Chadakoin River

Chadakoin
River
Name origin: Seneca for 'the rapids'
Country	United States
State	New York
Tributaries
- left	Cassadaga Creek
River	Allegheny River System
Source	Chautauqua Lake
- elevation	1,308 ft (399 m)
- coordinates
Source confluence	Cassadaga Creek
- location	Falconer, New York
- elevation	1,257 ft (383 m)
- coordinates
Mouth	Conewango Creek
- location	Frewsburg, New York
- elevation	1,238 ft (377 m)
- coordinates
Length	7.8 mi (13 km)
Basin	192 sq mi (497 km2)
Discharge	for Falconer River Gage
- average	550 cu ft/s (16 m3/s)
- max	2,250 cu ft/s (64 m3/s)
- min	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
Chadakoin River (red) Chadakoin River (red)

The Chadakoin River is a 7.8-mile-long (12.6 km) stream that is a tributary of the Conewango Creek. The Chadakoin lies entirely in Chautauqua County in Western New York in the United States.

The stream's drainage covers 192 square miles, much of Chautauqua County, New York. The creek begins at the southern end of Chautauqua Lake. Its watershed is bounded to the north by the Chautauqua Ridge, a continental divide, that results in the water flowing eventually to the Gulf of Mexico rather than the Great Lakes.

Course

The Chadakoin River empties Chautauqua Lake at Celoron, New York and flows generally eastward through the City of Jamestown, New York, to Falconer, New York where it is joined by a major tributary, Cassadaga Creek, four miles east of Jamestown. The river then flows south to Frewsburg, New York where it empties into the Conewango Creek, which then flows southward into Pennsylvania and joins the Allegheny River at the city of Warren, Pennsylvania.

River modifications

Warner Dam, at Washington Street in Jamestown, controls the level of Chautauqua Lake and the flow of the Chadakoin. There is a five foot high weir at Buffalo Street in Jamestown.

History

Little is known about the indigenous population around the river prior to the 17th century; it was likely inhabited by either the Erie or the Wenro. Étienne Brûlé, the first European to explore the area, did not document what tribes lived there at the time. The Seneca people, of the Iroquois League, invaded the region in the 1650s as part of the Beaver Wars. The Chadakoin was part of their water route system that connected the Great Lakes and Canada with Pennsylvania and destinations further south.

The first recorded European exploration of the Chadakoin was by Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville. To strengthen France's claim to the Ohio Valley, Céloron carried out an expedition in the summer of 1749. The expedition from Montreal landed on the shore of Lake Erie, at the mouth of Chautauqua Creek in present-day Westfield, New York. The expedition carried their boats and equipment overland to Chautauqua Lake, then followed the Chadakoin River and Conewango Creek to the Allegheny River, reaching it on July 29, 1749.

The site for Jamestown was chosen in the early 1800s on the Chadakoin as a source of water power for mills. Later, flat bottomed boats brought manufactured goods from downstream to the growing village. Jamestown's mills shipped lumber downstream. Upstream traffic stopped about 1825 and by 1840 downstream commerce had ended.

As Jamestown became more populated, the area around the Chadakoin became the industrial core of the city. The river, especially below Warner Dam, was hidden by factories and sections of the river were covered by buildings. Neglected, the river became polluted and its banks were littered with trash.

The first few miles of the river, from Chautauqua Lake to Jamestown at the Fairmount Avenue bridge, are locally referred to as "The Outlet" and have been continuously used for water recreation, such as boating, canoeing and kayaking. The marsh areas along this length of the Chadakoin hold many birds and other animals. The revitalization of the riverfront that runs through Jamestown has received more attention recently, with the goal of increasing public access to the Chadakoin River by creating small parks and a pedestrian trail along the river. Recent cleanup efforts and the demolition of abandoned factory buildings have opened up the Chadakoin below Warner Dam to limited kayaking.

Historically, the river has been dyed green for Saint Patrick's Day celebrations in the city, a tradition that ended after the 2012 event due to budget cuts.

See also

• List of rivers of New York
• List of rivers of Pennsylvania
• List of tributaries of the Allegheny River

External links

• U.S. Geological Survey: Chadakoin River gaging station at Falconer
• Chautauqua Lake Watershed Conservancy