West River (Vermont)
The West River is a tributary of the Connecticut River, about 53.8 miles (86.6 km) long, in southern Vermont in the United States. According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known historically as "Wantastiquet" and as "Waters of the Lonely Way". Its watershed covers 423 square miles; land use is about 90% forested and 3% agricultural, and the upper river supports wild brook trout and naturalized brown trout, while Atlantic salmon occur in most of the river.
The West River rises in the Green Mountains in the town of Mount Holly in southeastern Rutland County and flows southwardly through southwestern Windsor County into Windham County, where it turns southeastwardly. Along its course it flows through or along the boundaries of the towns of Weston, Londonderry, Jamaica, Townshend, Brookline, Newfane (where it collects the Rock River), and Dummerston to Brattleboro, where it flows into the Connecticut River.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dams on the West cause the river to form Ball Mountain Lake and Townshend Lake, both of which were built for the purpose of flood control in 1961. The river between Ball Mountain Lake and Townshend Lake is used for white water boating during releases from the Ball Mountain Dam (usually occurring during one weekend in April and one weekend in September).
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Famous quotes containing the words west and/or river:
“Where there’s more of singing and less of sighing,
Where there’s more of giving and less of buying,
And a man makes friends without half trying
That’s where the West begins.”
—Arthur Chapman (1873–1935)
“This ferry was as busy as a beaver dam, and all the world seemed anxious to get across the Merrimack River at this particular point, waiting to get set over,—children with their two cents done up in paper, jail-birds broke lose and constable with warrant, travelers from distant lands to distant lands, men and women to whom the Merrimack River was a bar.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)