Piscataqua River

Piscataqua River
Piscataqua River from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge and the Piscataqua River Bridge (background)
Country	United States
States	New Hampshire, Maine

Tributaries
- left	Salmon Falls River
- right	Cochecho River, Great Bay


Source	Cochecho and Salmon Falls rivers
- elevation	0 ft (0 m)
- coordinates	43°10′34″N 70°49′29″W / 43.17611°N 70.82472°W / 43.17611; -70.82472
Mouth	Atlantic Ocean
- location	Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire/Maine border, United States
- elevation	0 ft (0 m)
- coordinates	43°3′22″N 70°42′11″W / 43.05611°N 70.70306°W / 43.05611; -70.70306Coordinates: 43°3′22″N 70°42′11″W / 43.05611°N 70.70306°W / 43.05611; -70.70306

Length	12 mi (19 km)

The Piscataqua River (/pɪsˈkætəˌkwɔː, -kwə/) is a 12-mile-long (19 km) tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cocheco River. The drainage basin of the river is approximately 1,495 square miles (3,870 km²), including the subwatersheds of the Great Works River and the five rivers flowing into Great Bay: the Bellamy, Oyster, Lamprey, Squamscott, and Winnicut.

The river runs southeastward, with New Hampshire to the south and west and Maine to the north and east, and empties into the Gulf of Maine east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The last 6 miles (10 km) before the sea form Portsmouth Harbor, one of the finest harbors in the northeastern United States, despite a tidal current of around 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph).^[1] The cities/towns of Portsmouth, New Castle, Newington, Kittery and Eliot have developed around the harbor.^[2]

History

Named by the area's original Abenaki inhabitants, Piscataqua is believed to be a combination of peske (branch) with tegwe (a river with a strong current, possibly tidal).^[3] 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 the site of the first sawmill in the colonies in 1623, the same year the contemporary spelling "Piscataqua" was first recorded.

After the Allies' European victory in the Second World War, a German submarine flying a white flag sailed up the river, where New Hampshire state police received its captain and crew as POWs.^[4]

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.^[5]

External links

MaineRivers.org Piscataqua River
History as Border of New Hampshire
Seacoast Forts of Portsmouth Harbor from American Forts Network
Port of New Hampshire

References

↑ NOAA "Tides & Currents fact sheet" - "Nobles Island, north of"
↑ DeLorme Mapping Company The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (13th edition) (1988) ISBN 0-89933-035-5 map 1
↑ Derivation of Piscataqua.
↑ Max Hastings, Inferno, New York 2011, p. 630.
↑ "Supreme Court Collection". Cornell Law School. Retrieved 2007-05-22.

Ralph May, Piscataqua, The Correctness of Use and the Meaning of the Word (1966), Randall Press, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
New Hampshire v. Maine (2001) U.S. Supreme Court Case regarding border dispute

Ports of Piscataqua, William Gurdon Saltonstall, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1941

Rivers of New Hampshire
Androscoggin River Watershed	Androscoggin River Chickwolnepy Stream Clear Stream Dead Diamond River Dead River East Branch Dead Diamond River Little Dead Diamond River Little Magalloway River Magalloway River Middle Branch Dead Diamond River Middle Branch Little Magalloway River Mollidgewock Brook Moose Brook Moose River Peabody River Rattle River South Branch Little Dead Diamond River Swift Diamond River West Branch Dead Diamond River West Branch Little Dead Diamond River West Branch Little Magalloway River West Branch Magalloway River West Branch Peabody River Wild River
Connecticut River Watershed	Ammonoosuc River Ashuelot River Blow-me-down Brook The Branch Cold River Connecticut River East Branch Mohawk River Gale River Great Brook Halls Stream Ham Branch Indian River Indian Stream Israel River Johns River Knox River Little River Little Sugar River Mascoma River Millers River Mink Brook Mirey Brook Mohawk River Nash Stream North Branch Gale River North Branch Millers River North Branch Sugar River North Branch Upper Ammonoosuc River Oliverian Brook Otter Brook Partridge Brook Perry Stream Phillips Brook Simms Stream South Branch Ashuelot River South Branch Gale River South Branch Israel River South Branch Sugar River Stocker Brook Sugar River Tarbell Brook Upper Ammonoosuc River West Branch Mohawk River West Branch Upper Ammonoosuc River Wild Ammonoosuc River Zealand River
Merrimack River Watershed	Baboosic Brook Back River Baker River Bear Brook Beards Brook Beaver Brook Beebe River Big River Black Brook Blackwater River Cockermouth River Cohas Brook Contoocook River East Branch Baker River East Branch Pemigewasset River Fowler River Frazier Brook Gridley River Gunstock River Lane River Little Massabesic Brook-Sucker Brook Little River (Big River) Little River (Merrimack River) Little Suncook River Lost River Mad River Melvin River Merrimack River Merrymeeting River Middle Branch Piscataquog River Nashua River Newfound River Nissitissit River North Branch Contoocook River North Fork East Branch Pemigewasset River Nubanusit Brook Pemigewasset River Pennichuck Brook Piscataquog River Powwow River Purgatory Brook Red Hill River Salmon Brook Shedd Brook Smith River Soucook River Souhegan River South Branch Baker River South Branch Piscataquog River South Branch Souhegan River Spicket River Squam River Stony Brook Suncook River Tioga River Turkey River Warner River West Branch Mad River West Branch Souhegan River West Branch Warner River Winnipesaukee River
Piscataqua River/NH Atlantic Coast Watershed	Bean River Bellamy River Berrys River Blackwater River Branch River Browns River Bunker Creek Cochecho River Drakes River Ela River Exeter River Fresh River Hampton Falls River Hampton River Isinglass River Jones Brook Lamprey River Little River (New Hampshire Atlantic coast) Little River (Brentwood) Little River (Exeter) Little River (Lamprey River) Mad River North Branch River North River Old River Oyster River Pawtuckaway River Piscassic River Piscataqua River Rattlesnake River Salmon Falls River Squamscott River Taylor River Winnicut River
Saco River Watershed	Bearcamp River Beech River Chocorua River Cold River (Bearcamp River) Cold River Cutler River Dan Hole River Deer River Dry River East Branch Saco River East Branch Whiteface River East Fork East Branch Saco River Ellis River Little Cold River Lovell River Mad River Middle Branch Mad River Mill Brook New River Ossipee River Pequawket Brook Pine River Rocky Branch Saco River Sawyer River Shepards River South Branch Mad River South River Swift River (Bearcamp River) Swift River (Saco River) West Branch Whiteface River Wildcat Brook Wonalancet River

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Piscataqua River

History

See also

External links

References