79-607: Esopus Creek / ɪ ˈ s oʊ p ə s / is a 65.4-mile-long (105.3 km) tributary of the Hudson River that drains the east-central Catskill Mountains in the U.S. state of New York . From its source at Winnisook Lake on the slopes of Slide Mountain , the Catskills' highest peak, it flows across Ulster County to the Hudson at Saugerties . Many tributaries extend its watershed into neighboring Greene County and
158-475: A pitch pine - scrub oak barren, is found on the summits of Hallihan and Jockey hills in the town of Kingston , just northwest of the Saw Kill confluence. While there is some development clustered along Route 28 next to the stream, there is no significant agricultural use. Among the mountains within it or on its boundaries are 21 peaks over 3,000 ft (910 m) in elevation, including all or part of 16 of
237-429: A busy local tubing industry in the summer months. The lower Esopus is mainly an aesthetic and ecological resource, although the estuary at Saugerties is a popular bass fishery . The Esopus's role in the state and regional economy has led to a concentrated effort to protect and manage it, particularly on the upper stretch. The interests of the various stakeholders have not always converged, particularly where it concerns
316-530: A half-mile with an apartment complex and strip mall on the south side and woodlands on the north of the 180-foot-wide (55 m) channel, Tannery Brook empties into the Esopus from a buried culvert just below where Route 28, now concurrent with Interstate 587 , crosses the creek for the last time. A half-mile past I-587, amid woodlands on both sides, the Esopus meanders parallel to the Thruway. Three-quarters of
395-410: A higher fault density in the bedrock on the Esopus, in the late 20th century. Later, the crater began to fill in with silt and became a crater lake . As the delta uplifted into a single plateau , the stream bed began to form along the heavily jointed and weaker shale and sandstone above the buried rim of the crater wall. As with the Catskills as a whole the newly forming streams began dissecting
474-600: A large bend that takes it below 600 feet (180 m) in elevation, the Esopus enters Ashokan Reservoir , 12 miles (19 km) below Allaben, the end of the creek's 26-mile (42 km) upper section. Four miles (6.4 km) from where it widens into the reservoir, just before Travers Hollow Brook and the Bush Kill drain into it, the main stem of the Esopus flows out of the reservoir's spillway . The reservoir continues for 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to its spillway near Olive Bridge . The reservoir's eastern section, slightly to
553-594: A long curve to the north and back southeastward over its next half-mile to where it crosses under the New York State Thruway just south of Exit 19, where the Catskill Park Blue Line leaves the stream to run along the west edge of the highway property. Another half-mile further downstream, Washington Avenue crosses; a state-owned public-access area with boat launch is located on the north bank along Sandy Road 500 feet downstream. After
632-678: A mile downstream on a meandering course with a narrow channel, the Kingston city line leaves the stream on the east. The meandering creek draws near to the Thruway in a mile and begins to run parallel to it. Just past a turn to the northeast the Town of Ulster maintains another public access area near the ballparks on Buckley Street on the south side of the 145-foot (44 m) channel. The Esopus crosses under Route 209 near Lake Katrine 1.1 mi (1.8 km) north of that point. A half-mile past that bridge, it receives another significant tributary,
711-400: A new river, to be given its own name, perhaps one already known to the people who live upon its banks. Conversely, explorers approaching a new land from the sea encounter its rivers at their mouths, where they name them on their charts, then, following a river upstream, encounter each tributary as a forking of the stream to the right and to the left, which then appear on their charts as such; or
790-507: A section with retaining walls on either side of the channel. Another 500 ft (150 m) to the north, the similarly named tributary, carrying water from the steep slopes of Haynes and Balsam mountains to the west, joins the Esopus from the west as the stream's main stem turns northwest, further away from the road, then curving northeast with more bars and braiding marking a wider channel. After 1.6 mi (2.6 km) of this gently curving course, Hatchery Hollow Brook flows in from
869-422: A series of five cascades that drop 68 feet (21 m) over the course of the next 2,000 ft (610 m) of stream, Below Glenerie Falls, the Esopus, now below a hundred feet (30 m) in elevation, again turns north, paralleling U.S. Route 9W for a mile through a narrow, steep valley. After Glasco Turnpike (Ulster County Route 32) crosses the 100-foot channel, Route 9W veers off to the northeast, away from
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#1732780631841948-498: A small portion of Delaware County . Midway along its length, it is impounded at Olive Bridge to create Ashokan Reservoir , the first of several built in the Catskills as part of New York City 's water supply system . Its own flow is supplemented 13 miles (21 km) above the reservoir by the Shandaken Tunnel , which carries water from the city's Schoharie Reservoir into the creek. The creek, originally known by
1027-400: A thousand feet downstream. It bends to the northeast again, and after another 2,000 feet (610 m) reaches the western corner of the city of Kingston , the largest settlement along the creek, after which it becomes the city's northern boundary. Another 1,500 feet (460 m) downstream, a bridge along the abandoned Ulster & Delaware right-of-way crosses the Esopus. The stream takes
1106-577: A valley floor with more frequent cleared areas amid forested mountains, meandering gently along the circular route around Panther Mountain, paralleled by Creek Side Drive on its north. Another thousand feet downstream, Fire House Road (County Route 47) crosses, after which the Esopus turns sharply to the north, then northeast at a large gravel bar, for its next mile. At the Millbrook Hollow Brook confluence, it bends eastward, with another northern tributary, Seneca Hollow Brook emptying into
1185-573: A wide braided bend, Wynkoop Road (Ulster County Route 29A) crosses the 120-foot (37 m) channel just east of the hamlet of Hurley and the Hurley Mountain Inn . North of that crossing, the Esopus bends away from Route 209 through fields, with some braiding and diversions, to the Ulster town line a mile downstream. Here its north bank becomes part of the Catskill Park Blue Line as well, bending east southeast and crossing under Route 209
1264-911: Is the Kaaterskill Creek basin, with the West Kill draining the Spruceton Valley to the northwest into Schoharie Creek , a long tributary of the Mohawk River , itself the Hudson's longest tributary. On the western boundary, water drains into the East Branch of the Delaware River ; the two upper branches of the Neversink , the Delaware's largest left tributary, rise along the Esopus basin's southwest boundary, with
1343-583: The Devil's Path range and its southeastern corner. A very small portion overlaps the Delaware County line west of Pine Hill . The upper Esopus basin, above the reservoir, is 256 square miles (660 km) with the lower basin accounting for the other 169 square miles (440 km). To the south it is bordered by the combined watershed of the Rondout Creek and Wallkill River . On the northeast
1422-588: The Elk Bushkill , which drains Fir and Big Indian mountains to the southeast, just south of the Burnham Hollow Road bridge. The Esopus then bends back in a northward direction. Short braided sections return during the next mile, along with gravel bars along the banks. Bending past more braided sections and bars, the Esopus reaches the small former hamlet of Oliverea 0.6 mi (1 km) further north. Here McKenley Hollow Road crosses, in
1501-526: The Lenape band that inhabited its banks, some of whom entertained Henry Hudson on his voyage up the river in 1609 after possible earlier contact with fur traders. European traders began plying the river in greater numbers, eventually establishing permanent settlements for the purpose. Dutch settlers established Wiltwyck, today's Kingston , on the high ground between the Esopus and the Rondout in 1649. After
1580-579: The Native Americans in the area as Atkarkaton or Atkankarten and by Dutch settlers as the "Esopus Kill ", takes its name from the Esopus tribe of the Lenape , who were living around the lower Esopus when the Dutch first explored and settled the Hudson Valley in the early 17th century. The creek's wide valley made it an ideal trading route for the Esopus and other Lenape who harvested
1659-450: The Native Americans used the flat flood plains of the lower Esopus for cornfields, and there are accounts of the area around Olive, today inundated by the reservoir, planted as an apple orchard . The Natives did not settle the area permanently, and only ventured into the higher reaches of the valley to hunt as there was less arable land there. The Esopus would be important to the area's early European colonization . It took its name from
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#17327806318411738-419: The Rondout , which he calls the "Groot Esopus". In some other accounts, the es prefix is read as a diminutive , making the name mean "little river". Another interpretation is that Esopus means "high banks", referring to the stream's history of heavy floods. The Esopus is usually discussed as an upper and lower stream divided by the reservoir. The upper portion, where most recreational use takes place, has
1817-507: The Saw Kill . The riverside is more developed here, with homes and docks on the east bank. The channel narrows to 60 ft (18 m). A mile north of the Saw Kill, the Esopus bends northeast again and Leggs Mill Road (County Route 31) crosses as the stream descends slightly over a weir and some exposed bedrock. Backyards and docks line both banks over the next half-mile, where the channel widens again to 250 ft (76 m), after which
1896-514: The beaver pelts the European traders desired. Later, under the English , it became the beginning point for contentious land claims in the mountains. After independence , the Esopus corridor became the main route into the Catskills, first by road then later by the Ulster and Delaware Railroad , for forest-product industries like logging, tanning and charcoal making . Those industries declined in
1975-409: The 35 Catskill High Peaks exceeding 3,500 ft (1,100 m). Slide Mountain , the highest peak in the range, is also the highest peak in the Esopus watershed at about 4,180 ft (1,270 m). It has the highest average elevation of any of the watersheds that feed New York City's reservoirs. Tributaries, named and unnamed, add another 330 miles (530 km) of streams to the watershed. From
2054-490: The Esopus Valley than anywhere else in the Catskills. Bluestone for city sidewalks and buildings was also quarried out of the hills, and in some cases from the stream bed itself. Tributary A tributary , or an affluent , is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ( main stem or "parent" ), river, or a lake . A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean . Tributaries, and
2133-473: The Esopus drove them out of the settlement in two wars , colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant ordered that it be enclosed in a stockade so it would be safer from raids by Indians and the other contending colonial power in the area, the English . The latter took over the New Netherland colony in 1664, taking a more nuanced approach to the native peoples of the area. The settlement's location above
2212-544: The Esopus from the north, increasing its flow. This point on the stream is known as the Shandaken Portal or just the Portal. South of the Portal, what is now the "big" portion of the upper Esopus turns southeast after Broadstreet Hollow Creek, with one smaller northern channel remaining closer to the road while the larger southern one bends closer to the base of Garfield Mountain , forming another one-mile portion of
2291-496: The Esopus near Kingston and going out to the Delaware River , taking not only all of Ulster County to the west but much of today's Delaware and Sullivan counties as well. The Hardenbugh Patent, as it became known, is the source of many of the land titles in the Catskills today, although its legitimacy was contested from the beginning, a dispute which continued until after the Revolution , aggravated by inadequate surveys of
2370-490: The Esopus reaches Phoenicia , the first major settlement along its course. Route 28 crosses again just west of where the stream receives Stony Clove Creek from the north, where it drains southern Greene County . The creek widens but remains shallow; the Catskill Mountain Railroad parallels its banks. The stream bends into a southerly course between Mount Tremper to the east and Romer Mountain to
2449-653: The Esopus receives its first left tributary, Hanging Birds Nest Brook, which drains the north face of Spruce and Hemlock mountains to the south. From there the Esopus flows due northwest for its next mile, as the valley floor of Big Indian Hollow opens up and some cleared land begins to abut the stream. After the Maben Hollow Brook confluence, it turns west and braids into several smaller channels for 1,200 feet (370 m), reuniting just before crossing under Eagle Mountain Road. It receives, another eastern tributary,
Esopus Creek - Misplaced Pages Continue
2528-567: The Indians as they migrated north. Most of the chestnuts died in the chestnut blight of the early 20th century. Catskill forest historian Michael Kudish found that other southern hardwood species can be found in the Esopus valley all the way to Oliverea, a mile or so below the creek's source. Human habitation or use of the stream's lower reaches has been recorded as far back as 4,000 years ago. As with many other streams in Ulster County,
2607-546: The Neversink's East Branch headwaters flowing a thousand feet from the Esopus' source at Winnisook Lake. The upper Esopus watershed is rugged and 95 percent forested, with 58.5 percent part of the "forever wild" Forest Preserve and protected from almost all harvest or clearing. Three different types of forest predominate: montane spruce-fir boreal forest on the higher mountain summits, beech-birch-maple northern hardwood forest with some Eastern hemlock groves that survived
2686-538: The Saw Kill and Plattekill Creek subwatersheds, much of which remain within the forests of the Catskill Park . The history of the Esopus, like the creek itself, has several distinct eras, starting with a meteor falling on the future Catskill Mountains. The Esopus's upper course was set 375 million years ago in the Devonian period, when the Catskills were still a river delta of low sedimentary beaches and
2765-593: The Slide Mountain Wilderness boundary; the two converge at a public parking lot used to put in canoes and kayaks. Three miles (4.8 km) downstream, the creek turns to the south for another mile before turning east where Woodland Creek , the largest right tributary of the Esopus, flows in from the south following the east side of the former Panther crater wall, from its headwaters on Wittenberg Mountain , just east of where Woodland Valley Road crosses. Another 0.8 miles (1.3 km) in that direction,
2844-519: The Ulster, Delaware and Dutchess Turnpike, was improved from an old colonial path that led up the valley and then into Delaware County past Highmount . By the middle of the century it was paralleled by the Ulster and Delaware Railroad . Timber was not the only product taken from the mountainsides and sent down the valley. Tanners brought up cowhides via those routes to treat in water boiled in hemlock bark, and charcoal kilns were more numerous in
2923-546: The area. From the mid-17th century Esopus , sometimes Sopers , was in common use. It was believed to have been derived from seepus , meaning river, in the Delaware languages . The name was not always applied to today's Esopus. Alphonso T. Clearwater's 1907 history of Ulster County recounts that in 1677 the local Native tribes deeded to the English the land between the Esopus, which he identifies as Saugerties Creek, and
3002-457: The characteristics of a mountain stream — shallow, rocky and swift, with most of the stream's trout taken by anglers there. The upper portion is itself divided into a "small" and "big" stream by the outlet of the Shandaken Tunnel . Below the reservoir's spillway the stream begins again, becoming flatter, deeper and slower to its short estuary . The Esopus flows out of artificially created Winnisook Lake , at 2,660 feet (810 m) above sea level
3081-521: The city's management of its water needs. Turbidity created by discharges from the Shandaken Tunnel after a 1996 flood led to a successful lawsuit against the city and a state regulation; downstream of the reservoir the city has been criticized for contributing to flooding problems by releasing too much water during heavy rainstorms since Hurricane Irene in 2011. Boaters and anglers have also clashed, and invasive species are beginning to enter
3160-554: The colonial frontier so that it might be better protected from the French to the north and west, but those officials dallied, only making such grants when they could enrich themselves and their friends in the process. The Catskills and the Esopus Valley, with little land that could be cleared for farming, were not suitable to that end. In 1704 a group of farmers in Hurley petitioned the colonial governor , Viscount Cornbury , for some of
3239-574: The creek again turns north, the channel narrowing to 150–200 feet (46–61 m), and the CSX River Subdivision 's freight tracks parallel the Esopus on its east. The stream flows north on a straight course, trending slightly east, for 1.75 miles (2.82 km) until it receives its last major tributary, Plattekill Creek , from the east at the Saugerties town line. At this point it bends eastward again and goes down Glenerie Falls ,
Esopus Creek - Misplaced Pages Continue
3318-648: The creek into an upper stretch, mostly a wild mountain stream, and a lower stretch closer to the Hudson that gradually becomes more estuarine . Above the reservoir, its water quality is closely monitored, not only for its role in the city's water supply but to preserve its local economic importance as a recreational resource. As the upper Esopus is one of the most productive trout streams in the Northeast , fly fishermen come in great numbers to take trout from its relatively accessible banks. Canoeists and kayakers have been drawn to its whitewater , which has also spawned
3397-489: The east bank. At the end of this reach, just southeast of the village of Saugerties , the Esopus receives its last tributary, Tannery Brook , from the north, turns east and enters the village. A half-mile of meandering past some marshy flats on the south side, a bridge carries Route 9W and New York State Route 32 over the stream, its last crossing. Below the bridge it flows over 25-foot (7.6 m) Cantine Dam, creating Cantine Falls. It bends north, then south, and returns to
3476-563: The east, as docks and structures abound on either side. After 1.3 miles (2.1 km) the Esopus empties into the Hudson, 88.5 miles (142.4 km) north of its mouth in New York City at Saugerties Light , a few feet (1-2 m) above sea level. The Esopus' watershed covers 425 square miles (1,100 km). Most of it is in Ulster County, like the stream itself; the Greene County portion includes most of that county south of
3555-518: The east. With the valley floor widening, the Esopus flows more northward. It receives its last Big Indian Hollow tributary, Lost Clove Creek , from the west where it drains Balsam and Bellayre mountains, just below the Lost Clove Road bridge. At the mouth of the hollow, in the small hamlet of Big Indian , 8.5 miles (13.7 km) from its source, the Esopus turns east and crosses under New York State Route 28 , which it closely parallels all
3634-520: The first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary. Another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure , stored as a tree data structure . Effects of Hurricane Irene in New York Too Many Requests If you report this error to
3713-458: The forest. The stream's headwaters descend from there northward into Big Indian Hollow, dropping 169 feet (52 m) per mile (1.6 km) with an average slope of 13 percent, through its first three miles, a narrow and rocky mountains stream through this section. Along it there are three waterfalls—Otter Falls, and Parker and Blossom Falls below. At first trending westward, away from the road, a half-mile (800 m) below Winnisook Lake it returns to
3792-451: The handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream. For instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. These naming conventions are reflective of the circumstances of a particular river's identification and charting: people living along the banks of a river, with a name known to them, may then float down the river in exploration, and each tributary joining it as they pass by appears as
3871-601: The highest lake in the Catskills, on the northwest slopes of Slide Mountain , the Catskills' highest peak in the town of Shandaken , within 300 feet (100 m) of the West Branch of the Neversink River on the other side of the divide between the Hudson and Delaware watersheds , amid expansive forest. At the source it is crossed by a small wooden footbridge, followed by Oliverea Road ( Ulster County Route 47 ), which it immediately begins to parallel through
3950-424: The joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary , a river or stream that branches off from and flows away from the main stream. Distributaries are most often found in river deltas . Right tributary , or right-bank tributary , and left tributary , or left-bank tributary , describe the orientation of the tributary relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from
4029-467: The late 19th century, shortly before the creation of the Forest Preserve and the Catskill Park made the region more attractive for resorts and recreation, particularly trout fishing. The renewed Esopus also attracted the attention of fast-growing New York City, which was able to acquire land and build the reservoir and tunnel after overcoming local political opposition. The reservoir divides
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#17327806318414108-405: The lower Esopus as well, as the long glacial ridges closer to the Hudson channeled the stream north to Saugerties after they melted. As the glaciers melted slowly, they created ice dams and glacial lakes . The most significant of the latter along the Esopus's course left behind the large plain at Shokan. In the 20th century the original lake would be recreated as Ashokan Reservoir . The Esopus
4187-595: The main stem river into which they flow, drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater , leading the water out into an ocean. The Irtysh is a chief tributary of the Ob river and is also the longest tributary river in the world with a length of 4,248 km (2,640 mi). The Madeira River is the largest tributary river by volume in the world with an average discharge of 31,200 m /s (1.1 million cu ft/s). A confluence , where two or more bodies of water meet, usually refers to
4266-532: The next mile of flow almost due south. Over the next 1.2 miles (1.9 km) the Esopus bends back and forth through similar terrain, paralleling New York State Route 213 for a thousand feet (305 m) below a steep bluff, to where its valley widens and cultivated fields become dominant in the surrounding landscape. Two miles (3.2 km) to the south, with the channel again widening to 150 ft (46 m), Hurley Mountain Road ( Ulster County Route 5 ) crosses. Another 1,500 feet (460 m) south of that bridge,
4345-489: The north, is not part of the creek's course. The Esopus drops below 500 ft (150 m) in elevation as it leaves the reservoir. A thousand feet (300 m) downstream the reborn stream crosses under Route 28A again, amid a wide, forested canyon. It turns south, then east again, through Cathedral Gorge past the Ashokan Center on the north, through channelized and widened sections. Narrowing again, after another bend,
4424-469: The opposite bank before approaching the confluence. An early tributary is a tributary that joins the main stem river closer to its source than its mouth, that is, before the river's midpoint ; a late tributary joins the main stem further downstream, closer to its mouth than to its source, that is, after the midpoint. In the United States, where tributaries sometimes have the same name as
4503-439: The park at Fording Place Road east of the hamlet of Lomontville, the Esopus starts paralleling U.S. Route 209 , meandering slightly as it widens, with farmland on its west, sometimes widening from 60 ft (18 m) into 500-foot-wide (150 m) pools. Two miles north of Fording Place Road, another tributary, Stony Creek , flows in from the west at the Hurley town line. Another 1.75 miles (2.82 km) downstream, just past
4582-476: The perspective of looking downstream, that is, facing the direction the water current of the main stem is going. In a navigational context, if one were floating on a raft or other vessel in the main stream, this would be the side the tributary enters from as one floats past; alternately, if one were floating down the tributary, the main stream meets it on the opposite bank of the tributary. This information may be used to avoid turbulent water by moving towards
4661-469: The plateau into mountains and valleys. This process led the Esopus, with its particularly deep and wide valley, to fill up its bed with the red clay that clouds the waters of the stream in high water and floods. More recently in geologic time, about 12,000 years ago, the Wisconsin glaciation filled the valley, carving the slopes on its sides more steeply and eroding more sediment into the river. It shaped
4740-578: The point where the Esopus came out of the Catskills made it an ideal trading post for Indians responding to the European demand for beaver pelts to make the beaver hats then in vogue. In the later 17th century, with European settlement well established around the eastern Catskills, land replaced fur as the Indian-held commodity most desired by the new arrivals. The English government in London charged local officials with granting large chunks of land on
4819-581: The region. Encumbrances remained on many properties into the 20th century. The complications with the land claim delayed an accurate survey of the Catskills until 1885. In the meantime, permanent settlement of the Esopus valley began in the mid-18th century and finished with the establishment of the Slide Mountain post office in 1805. Most of these communities were supported by local forest-products industries: loggers harvested trees for sawmill operators, and furniture makers set up shop nearby. A road,
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#17327806318414898-512: The reservoir to Marbletown, the lower Esopus is also surrounded by forest. Downstream of that point, its flood plain becomes heavily farmed, with 2,000 acres (810 ha) of worked agricultural land, mostly cornfields, abutting the stream between there and the Leggs Mills Road bridge at Lake Katrine. The mountains continue to influence the lower stream, with one High Peak, 3,573-foot (1,089 m) Indian Head Mountain , contributing to
4977-666: The river into which they feed, they are called forks . These are typically designated by compass direction. For example, the American River in California receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago River 's North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork; the South Branch has its South Fork, and used to have a West Fork as well (now filled in). Forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here,
5056-521: The road's side and receives its unnamed first tributary from the east, draining another of Slide's hollows. Bending to the west northwest, the Esopus forms part of the boundary of the Big Indian Wilderness Area to its south as it receives Giant Ledge Stream from the north, draining the peak of that name and Panther Mountain , the former meteor crater whose walls determine the creek's upper course. Another half-mile further west,
5135-576: The shallow channels between them to a large inland sea that corresponds to the location today of the Allegheny Plateau . A meteor impact during this time left an approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) wide crater whose walls correspond to the courses of the upper Esopus and Woodland Creek today. Geologist Yngvar Isachsen of the New York State Geological Survey discovered the traces of the meteor impact, including
5214-418: The smaller stream designated the little fork, the larger either retaining its name unmodified, or receives the designation big . Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river and ending with those nearest to the mouth of the river . The Strahler stream order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third and higher orders, with
5293-467: The south, just east of the Fox Hollow Road bridge, and Peck Hollow Brook from the north 500 feet to the east, opposite another gravel bar. At this point the Esopus drops below 1,000 ft (300 m) in elevation. The creek begins to bend southward, past Shandaken's town hall, over its next mile to where the 18-mile (29 km) Shandaken Tunnel brings water from Schoharie Reservoir into
5372-510: The stream a half-mile further along. The Esopus receives Bushnellsville Creek from the north after a mile, then crosses to the south side of Route 28 at the small former hamlet of Shandaken 1.25 mi (2.01 km) to the east. Its next half-mile serves as part of the northern boundary of the Slide Mountain Wilderness Area . At Allaben, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from Big Indian, it receives Fox Hollow Brook from
5451-427: The stream bends again, reaching the southernmost point along its course at a Marbletown park just above its confluence with an unnamed tributary flowing in from the south. From there the Esopus begins flowing northeast, as portions of the stream are diverted into nearby ponds for the farms that surround it and its riparian buffer on the increasingly level terrain. After the old ford 1.25 miles (2.01 km) north of
5530-527: The stream flows into the town of Marbletown another thousand feet east, also crossing the Blue Line and leaving the Catskill Park . From there the creek bends to the west northwest, through a narrow gorge, with few structures breaking the forest around it. One mile into Marbletown it widens suddenly and bends to the south as a result of receiving the reservoir's other outlet stream. Gravel bars and some cleared areas on either side, still sloped steeply, mark
5609-408: The stream, while the Esopus continues north through its narrow wooded gorge, for the next three miles (4.8 km), widening to 300 ft (91 m). Development around the stream is limited to a quarry on the east a mile downstream of the bridge, and then a dead-end residential street on the west bank during the last of the three miles; the 161-acre (65 ha) Esopus Bend Nature Preserve buffers
5688-432: The streams are seen to diverge by the cardinal direction (north, south, east, or west) in which they proceed upstream, sometimes a third stream entering between two others is designated the middle fork; or the streams are distinguished by the relative height of one to the other, as one stream descending over a cataract into another becomes the upper fork, and the one it descends into, the lower ; or by relative volume:
5767-427: The tanbarking area on the slopes, and an oak–hickory forest closer to the stream's banks. The summit of 3,090-foot (940 m) Ashokan High Point , overlooking the reservoir, offers an anomalous pine-oak heath barren. Downstream of the reservoir the forests become a mix of the lower two. The floodplain forests are a mix of silver maple and elm ; river birch clusters around the banks. Another unusual community,
5846-419: The undeveloped land to their west along the creek to use as common pasture and firewood, since they were getting squeezed by Kingston to their east and Marbletown to the south. The petition was put off for several years while it was ostensibly being surveyed, and in 1706 a grant of 2 million acres (8,000 km) was made to Johannes Hardenbergh and a group of investors starting from the same point along
5925-408: The upper creek as well. Historians agree that the first Dutch settlers named the stream for the Lenape band that inhabited its banks. The Lenape themselves may have called it Atkarkarton or Atkankarten , meaning "smooth land" in their language, probably in reference to a meadow alongside the river near Kingston. Lenape use of that name is recorded in 1657; it later became the name of a hamlet in
6004-445: The way to Ashokan Reservoir, at 1,200 feet (370 m) in elevation. At the bridge, it receives Birch Creek , which drains from the small former village of Pine Hill to the west, opposite a large gravel bar, and then bends northward. The former channel of the Esopus cuts this corner, rejoining the main stem at the site of the two streams' former confluence a thousand feet (300 m) downstream. Through this section it widens through
6083-483: The west bank. The Esopus trends to the south southeast over its next mile and a half to the mouth of the Little Beaver Kill at Beechford, where it leaves Shandaken and enters the town of Olive . The shores get more developed over the next 0.8 miles (1.3 km) as the stream turns south and reaches Boiceville , its largest settlement since Phoenicia, where NY 28A crosses it at Five Arches Bridge. After
6162-493: The west. After two miles, more gravel bars and some islands in the channel mark a turn to the southeast. Another mile and a half (2.4 km) downstream, the Esopus receives the Beaver Kill at the hamlet of Mount Pleasant . It then crosses under Mount Pleasant Road and, 800 feet (240 m) downstream, Route 28, for the last time above the reservoir, near the hamlet of Mount Tremper . Here flood control measures stabilize
6241-567: Was one of three valleys that trees followed into the Catskills, as revegetation of the mountain slopes took place in the glaciers' wake. First to come were the boreal species, such as balsam fir , that today persist only on the summits of the range's higher peaks . Next were the northern hardwoods , primarily beech , birch and maple species, that dominate much of the Catskill forests today. Last were southern hardwood species, mostly oak , hickory and American chestnut , probably following
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