Connecticut River

The Connecticut River is the largest river in New England, flowing south from the Connecticut Lakes in northern New Hampshire, along the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, through western Massachusetts and central Connecticut discharging into the Long Island Sound at Old Saybrook, Connecticut. It has a total length of 407 miles (655 km), and a drainage basin extending over 11,250 square miles (29,100 km). The mean freshwater discharge into Long Island Sound is 19,600 cubic feet (560 m) per second. The river is tidal up to Windsor Locks, Connecticut, approximately 60 miles (97 km) from the mouth. The source of the river is the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. Some tributaries include the Ashuelot, West, Miller's, Deerfield, White, and Chicopee rivers. The Swift River, a tributary of the Chicopee, has been dammed and largely replaced by the Quabbin Reservoir which provides water to Boston. The river carries a heavy amount of silt, especially during the spring snow melt, from as far north as Quebec. The heavy silt concentration of the river forms a large sandbar near its mouth on Long Island Sound and has historically provided a formidable obstacle to navigation. The difficulty of navigation on the river is the primary reason that it is one of the few large rivers in the region without a major city near its mouth. The Connecticut River estuary and tidal wetlands complex is listed as one of the 1,759 wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.