Pequest River

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox river | name = Pequest River | image = Pequest River headwaters near Springdale Andover Twsp NJ.jpg | image_caption = Headwaters of the Pequest near Springdale, in Andover Township, New Jersey | source1_coordinates= {{coord|41|01|50|N|74|45|12|W}} | source1_location = Stickles Pond, [[Newton, New Jersey]] | mouth_coordinates = {{coord|40|49|44|N|75|04|59|W|region:US-NJ|display=inline,title}} | mouth_location = [[Delaware River]] at [[Belvidere, New Jersey]] | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = [[United States of America]] | length_mi = 35.7 | length_ref = <ref name=NHD>U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329155652/http://u.s./ |date=2012-03-29 }}, accessed April 1, 2011</ref> | source1_elevation = {{convert|668|ft}}<ref>[https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri934076/stations/01443500.html https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri934076/stations/01443500.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250425231248/https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri934076/stations/01443500.html |date=2025-04-25 }} accessed 24 August 2006.</ref> | discharge1_avg = ? at [[Blairstown, New Jersey]]<ref>[https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/current/?type=flow https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/current/?type=flow] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250917142210/https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/current/?type=flow |date=2025-09-17 }} accessed 24 August 2006.</ref> | basin_size_mi2 = 162.62 | basin_size_ref = <ref>[http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/Flood_Website/floodclaims_reference.htm http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/Flood_Website/floodclaims_reference.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060829055636/http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/Flood_Website/floodclaims_reference.htm |date=2006-08-29 }} accessed 24 August 2006.</ref> }}

The '''Pequest River''' is a {{convert|35.7|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}}<ref name=NHD/> [[tributary]] of the [[Delaware River]] in the [[Skylands Region]] in northwestern [[New Jersey]] in the [[United States]].<ref name = "gertler">Gertler, Edward. ''Garden State Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-9605908-8-9}}</ref>

The Pequest, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] for "open land,"<ref name = "gertler"/> drains an area of {{convert|162.62|sqmi}} across [[Sussex County, New Jersey|Sussex]] and [[Warren County, New Jersey|Warren]] counties, consisting of ten municipalities.

==Course== The Pequest starts at Stickles Pond, [[Newton, New Jersey|Newton]] in [[Sussex County, New Jersey|Sussex County]] and flows southward through [[Springdale, Sussex County, New Jersey|Springdale]] and [[Huntsville, New Jersey|Huntsville]], about {{convert|3.5|mi}}, where it starts to turn southwest. It passes through a tunnel under the [[Pequest Fill]], built in 1911 by the [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad|Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad]] as part of the mammoth [[Lackawanna Cut-Off]] project.

Flowing through [[Tranquility, New Jersey|Tranquility]], it runs along the northwestern side of the [[Allamuchy Mountain]] ridge near [[Allamuchy Township, New Jersey|Allamuchy]], where it meets [[Trout Brook (New Jersey)|Trout Brook]].

It now joins [[Bear Creek (New Jersey)|Bear Creek]] in Bear Swamp and passes through the reclaimed swampy area known as the [[Great Meadows, New Jersey|Great Meadows]], lying between the ridges of [[Jenny Jump Mountain]] and [[Cat Swamp Mountain]]. [[Shades Of Death Road]] runs along the foot of Jenny Jump Mountain on the north side of the valley here. Some of the land here was drained for cultivation by excavation and clearing of the Pequest and its tributaries. It exits the Great Meadows in a long loop through the gap between Cat Swamp Mountain and [[Danville Mountain]] and resumes its course along the southeastern side of [[Mount Mohepinoke]], entering the [[Pequest Wildlife Management Area]]. [[Furnace Brook]] empties into it as it descends into a small gorge cut between Mt. Mohepinoke and an outlying spur of the [[Scotts Mountain]] massif. It turns west, and [[Mountain Lake Brook]] enters the stream just above [[Buttzville, New Jersey|Buttzville]], where it exists the Pequest WMA. It passes west through [[Bridgeville, New Jersey|Bridgeville]], turns slightly towards the north, and meets [[Beaver Brook (New Jersey)|Beaver Brook]] as it turns southwest again. It tumbles down to [[Belvidere, New Jersey|Belvidere]] in a series of falls, where it meets the Delaware River.

==Tributaries== *[[Beaver Brook (New Jersey)|Beaver Brook]] *[[Mountain Lake Brook]] *[[Furnace Brook]] *[[Bear Creek (New Jersey)|Bear Creek]] *[[Trout Brook (Pequest River)|Trout Brook]]

==See also== *[[List of rivers of New Jersey]]

==References== {{reflist}}

==Background resources==

===Books, monographs, and other references=== * Armstrong, William C. ''Pioneer Families of Northwestern New Jersey'' (Lambertville, New Jersey: Hunterdon House, 1979). * Cawley, James S. and Cawley, Margaret. ''Exploring the Little Rivers of New Jersey'' (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1942, 1961, 1971, 1993). {{ISBN|0-8135-0684-0}} * Chambers, Theodore Frelinghuysen. ''The early Germans of New Jersey: Their History, Churches, and Genealogies'' (Dover, New Jersey, Dover Printing Company, 1895), passim. * Cummings, Warren D. ''Sussex County: A History'' (Newton, New Jersey: Newton Rotary Club, 1964). NO ISBN * ''Documents Relating to the Colonial, Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey [Title Varies]. Archives of the State of New Jersey, 1st–2nd series.'' 47 volumes. (Newark, New Jersey: 1880–1949). NO ISBN * Honeyman, A. Van Doren (ed.). ''Northwestern New Jersey—A History of Somerset, Morris, Hunterdon, Warren, and Sussex Counties'' Volume 1. (Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, 1927). NO ISBN * Schrabisch, Max. ''Indian habitations in Sussex County, New Jersey'' Geological Survey of New Jersey, Bulletin No. 13. (Union Hill, New Jersey: Dispatch Printing Company, 1915). NO ISBN * Schrabisch, Max. ''Archaeology of Warren and Hunterdon counties'' Geological Survey of New Jersey, Bulletin No. 18. (Trenton, N.J., MacCrellish and Quigley co., state printers, 1917). NO ISBN * Snell, James P. ''History of Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey, With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers''. (Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1881). NO ISBN * Stickney, Charles E. ''Old Sussex County families of the Minisink Region'' from articles in the ''Wantage Recorder'' (compiled by Virginia Alleman Brown) (Washington, N.J. : Genealogical Researchers, 1988)

==External links== *[http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/allamuch.html Allamuchy Mountain State Park] *[http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pequest.htm Pequest Trout Hatchery] *[https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/current/?type=flow U.S. Geological Survey: NJ stream gaging stations]

[[Category:Rivers of New Jersey]] [[Category:Rivers of Sussex County, New Jersey]] [[Category:Tributaries of the Delaware River]] [[Category:Rivers of Warren County, New Jersey]]