8 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



DRAINAGE 



The Hudson river is the dominating factor in the drainage of 

 this area. The principal tributaries of the master river within 

 this quadrangle come in from the east. The most important are 

 Wappinger and Fishkill creeks ; of lesser importance are Casper 

 and Fallkill creeks. 



Wappinger creek has its source near Pine Plains, some i6 or 17 

 miles northeast of Pleasant Valley, on the southwest of a narrow 

 divide that separates its headwaters from the valley of Shekomeko 

 creek. It has a general southwest course along a narrow limestone 

 belt, and finally enters the Hudson at New Hamburg. At present it 

 bears away somewhat from the limestone along its lower reaches 

 and flows across the slates, over which it cascades gently in several 

 places. At Wappinger Falls it makes a descent of about 60 feet 

 over the slates, and from this village to the Hudson, a distance of 

 about two miles, it occupies a drowned valley. It receives a few 

 small tributaries within the quadrangle, the largest of which drains 

 the slates southeast of Wappinger Falls and empties into the main 

 stream below the village. 



Wappinger creek furnishes power at Pleasant Valley, near Titus- 

 ville, and at Wappinger Falls, and formerly was utilized at 

 Rochdale. 



Fishkill creek is a somewhat larger stream and has a greater 

 watershed. It also drains a large part of the area just to the east, 

 where the main stream has its source on the western slope of 

 Chestnut ridge, a high mass of schist separating the Clove and 

 Dover-Pawling valleys. East of the quadrangle it receives an 

 important tributary with its source in Whaley pond. Sylvan lake 

 sends a small tributary into this stream near the eastern edge of 

 the quadrangle. 



Several good-sized brooks join the main stream from the north. 

 Of these Whortlekill creek is a small brook which enters the quad- 

 rangle just east of Arthursburg, about a mile from its source. It 

 joins the Fishkill about a mile south of Hopewell Junction. Jack- 

 son and Sprout creeks are larger. The former drains the western 

 slope of the ridge between Lagrangeville and the Clove valley, 

 while the headwaters of Sprout creek extend to the narrow ridge 

 northeast of Verbank, whose eastern slopes drain into the Dover- 

 Pawling valley. Sprout and Jackson creeks join north of Fishkill 

 Plains and the stream formed by their union flows into Fishkill 

 creek, two miles north of Brinckerhoff. 



