Lehigh River

Lehigh River
The Lehigh River near Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania in June 2002
The Lehigh River watershed highlighted in yellow
Location
CountryUnited States
StatePennsylvania
CountiesOn the river: Wayne, Lackawanna, Monroe, Luzerne, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Watershed: Wayne, Lackawanna, Monroe, Luzerne, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Schuylkill, Berks, Bucks
CitiesLehighton, Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton
Physical characteristics
SourcePocono Peak Lake
 • locationLehigh Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
 • coordinates41°16′42″N 75°24′22″W / 41.27833°N 75.40611°W / 41.27833; -75.40611
 • elevation2,056 ft (627 m)
MouthDelaware River
 • location
Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
 • coordinates
40°41′20″N 75°12′17″W / 40.68889°N 75.20472°W / 40.68889; -75.20472
 • elevation
160 ft (49 m)
Length109 mi (175 km)
Basin size1,345 sq mi (3,480 km2)
Discharge 
 • locationGlendon
 • average3,740 cu ft/s (106 m3/s)
 • minimum1,160 cu ft/s (33 m3/s)
 • maximum11,700 cu ft/s (330 m3/s)
Discharge 
 • locationStoddartsville
 • average280 cu ft/s (7.9 m3/s)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftTobyhanna Creek, Drakes Creek, Bear Creek (Lehigh River), Pohopoco Creek, Aquashicola Creek, Hokendauqua Creek, Monocacy Creek, and Catasauqua Creek
 • rightBlack Creek, Nesquehoning Creek, Mauch Chunk Creek, Mahoning Creek, Lizard Creek, Little Lehigh Creek, and Saucon Creek

The Lehigh River is a 109-mile-long (175 km)[1] tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward pattern from the Pocono Mountains in Northeastern Pennsylvania through Allentown and much of the Lehigh Valley before joining the Delaware River in Easton.

Part of the Lehigh River and a number of its tributaries are designated Pennsylvania Scenic Rivers by the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The river's name is an anglicisation of the Lenape name for the river, Lechewuekink, which means "where there are forks". Both Lehigh County and Lehigh Valley are named for the river.

Between 1821 and 1966, the Lehigh River was owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, making it the only privately owned river in the United States. This private ownership continued until a local representative, Samuel Frank, promoted a bill to return control of the river to the state in 1967.

According to an environmental report from a Pennsylvania nonprofit research center, the Lehigh River watershed is ranked second nationally in the volume of toxic substances released into it in 2020. The study mirrored a previous report by the state's Department of Environmental Protection that found most of the county's waterways unsafe for swimming or aquatic life.[2]

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed April 1, 2011
  2. ^ Golter, Graysen (September 29, 2022), "Lehigh River watershed had more toxic pollution than almost anywhere else in the country, report finds", The Morning Call, retrieved October 2, 2022