Aroostook River
Template:Short description Template:Infobox river The Aroostook River is a Template:Convert<ref name=NHD>U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Template:Webarchive, accessed June 22, 2011</ref> tributary of the Saint John River in the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Its basin is the largest sub-drainage of the Saint John River.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The name is derived from the Malecite name Wool-ahs-took, translated by Ganong as "good river for everything". It appears as Arassatuk (DeRozier, 1699).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
HistoryEdit
In the late 1830s, the territory comprising the river's drainage area was the scene of the Aroostook War, a boundary dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom.Template:Citation needed
GeographyEdit
The river rises in northeastern Maine from the confluence of Millinocket Stream and Munsungan Stream in Maine Township 8, Range 8, WELS, in northern Penobscot County. The river winds east and northeast through Aroostook County. It runs through Ashland, and passes north of Presque Isle and east of Caribou. It joins the Saint John River in Aroostook, New Brunswick, Template:Convert after crossing the Canada–United States border.Template:Citation needed
The United States government maintains two river flow gages on the Aroostook. The first is located near Masardis, Maine (Template:Coord) where the rivershed is Template:Convert. The second is at Washburn, Maine (Template:Coord) where the rivershed is Template:Convert. By Fort Fairfield, Maine the rivershed is Template:Convert. At Masardis, the maximum recorded flow is Template:Convert and the minimum Template:Convert per second.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At Washburn, the maximum recorded flow is Template:Convert per second and the minimum Template:Convert per second.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Annual maximum flows occur during the spring snow melt and minimums in the fall. The highest flood levels at both gages occurred during ice-dam induced floods, which occur relatively often on this river. Such flooding occurred in March and April 1999, April and May 2003, and April 2004.<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref>
The International Appalachian Trail runs along the river for several miles. Hikers cross the river, pass through customs, and cross the international boundary at Fort Fairfield, Maine.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
NatureEdit
The river has a small run of Atlantic salmon. From 1998 to 2001, the number of adults returning to the river ranged from seventeen to thirty.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- USGS real-time river flow data at Washburn, Maine or Masardis, Maine. (Masardis also has air temperature.)
- See a panorama of the Aroostook River at Washburn
- National Weather Service forecast of river levels and flow.
- Real Time Aroostook River WebCam.
- Template:Cite gnis
Template:Saint John River Template:Rivers of Maine Template:Rivers of New Brunswick