the Adirondacks of New York to Fort Kent, Maine. Along the way, the trail also passes through the states ...
, which begins in Old Forge, NY and ends in Fort Kent, ME.
Origin of Name
The name of the river is from theAbenaki
The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...
word ''zalônák:tégw'', composed of the free noun root ''zalôn'', meaning " staghorn sumac cone"; ''-ak'', the Abenaki plural suffix for nouns of the animate noun class; and the bound noun root (i.e., suffix) ''-tégw'', meaning "river."Day, pp. 248-249. Other names for the river are Riviere Saint Amant, Riviere Saint Arnont, Riviere Salasanac, Sal-a-sa-nac and Salasance.
See also
*List of New York rivers
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
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* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
Jamieson, Paul and Morris, Donald, ''Adirondack Canoe Waters, North Flow'', Lake George, NY: Adirondack Mountain Club, 1987. . Day, Gordon M. "Abenaki Place Names in the Champlain Valley." In Foster, Michael K. and Cowan, William, eds., ''In Search of New England's Native Past: Selected Essays by Gordon M. Day'', pp. 229–262, Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998. .References