Piscataqua River

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Piscataqua River
none Piscataqua River from Portsmouth, NH, with the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge and the Piscataqua River Bridge (background).
Piscataqua River from Portsmouth, NH, with the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge and the Piscataqua River Bridge (background).
Country USA
States New Hampshire, Maine
Length 12 mi (19 km)
Source Cochecho and Salmon Falls Rivers
 - coordinates 43°10′34″N 70°49′29″W / 43.17611, -70.82472
 - elevation 0 ft (0 m)
Mouth Atlantic Ocean
 - location Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire/Maine border, USA
 - coordinates 43°3′22″N 70°42′11″W / 43.05611, -70.70306
 - elevation 0 ft (0 m)
Major tributaries
 - left Salmon Falls River
 - right Cochecho River, Great Bay

The Piscataqua River, in the northeastern United States, is a 12 mile (19 km) long tidal estuary formed by the confluence of the Salmon Falls and Cochecho rivers. The drainage basin of the river is approximately 1,495 square miles. The river runs southeastward, determining part of the boundary between the states of New Hampshire and Maine, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The last six miles before the sea form one of the finest harbors in the northeastern United States, despite a tidal current rated as one of the fastest in North America (at Nobles Island across from downtown Portsmouth).[1]

Named by the area's original Abenaki inhabitants, "Piscataqua" combines "peske" (branch) with "tegwe" (a river with a strong current, possibly tidal). "Peske-tegwe", then, describes a place where a river separates into two or three parts, or literally, "a place where boats or canoes ascending the river together from its mouth were compelled to separate according to their several destinations" -- for example, at Dover Point.

The first known European to explore the river was Martin Pring in 1603. Captain John Smith placed a spelling similar to "Piscataqua" for the region on his map of 1614. The river was site of the first sawmill in the colonies in 1623, the same year the contemporary spelling "Piscataqua" was first recorded.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is located on Seavey's Island in Kittery, Maine near the Piscataqua's mouth. The dispute between New Hampshire and Maine over ownership of Seavey’s Island was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2001, locating the state border at the center of the river's navigable channel.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ NOAA "Tides & Currents fact sheet
  2. ^ Supreme Court Collection. Cornell Law School. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
  • Ralph May, Piscataqua, The Correctness of Use and the Meaning of the Word (1966), Randall Press, Portsmouth, NH
  • New Hampshire v. Maine (2001) U.S. Supreme Court Case regarding border dispute


This Maine state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
This New Hampshire state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.