26 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
DRAINAGE 
Considered as a great watershed, New York State takes rank as 
one of the most noteworthy in the United States. The waters of 
the State, except for a little in the southeast, enter the sea-at five 
widely separated places, namely, Gulf of St Lawrence, New York 
bay, Delaware bay, Chesapeake bay, and the Gulf of Mexico, 
through the five well-known rivers, namely, St Lawrence, Hudson, 
Delaware, Susquehanna, and Mississippi (chrouee the Allegheny 
and Ohio rivers). 
Mohawk-Hudson basin. The principal stream of this, the largest 
drainage basin of the State, is the Hudson river which is especially 
noteworthy in two ways, first because it is by far the largest stream 
whose course is wholly within the borders of the State, and second 
because soon after emerging from the Adirondacks (near Glens 
Falls), its course, for nearly 200 miles to its mouth, is remarkably 
straight in spite of the fact that it traverses the principal struc- 
tural lines of a highly folded and disturbed region. Its apparently 
anomalous, deep, narrow, granite-walled channel across the High- 
lands of the Hudson (see plate 10) will be explained in chapter 6. 
The chief tributary and essential part of the Hudson, the Mohawk 
river, has its headwaters in the very center of the State and reaches 
the Hudson after flowing eastward for more than 100 miles. 
The drainage of the southern Adirondacks, even as far north 
as Mount Marcy, and of the eastern Catskills passes into the Hud- 
son river. Except for very minor contributions from the edge of 
New England and New Jersey, the whole river system derives its 
water from within the boundaries of the State. . 
St Lawrence basin. This drainage basin comprises all the north- 
western Adirondacks and reaches well into the heart of the moun- 
tains. All the larger streams, which are of very moderate size, 
flow northwestward in avnneree ible parallel courses until, emerging 
upon the floor of the St Lawrence valley, they swing around to 
northeasterly courses and generally flow for a good many miles 
parallel to the great river itself before entering it. This latter 
phenomenon is, no doubt, to ‘be explained on the basis of topo- 
graphic changes due to the great Ice age. The largest and longest 
stream in the basin is the Raquette river which, after a devious 
course of more than 100 miles, including passage through two or 
three large lakes, enters the St Lawrence at the northern State 
boundary. 
Ontario basin. All the streams of this basin enter Lake Ontario 
and pursue courses that, if continued, would tend to converge at a 
