Juniata River
Catchment area of the Juniata River
Juniata River in Riddlesburg, PA.
The Juniata River is a 145 km long tributary of the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania in the United States. The river is considered with its wide flat bed on sections as picturesque and flows between several mountain ranges and through steep-sided breakthrough Tälers. It formed in the early 18th century, a border region in Pennsylvania and was the scene of attacks by the Indians against white settlements during the French and Indian War. The wooded, about two -thirds the catchment area of the river covers an area of about 8800 km ² and is about one-eighth of the catchment area of the Susquehanna River. The river is the second largest tributary of the Susquehanna River, according to the West Branch.
Run
The Juniata River has its origin at the center of Huntingdon County in the small settlement of Arden home, about 5 km south-east of Huntingdon. It is formed by the confluence of two source rivers, Frank Town Branch and Raystown Branch. It flows to the southeast, passes through a gap in the chain of Jacks Mountain, opens on the south side of the Aughwick Creek from the south. Fluent along the flanks of the mountain range reaches the waters Lewistown, where the Kishacoquillas Creek flows. From then on, he always winds up a southeast course, takes the Tuscarora Creek from the right on coming, breaking through the mountain chain of the Tuscarora Mountain. Northwest of Newport opens a Buffalo Creek, before the Juniata River about two kilometers northeast of Duncannon empties into the Susquehanna River, about 24 km northwest of Harrisburg.
Origin of the name
The word Juniata is a corruption of the word Onayutta, German as monolith. Such a stone was located at the spot where lies the town of Huntingdon today. According to legend, the stone was about four feet tall, and smoothed on a page the history of the local tribe of Oneida was recorded. The stone disappeared in 1754, when the tribe moved away; they should have taken him. The settlers in the area featured on a new stone, which was destroyed in 1897. A fragment of which is in the Museum of Juniata College.
History
The first known inhabitants of the valley were Indians from the people of the Onojutta - Haga. Later, there were the Lenape, until a negotiated by William Penn Treaty the land east of the Allegheny Ridge opened up the white settlement. 1755 and 1756 suffered from the white settlers in Kittanning on the Allegheny River and violent attacks and captures by Lenape and Shawnee, who were angered by the loss of their land. In the battles over 3,000 white settlers were killed. The burning of Fort Granville in 1756 prompted Governor John Penn to retaliate against Lenape and Shawnee that. Lt. Col. John Armstrong were performed and led to the destruction of Kittanning.
During the 19th century, a side channel was built along the river, which is part of the channel system in Pennsylvania and was and was in competition with the Erie Canal. The state sold the channel to the Pennsylvania Railroad, which aufließ him in 1899 after a heavy flood. Parts of the original locks and the rest of a dam about two kilometers south of Millerstown are still visible today.
The river is popular with followers of canoeing and fly fishing, especially of black bass and Ictalurus punctatus. Muscle, lungs were used for sport fishing and are now a prized catch. The state tried the once numerous Alosa sapidissima to resettle whose existence had disappeared because of numerous dams. Another numerously occurring species of fish is the Walleye.
The winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize Galway Kinnell wrote in the " Dear Stranger, Extant in Memory by the Blue Juniata " his work "The Book of Nightmares" (1971 ) across the river.
Hydrology
The river cuts through several of southwest to northeast running mountain ranges, which mainly consist of sandstone and on the valley floors are predominantly limestone. Several of the tributaries are polluted, including the Kishacoquillas Creek, but the river itself is determined by local circumstances as fairly clean. In the catchment area of the Juniata River, are only two cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, Altoona and Lewistown. An industrial development of the area was prevented by the steep banks along large parts of the river.
The United States Geological Survey operates several levels by the river. In Newport, the average annual river discharge is 206 m³ / s, with the highest observed value of 740 m³ / s and were the lowest runoff was recorded with 38 m³ / s.