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62-791: Papakating Creek and its three major tributaries drain the northern portion of New Jersey's Kittatinny Valley a fertile valley underlain by shale and limestone of the Ordovician Martinsburg Formation and soils deposited by retreating glaciers in the last ice age . The region which the Papakating Creek and its tributaries drain is largely rural farmland and forests with a few low-density residential communities. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reports that phosphorus and fecal coliform from agricultural or residential runoff as well as arsenic from agricultural pesticide applications or regional mineralogy impair

124-552: A confluence of tributaries can be a true river source, though both often provide the starting point for the portion of a river carrying a single name. For example, National Geographic and virtually every other geographic authority and atlas define the source of the Nile River not as Lake Victoria 's outlet where the name "Nile" first appears, which would reduce the Nile's length by over 900 km (560 mi) (dropping it to fourth or fifth on

186-575: A creek in northwestern New Jersey. Papakating is derived from the language spoken by the Munsee (the northern branch of the Lenape or Delaware Indians ) who inhabited northern New Jersey, northeastern Pennsylvania, and southern New York and western Long Island at the time of European settlement of eastern seaboard of the United States. The name Papakating , and several variant spellings, had been recorded for

248-477: A few low-density communities. Several of the tributaries of the Papakating Creek have been dammed to create man-made lakes that were the centre of residential developments . in 1926, a dam was erected on Clove Creek in Sussex Borough to create Clove Acres Lake at the site of a former horse racing track and picnic spot. The 32.5-acre (13.2 ha) lake was developed into a lakeside community in that straddles

310-447: A lesser extent by other pollutants including fecal coliform and arsenic . The presence of fecal coliform (chiefly Enterococcus and Escherichia coli ) can be attributed both to residential septic and sewage systems and to farm animals and wildlife. While no specific source of arsenic has been identified, NJDEP indicates that possible sources may include the leaching of arsenic into the water from naturally occurring mineralogy within

372-520: A line connecting Slatington, Pennsylvania to Pine Island, New York parallels the creek's east bank through Frankford and Wantage. This line was later operated by the Lehigh and New England Railroad until 1961. At McCoy's Corner in Wantage, an intersection south of Sussex borough, the waters of the Papakating Creek merge with its tributary West Branch Papakating Creek . The creek continues to flow northeast on

434-515: A prominence along that ridge known as Sunrise Mountain , elevation 1,650 feet (500 m). This source is located in the northernmost corner of Frankford Township, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the hamlet of Beemerville in Wantage Township. From the source, the Papakating flows southeast through Frankford Township north of the borough of Branchville . In this region, the Papakating

496-537: Is a tributary. Its southern portion is drained by Paulins Kill and Pequest River . The watersheds of northern and southern Kittatinny Valley are divided by a glacial moraine . The Papakating valley's topography and surficial geology is defined by stratified and unstratified drift as well as till and gravel deposits left behind by the retreating glaciers during the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age) and feature several kames and kame terraces. A unique feature in

558-439: Is barren land, 16,448.6 acres (6,656.5 ha) or 42.4% is forested, 4,819 acres (1,950 ha) or 12.4% is urban development, 5,982.2 acres (2,420.9 ha) or 15.4% is wetlands, and 490.8 acres (198.6 ha) or 1.3% is water. According to 2002 figures, the watershed was estimated to be home to approximately 11,602 residents of Sussex County. The Papakating Creek watershed is flanked on the west by Kittatinny Mountain and on

620-485: Is considered a linear geographic feature, with only one mouth and one source. For an example, the Mississippi River and Missouri River sources are officially defined as follows: The verb "rise" can be used to express the general region of a river's source, and is often qualified with an adverbial expression of place. For example: The word "source", when applied to lakes rather than rivers or streams, refers to

682-414: Is derived from the runoff of fertilizer applications on residential lawns and agricultural operations. NJDEP identifies that "runoff from land surfaces was found to comprise a substantial portion of the phosphorus load", citing that large communities of geese that reside within the lake communities along Neepaulakating Creek and the nearby Clove Brook also contribute phosphorus to the creek. Clove Acres Lake

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744-758: Is drained by three small shallow rivers. The first is the Paulinskill River which flows from Newton north to Augusta , then southeast to empty into the Delaware River near Columbia . The second is the Wallkill River which starts at Lake Mohawk in Sparta. The river flows northwest. Papakating Creek and the West Branch of Papakating Creek flow into the Wallkill north of the town of Sussex. The Wallkill flows north over

806-401: Is identified as being eutrophic in that phosphorus loading has stimulated excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants resulting in an accelerating aging of the lake, sedimentation and excessive loading of silt and organic matter, fluctuating oxygen saturation and depletion, and that these factors can impact the creek through a potential loss of biodiversity . The creek is further impaired to

868-654: Is located in the northern Kittatinny Valley in New Jersey which is a segment of the Great Appalachian Valley , a 1,200-miles (1,900 km) trough spanning from Quebec to Alabama. Elevations within the Kittatinny Valley range from 400 feet (120 m) to 1,000 feet (300 m). In New Jersey, the northern portion of Kittatinny Valley is drained by the watershed of the Wallkill River of which Papakating Creek

930-505: Is not derived from Munsee or any other Native American language. Lake Neepaulin was named after a combination of the original developers children's names. The Board of Geographic Names approved the name on April 8, 2004. The headwaters of Papakating Creek are located at 900 feet (270 m) above sea level in Frankford Township , New Jersey . The stream begins in a small swamp at the foot of Kittatinny Mountain , immediately beneath

992-560: Is separated from the watershed of the southward-flowing Dry Brook , a tributary of the Paulins Kill , by approximately 500 feet. The two watersheds are divided by a small rise in elevation of 20–30 feet between the drainages the two streams. Immediately to the north of Frankford Plains, a high flat-topped deposit of sand and gravel, the Papakating turns southeast. It generally weaves along the path of George Hill Road in Frankford where it reaches

1054-407: Is the place where surface runoffs from rainwater , meltwater and/or spring water begin accumulating into a more substantial and consistent flow that becomes a first-order tributary of that river. The tributary with the longest course downstream of the headwaters is regarded as the main stem . The United States Geological Survey (USGS) states that a river's "length may be considered to be

1116-569: The Churn — although not without contention. When not listing river lengths, however, alternative definitions may be used. The Missouri River's source is named by some USGS and other federal and state agency sources, following Lewis and Clark 's naming convention, as the confluence of the Madison and Jefferson rivers, rather than the source of its longest tributary (the Jefferson). This contradicts

1178-542: The New Jersey Natural Lands Trust in partnership with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the larger Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge . These areas allow for recreational activities including fishing, hunting, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and birdwatching. Further, Papakating Creek is stocked with several species of trout ( brook , brown , and rainbow ) in

1240-608: The Smithsonian Institution , is also used by the National Geographic Society when pinpointing the source of rivers such as the Amazon or Nile . A definition given by the state of Montana agrees, stating that a river source is never a confluence but is "in a location that is the farthest, along water miles, from where that river ends." Under this definition, neither a lake (excepting lakes with no inflows) nor

1302-666: The Wallkill River east of Sussex borough and north of Hamburg borough . Papakting Creek drains a watershed of 60.6 square miles (157 km) or 38,798 acres (15,701 ha) in area. It includes portions of Frankford, Lafayette , Montague , and Wantage Townships, as well as all of Sussex Borough . According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), the watershed consists of gently sloping agricultural farm fields, wooded forests, wetlands, low-density residential development and older individually built homes. Its topography ranges from gently rolling in

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1364-714: The Wisconsin Glacier just north of Columbia on the New Jersey border with Pennsylvania . This is slightly south of the Delaware Water Gap . The eastern side of the valley trends northeast along Highlands of the Jenny Jump Mountains, then along the base of Allamuchy Mountains to Andover where it follows the western edge of the Pimple Hills to the Hamburg Mountains. The eastern edge of the valley follows

1426-409: The "recovery of the federal threatened and state endangered bog turtle " ( Glyptemys muhlenbergii ), and preserve "plant habitat for the rare Fraser's Saint John's wort " ( Triadenum fraseri ). The bog is described as a wet meadow that features the pinkish-purple flowers of New York ironweed and Joe Pye weed in late summer and that "woodchucks have dug their dens on the gently sloping edge between

1488-784: The Kitatinny Mountain was born. About half of the valley is of the Martinsburg formation which is shale and slate . Some of the valley is of the Kittatinny and Jacksonburg limestones. The Kittatinny formation formed during the Cambrian period. Most of the formations are in belts traversing a northeast to southwest axis. A volcanic breccia is located at Rutan Hill , which is along County Route 519 in Wantage Township , about five miles (8.0 km) northwest of Sussex, New Jersey . During

1550-598: The Kittatinny Mountain and the southern Appalachians. The valley is situated between the Silurian Shawangunk quartz conglomerate and the lower Cambrian Hardyston quartzite . The Silurian Shawangunk Conglomerate lies on top of the Martinsburg Formation . This is due to the quartz pebbles being transported on top of the Martinsburg shale, and then due to geologic pressure, folded and faulted. Thus

1612-427: The Kittatinny Valley around 10,500 BC. They hunted game, fished and gathered plants. The valley is fairly flat with fresh water streams which allowed for easy hunting and gathering various plants and nuts. Native Americans came later and camped along the shallow and narrow streams. These streams allowed for easy fishing, waterfowl hunting, as well as hunting small and large game in the forests. Europeans settled in

1674-443: The Kittatinny Valley in the early 1740s. The virgin forests were cut to allow for agriculture and the selling of timber. Eventually nearly all the forest was cleared by the early 1900s. Settlers built rock walls along the borders of the properties. These rock walls can be seen everywhere in the valley. Very few of these original houses exist today because the houses were made of wood and caught fire or rotted. Some were made of stone from

1736-417: The Kittatinny Valley, including: 40°59′00″N 74°51′00″W  /  40.98333°N 74.85000°W  / 40.98333; -74.85000 River source The headwater of a river or stream is the point on each of its tributaries upstream from its mouth / estuary into a lake / sea or its confluence with another river. Each headwater is considered one of the river's sources , as it

1798-481: The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection designated a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) segment of Papakating Creek in the vicinity of Sussex Borough and Clove Creek (including Clove Acres Lake) to be impaired by phosphorus loading . NJDEP estimates a phosphorus concentration of 0.0791 mg/L and a discharge of 9,234.1 kilograms (20,358 lb) of phosphorus each year. The source of most of its presence

1860-711: The New York State line and drains into the Hudson River. The third small river is the Pequest River which begins in Andover Township and flows south to Great Meadows and then flows east to Belvidere and drains into the Delaware River. All three of these rivers are premier trout fishing streams, as they are stocked every year. After the Wisconsin Glacier melted around 13,000 BC, Paleo Indians found their way into

1922-872: The Northern Climate Zone. This phenomenon is attributed to the orographic lift of Kittatinny Mountain which impacts local weather patterns by increasing humidity and precipitation . The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 25.0 °F (−3.9 °C) in January to 71.1 °F (21.7 °C) in July. Temperatures reach 90 °F (32 °C) on 12.6 days and fall to 0 °F (−18 °C) on 6 nights annually. Snowfall averages 42 inches (107 cm) per season, although this usually varies widely from year to year. Extremes in temperature range from −29 °F (−34 °C) on January 21, 1994 up to 106 °F (41 °C) on July 10, 1936. Several large tracts of land within

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1984-492: The Papakating watershed are protected areas administered by state and federal governments. Segments of land along the eastern face Kittatinny Mountain are located within the boundaries of High Point State Park and Stokes State Forest . The mouth of Papakating Creek and several areas purchased by preservation or conservation groups along the river's course (known as the Papakating Creek Preserve) are administered by

2046-658: The Spring and early Summer by the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife for recreational fishing . The New Jersey Natural Lands Trust states that the Papakating Creek watershed offers a variety of habitats for plants and animals, including several that are designated threatened or endangered by the state and federal governments. These habitats include: Meadows and pastures offer grassland habitat for songbirds and hunting opportunity for red-tailed hawks. The forest lands of ash, maple and hemlock provide cool, shaded conditions to

2108-479: The Wisconsin Glacier which lasted from 21,000 BC to 13,000 BC, the valley was covered in three hundred meters of ice. The glacier melted and this created end moraines , eskers , lakes , and other post glacier formations. Lakes were also created, such as Culver's Lake , Lake Aeroflex, Cranberry Lake , and Lake Owassa . Lake Aeroflex is the deepest lake at one hundred and ten feet (34 m) deep. The valley

2170-461: The border between Sussex and Wantage Township. In the 1950s, Lake Neepaulin in Wantage Township was created by damming an unnamed mountain stream. In 2002, local residents of the Lake Neepaulin community decided to name the unnamed tributary Neepaulakating Creek from a combination of elements of the names Neepaulin and Papakating . Despite its seemingly Native American appearance, Neepaulin

2232-406: The bottom of Kittatinny Valley and turns to the northeast. Flowing northeast, the Papakating passes through a series of named crossroads or small hamlets, including Armstrong and Pellettown in Frankford. The stream meanders through several miles of farmland along the floor of Kittatinny Valley. At Pellettown, formerly known as Papakating, the creek is joined by an unnamed tributary and passes under

2294-400: The combined Missouri—lower Mississippi length figure in lists of lengths of rivers around the world. Most rivers have numerous tributaries and change names often; it is customary to regard the longest tributary or stem as the source, regardless of what name that watercourse may carry on local maps and in local usage. This most commonly identified definition of a river source specifically uses

2356-536: The creek consistently since the American colonial period. Maps and documents at the time of the American Revolution often render the name as Pepocottin or Pepper-Cotton . The name was used for both the creek and its valley, and subsequently during the nineteenth century for a small hamlet that later gave its name to a post office and train depot. The post office was authorized as "Pepokating" on August 26, 1851 and

2418-514: The creek, which were used briefly in the nineteenth century, are associated with William Pellet, Jr. (1771–1806) and Obadiah Pellet (1775–1849), who settled along the Papakating after purchasing 600 acres of farmland in Frankford Township in 1801. Obadiah eventually acquired "twelve valuable farms comprising twenty-five hundred acres of land". Pellet established house, grist mill, blacksmith shop and store by 1812, and "the site of these activities

2480-549: The creek. Within the watershed are lands belonging to two state parks , one federal wildlife refuge , and preserves managed by the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust which set aside tracts for wildlife habitats that protect unique ecosystems and some threatened species. On June 29, 1897, the United States Geological Survey ' s Board of Geographic Names approved the toponym Papakating for

2542-555: The distance from the mouth to the most distant headwater source (irrespective of stream name), or from the mouth to the headwaters of the stream commonly known as the source stream". As an example of the second definition above, the USGS at times considers the Missouri River as a tributary of the Mississippi River . But it also follows the first definition above (along with virtually all other geographic authorities and publications) in using

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2604-583: The east by the watershed of the Wallkill. To the east of the Wallkill River are the mountains of New Jersey's Highlands physiographic province . Kittatinny Valley is underlain by dark shale and limestone of the Martinsburg Formation and has soils that are glacial in origin. The Martinsburg Formation is a two-mile-thick (3.2 km) layer of a thick turbidite sequence of weaker sedimentary materials , mostly slate, greywacke sandstone, shale, and limestone derived from Ordovician-period deep ocean floor deposits (540 to 400 million years ago). The creek's watershed

2666-406: The east side of Sussex Airport . To the immediate north of Sussex Airport, at the hamlet of Lewisburg in Wantage, the waters of both Neepaulakating Creek and Clove Brook join the creek. The Papakating begins to turn eastward and is crossed by bridge carrying New Jersey Route 23 . The creek enters a dense marsh terrain, historically known as the "Drowned Lands of the Wallkill", before flowing into

2728-506: The east to strongly sloping in the west. Its watershed contributes to the Wallkill River which flows north and joins the waters of Rondout Creek at Esopus, New York , a short distance before the Rondout flows into the Hudson River near Kingston, New York . Of the Papakating's watershed's acreage, 10,760 acres (4,350 ha) or 27.7% of agricultural land, 297.6 acres (120.4 ha) or 0.8%

2790-469: The forest and the old corn field". A smaller parcel features streamside wetlands of arrowwood and elderberry which provides "habitat ideal for wood turtles and yellow-throated warblers". Kittatinny Valley The Kittatinny Valley is a section of the Great Appalachian Valley in Sussex and Warren counties in northwestern New Jersey that is bounded on the northwest by Kittatinny Mountain , and in

2852-694: The late Ordovician period and the Cambrian period . This is when the volcanic island chain collided with proto North America, around four hundred fifty million BC. This is known as the Taconic Orogeny. The rock from the islands went over top of the North American plate. The sediment under the seas was compressed and formed shale and was uplifted. Thus the Kittatinny Valley was born. Then a small continent collided with proto North America around four hundred million BC. This created folding and faulting which created

2914-613: The list of world's rivers), but instead use the source of the largest river flowing into the lake, the Kagera River . Likewise, the source of the Amazon River has been determined this way, even though the river changes names numerous times along its course. However, the source of the Thames in England is traditionally reckoned according to the named river Thames rather than its longer tributary,

2976-598: The melting of glacial ice . Headwater areas are the upstream areas of a watershed , as opposed to the outflow or discharge of a watershed. The river source is often but not always on or quite near the edge of the watershed, or watershed divide. For example, the source of the Colorado River is at the Continental Divide separating the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean watersheds of North America . A river

3038-636: The most common definition, which is, according to a US Army Corps of Engineers official on a USGS site, that "[geographers] generally follow the longest tributary to identify the source of rivers and streams." In the case of the Missouri River, this would have the source be well upstream from Lewis and Clark's confluence, "following the Jefferson River to the Beaverhead River to Red Rock River , then Red Rock Creek to Hell Roaring Creek ." Sometimes

3100-496: The most distant point (along watercourses from the river mouth ) in the drainage basin from which water runs year-around ( perennially ), or, alternatively, as the furthest point from which water could possibly flow ephemerally . The latter definition includes sometimes-dry channels and removes any possible definitions that would have the river source "move around" from month to month depending on precipitation or ground water levels. This definition, from geographer Andrew Johnston of

3162-453: The name revised to the more common spelling of Papakating in 1862. Service to this post office was discontinued in 1923. Today, the site of a confluence between an unnamed tributary and the Papakating Creek is known as Pellettown and the Board of Geographic Names lists Pellet Creek and Pellettown Creek as historical names that have been used for the creek in the past. These alternate names for

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3224-596: The nearby area. The Europeans saw that the valley was flat in places, and cut down the forests to start agricultural practices. Rocks were cleared from the land and places on rock walls which served as boundary markers. Low-lying fields are left to grow grass for cows and horses. Other fields are used to grow corn for horses or cows . On a few fields pumpkins or tomatoes are grown. There are apple and peach orchards. There are also dairy farms that have twenty to seventy-five cows. There are several federal, state, and privately protected areas along Kittatinny Mountain and

3286-474: The path of County Route 565 . Route 565 is a north–south county highway connecting Sussex borough and New Jersey Route 23 with Ross's Corner (its terminus) where it meets New Jersey Route 15 and U.S. Route 206 . From Pelletown, the road runs roughly parallel to the west of the creek's course. A railbed constructed in the 1870s and 1880s by the Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie & Boston Railroad (PP&B) for

3348-537: The rest of the state which is generally a humid mesothermal climate, in which temperatures range between −3 °C (27 °F) and 18 °C (64 °F) during the year's coldest month. Sussex County is part of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6 . According to the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service soil survey , the area receives sunshine approximately 62% of the time in summer and 48% in winter. Prevailing winds are typically from

3410-558: The slow moving creek. Here, raccoon, mink and possum make bridges of the numerous fallen trees which cross the creek. ... Wood frog and salamander utilize fringes of some of the smaller wetlands. Painted turtles and bluegills swim within the deeper oxbows and pools along the Papakating Creek. In 2010, the Trust for Public Land finalized the purchase of the Armstrong Bog which was described as a rare Calcareous fen wetland site in order to aid

3472-501: The source of the most remote tributary may be in an area that is more marsh -like, in which the "uppermost" or most remote section of the marsh would be the true source. For example, the source of the River Tees is marshland . The furthest stream is also often called the head stream. Headwaters are often small streams with cool waters because of shade and recently melted ice or snow. They may also be glacial headwaters, waters formed by

3534-527: The southeast by the New Jersey Highlands region. The valley is roughly 40 miles (64 km) long, with a breadth of 10 to 13 miles (16 to 21 km). The Kittatinny Valley is in northern New Jersey. The western side of the valley goes from the New York state line, east of High Point , and runs southwest along the base of the eastern slope of Kittatinny Mountains to the terminal moraine created by

3596-411: The southwest for most of year; but in late winter and early spring come from the northwest. The Kittatinny Valley to the north of Newton experiences a snowbelt phenomenon and has been categorized as a microclimate region known as the " Sussex County Snow Belt ." This region receives approximately forty to fifty inches of snow per year and generally more snowfall that the rest of Northern New Jersey and

3658-753: The watershed is Rutan Hill , also called Volcanic Hill, thought to be the throat of an ancient, extinct volcano which was active at the end of the Taconic Orogeny approximately 420 million years ago. This nondescript hill in the Beemerville section of Wantage Township, is the surface expression of a lamprophyric diatreme that is the northern part of the Late Ordovician Beemerville Alkaline Complex that also includes two large nepheline syenite plutons ; and several other nearby and much smaller dikes , sills , and diatremes. In 2004,

3720-450: The watershed or to the agricultural use of pesticides. Because of its location in the higher elevations of northwestern New Jersey the Papakating Creek's watershed has a cooler humid continental climate or microthermal climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfb) which indicates patterns of significant precipitation in all seasons and at least four months where the average temperature rises above 10 °C (50 °F). This differs from

3782-686: The western base of Hamburg Mountain to the New York State line. North of the New York state line is the Hudson Valley . South of the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin Glacier is the Lehigh Valley . The Hudson, the Lehigh, and the Kittatinny Valleys are all locally named sections of the Great Appalachian Valley . Sediment was deposited at the bottom of deep seas. The Kittatinny Valley was created during

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3844-446: Was known as Pepocotting (became Papakating), after the stream on which they had located, but gradually adopted the name Pellettown". His son Stephen J. Pellet (1820–1886), a local farmer, merchant, and Justice of the Peace who was appointed the first postmaster of the Papakating post office operating in his store. Today, the Papakating Creek and its watershed is rural in character; consisting of farmland, forests, and wetlands. There are

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