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The Great Falls of the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey

The Passaic River is a tributary of Newark Bay, approximately 80 mi (129 km long), in northern New Jersey in the United States. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, draining much of the northern portion of the state through its tributaries. In its lower portion, it flows through the most urbanized and industrialized areas of the state, including along downtown Newark. The lower river suffered from severe pollution and industrial abandonment in the 20th century, but has begun to recover in recent decades.

Description

The Passaic rises in the boro of Mendham, in southern Morris County. It initially flows generally south, through Morristown National Historical Park, and forms the boundary between Morris and Somerset counties. It passes along the western edge of the Great Swamp, which it drains through several small tributaries. The river passes through a gorge in Millington and then turns abruptly northeast, flowing through the valley between Long Hill to the west and Watchung Mountain to the east.

Near Chatham it turns north, forming the boundary between Morris and Essex counties. It passes Livingston and West Caldwell, where it flows through the Hatfield Swamp and is joined by the Rockaway River. Southwest of Lincoln Park it passes through the Great Piece Meadows, where it turns abruptly eastward and is joined at Two Bridges by its major tributary, the Pompton River.

It flows northeast into the city of Paterson, where it encounters the Great Falls of the Passaic, below which it becomes navigable. On the north end of Paterson, it turns abruptly south, flowing between Paterson on the west and Garfield on the east, then through the city of Passaic, then pasing Rutherford, Lyndhurst, Nutley, Belleville, and North Arlington, New Jersey.

The Bridge Street Bridge spans the Passaic River between Newark and Harrison.

In its lowest reaches, it flows along the northeast side of the city of Newark, passing Kearny and Harrison, New Jersey on the opposite bank. Near downtown Newark it makes an abrupt northwest bend, then south, joining the Hackensack River at the north end of Newark Bay estuary, a back bay of New York Harbor.

Vantage Points

The Passaic River can be accessed via a number of County parks. One notable park is called Stanley Park between Summit and Chatham. Other parks along the river are located in Passaic County. As part of the ongoing City of Newark revitalization effort, parkland is proposed along the banks of the river.

The Passaic River is generally free of industrialization until it reaches the Summit and Chatham border. The upper portion of the river, above Summit and Chatham are more natural in appearance and the river has more of a young river character in places. The middle portion of the river flows through natural marsh lands and forested areas in Essex County (which is generally inaccessible) and then through heavily populated areas of Passaic County that is accessible via parrelling roads and parks. Lower portions of the river, south of Paterson are wider, more industrialized and more mature in nature. The banks of the lower portion of the river are mainly industrialized.

History

The Passaic River formed as a result of drainage from a massive proglacial lake that was located in Northern New Jersey at the end of the last ice age, approximately 11,000 years ago. The lake was called Glacial Lake Passaic and was centered in the present lowland swamps of Morris County. The Passaic River found a path to the ocean via the Millington Gorge and Paterson Falls as the glacier that covered the area retreated northward and the lake drained. As a result, the river as we now know it was born.

Starting in the late 18th century, the river was highly significant in the early industrial development of New Jersey, providing a navigable route connected by canals to the Delaware River. It was also an early source of hydropower at the Great Falls of the Passaic in Paterson, resulting in the early emergence of the area as the center of industrial mills.

File:DSCN3836 passaicriverinwesternessexco e.JPG

The Passaic River in eastern Essex County, New Jersey

Much of the lower river also suffered severe pollution during the 19th and 20th centuries. Although the health of the river has improved due to environmental legislation and regulation and the decline of industry along the river, it still suffers from substantial degradation of water quality. The sediment at the mouth of the river near Newark Bay also remains contaminated by such pollutants as dioxin which was largely produced at the Diamond Shamrock Chemical Plant in Newark as a waste product produced during the production of the agent orange defoliation chemical used during the Viet Nam War. The cleanup of the dioxin contamination on the bottom of the Passaic River is the subject of a major environmental lawsuit that has been ongoing for decades regarding the responsibility for the cleanup.

The decline of manufacturing on the lower river has also left a post-industrial landscape of abandoned and disused factories and other facilities. In particular the stretch of the river along downtown Newark came to be regarded in the later decades of the 20th century as particularly wretched. Starting in the 1990s, the lower river became subject of federal and state urban restoration efforts which have resulted in new construction along the riverfront, including a regional headquarters of the FBI.

While there has been a decline in the industrial use of the river recreational use has increased since the early 1990s. While there has been a long tradition of high school rowing by Kearny, Belleville, and Nutley High Schools, in 1990 the historic Nereid Boat Club (originally founded in 1868) was revived broadening the sport of Rowing on the Passaic River. In 1999, the Passaic River Rowing Association became the second Rowing Club along the banks of the Lower Passaic River. Today, the rowing community is very active through the two Rowing Clubs (Nereid Boat Club & Passaic River Rowing Association) and eight Hgh School Crews (Kearny, Belleville, Nutley, Don Bosco, Montclair, Ridgewood, Teaneck, and Westfield.)

Flooding Problems

The Passaic River is known for chronic flooding problems during periods of heavy rainfall or snowmelt, especially where the Pompton River joins the Passaic River in Wayne, New Jersey. The two rivers form a sizable flood plain in this area that floods homes and businesses on a fairly regular basis. A proposal has been floated to build a massive 20 mile (32 km) Passaic River Flood Tunnel to divert the periodic flood waters southeast into Newark Bay, thus relieving the flooding problems upstream. While the flood tunnel is debated, some residents have accepted buy-outs from the federal government; however, many residents still live within the flood zone and flooding appears to be growing worse as the land in the Passaic River basin is increasingly developed.

Little Falls Flood Guage

The Little Falls Flood Guage along the Passaic River is located just south of the junction with the Pompton River, in an area that frequently floods. Flood stage is 7 feet at this location.

Tributaries

(As encountered travelling upstream):

External links

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 *[[Black Brook (New Jersey)|Black Brook]]
 *[[Great Brook (New Jersey)|Great Brook]]
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 *[[Primrose Brook]]
 *[[Penns Brook]]