| Lehigh River | |
| River | |
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Lehigh River near Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
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| Country | United States |
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| State | Pennsylvania |
| Counties | Wayne, Lackawanna, Monroe, Luzerne, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Tobyhanna Creek, Pohopoco Creek, Aquashicola Creek, Hokendauqua Creek, Monocacy Creek |
| - right | North Bear Creek, Black Creek, Nesquehoning Creek, Mauch Chunk Creek, Mahoning Creek, Lizard Creek, Little Lehigh Creek, Saucon Creek |
| Cities | Lehighton, Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton |
| Source | Pocono Peak Lake |
| - location | Lehigh Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, USA |
| - elevation | 2,056 ft (627 m) |
| - coordinates | |
| Mouth | Delaware River |
| - location | Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, USA |
| - elevation | 160 ft (49 m) |
| - coordinates | |
| Length | 109 mi (175 km) |
| Basin | 1,345 sq mi (3,484 km2) |
| Discharge | for Glendon |
| - average | 3,740 cu ft/s (106 m3/s) |
| - max | 11,700 cu ft/s (331 m3/s) |
| - min | 1,160 cu ft/s (33 m3/s) |
| Discharge elsewhere (average) | |
| - Stoddartsville | 280 cu ft/s (8 m3/s) |
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Lehigh River watershed
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The Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River, is a 109-mile-long (175 km)[1] river located in eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. Part of the Lehigh, along with a number of its tributaries, is designated a Pennsylvania Scenic River by the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. "Lehigh" is an Anglicization of the Lenape name for the river, Lechewuekink, meaning "where there are forks".
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The river flows in a highly winding course through valleys between ridges of the Appalachian Mountains. Its upper course is characterized by numerous whitewater rapids and supports a broad range of recreational pursuits including whitewater rafting, kayaking and canoeing. Its lower course forms the heart of the Lehigh Valley, an historically important anthracite coal and steel-producing region of Pennsylvania.
The river rises in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, in several ponds in southwestern Wayne County, approximately 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Scranton. It flows initially southwest, through southern Lackawanna County, through Francis E. Walter Reservoir. Near White Haven and Middleburg it turns south, following a zigzag whitewater course through Lehigh Gorge State Park to Jim Thorpe, then southeast, past Lehighton. Southeast of Lehighton, it passes through Blue Mountain in a narrow opening called the Lehigh Gap.
From the Lehigh Gap, the river flows southeast to Allentown, where it is joined by Little Lehigh Creek, then northeast past Bethlehem, where it joins the Delaware River in Easton, along Pennsylvania's border with New Jersey.
The PA Gazeteer of Streams shows that the Lehigh River begins as the outflow of Pocono Peak Lake. Flowing south from the south end of the lake (a natural but dammed body of water) it turns west after a mile and receives water from many lakes and ponds as it flows past the borough of Gouldsboro.
| Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article Lehigh. |
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