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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Massachusetts and 300 square miles in Vermont, or over 13.000 

 square miles in all. It drains about one-fourth of the land area 

 of the State. Above Troy it is a normal stream of varying inclina- 

 tion, gradually increasing as we go toward the source. The 

 crest of Saratoga dam, 180 miles from the mouth of the river, is 

 at an elevation of 102 feet, giving a grade for 30 miles of 3.2 feet 

 per mile. At the Fort Edward railway bridge, 190 miles from the 

 mouth, the hight above the sea is 118 feet, giving a grade for 10 

 miles of 1.6 feet per mile. At the crest of the Glens Falls feeder 

 dam, a distance of 197 miles from the mouth, the hight of the river 

 above the level of the sea is 284" feet, giving a grade for 7 miles 

 of 23.7 feet per mile. At the mouth of Sacandaga river, 216 miles 

 from the mouth, the hight above sea level is 536 feet, giving a 

 grade for 19 miles of 13.3 feet per mile; and so on, until finally, 

 at the extreme head, in Lake Tear of the Clouds, 300 miles from 

 the mouth of the river, the hight above sea level is 4322 feet, and 

 the average grade for the preceding 34 miles is 84.4 feet per mile. 

 This condition of steep grades in the upper reaches, with flat 

 grades in the lower reaches, while true of all streams, is markedly 

 true in the case of New York State streams. 



The main tributaries of the tidal portion of the Hudson are the 

 Croton, with a catchment of 365 square miles ; Fishkill, draining 

 204 square miles ; Rondout creek, including the Wallkill, draining 

 1148 square miles ; Esopus creek, draining 417 square miles ; the 

 Catskill, draining 394 square miles, and the Kinderhook, draining 

 304 square miles. The Croton is regulated by storage reservoirs 

 for the water supply of New York city, and most of the other 

 tributaries mentioned have been studied with reference to their 

 availability for municipal water supplies. 



Broadly, such studies indicate that while these streams are con- 

 trollable by storage reservoirs, their topography is such as to 

 make development very costly. Generally they would be too ex- 

 pensive for flood prevention merely. Above the tidal portion, which 

 terminates at the Troy dam, the conditions are different. The 

 Mohawk river, with a catchment area of 3500 square miles, joins 

 the Hudson at Cohoes. Higher up the Hoosic, the Battenkill and 

 Fish creek enter. At Hadley the Sacandaga, with a catchment 

 area of 1057 square miles, enters, and at Thurman the Schroon 

 river, with a catchment of 570 square miles. Farther north the 

 Indian and Cedar rivers join. 



