Raritan River

The Raritan River is a river of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous areas in the northern and central sections of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay near Staten Island on the Atlantic Ocean.

Geologists assert that the lower Raritan provided the course of the mouth of the Hudson River approximately 6,000 years ago. Following the end of the last ice age, the Narrows had not yet been formed and the Hudson flowed along the Watchung Mountains to present-day Bound Brook, then followed the course of the Raritan eastward into Lower New York Bay.^{[page needed]}

The name Raritan possibly derives from a branch of the Lenape people called the Nariticongs, the first people known to settle the Raritan Valley.

Following conflict with the arriving Dutch colonists, the native people of the region, especially the Sanhican, were forced to sell their territory near the Raritan Bay and move further inland along the river valley. As English colonists took over the region, they took advantage of the river's location between New York and Philadelphia as well as a road network developed by the Lenape to turn the region into a transportation and commercial hub. As a result, the Raritan River became an important waterway for colonial travel and trade, allowing for the development of trade centers like Raritan Landing and New Brunswick, where agricultural and raw material goods could be sold.

During the American Revolutionary War, the river was the site of guerilla warfare by American militiamen against British patrols, culminating in the Battle of Bound Brook where a large British force attacked an American outpost south of the river.^{[self-published source?]}

The success of the Erie Canal (completed in 1825) sparked a "canal fever" in the United States, catalyzing the construction of the Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R) between New Brunswick on the Raritan and Bordentown on the Delaware River. The D&R was completed in 1834 and provided a critical link between Philadelphia (and the rest of the greater Mid-Atlantic region, at large) and New York (and the rest of the greater New England region, at large), as these cities were situated along the crucial rivers of the Delaware and the Hudson, respectively. The vast majority of traffic along the canal was Pennsylvania anthracite coal with the rest consisting mostly of agricultural and textile goods. At its peak in 1866 the D&R transported more cargo than the Erie Canal. In 1932 the D&R canal shut down for commercial use. In 1974 the canal was developed as a state park for recreational use and remains in use as a water supply for central New Jersey. Various mill towns were formed along the canal and the aforementioned river (and tributaries), most notably (from south to north / west to east) being Trenton, Kingston, Blackwells Mills, Griggstown, Hillsborough, Manville, Chester, Bernards, Clinton, Raritan, Milltown, and Woodbridge.

The main Raritan River forms at the confluence of the North Branch Raritan River and the South Branch Raritan River, just west of Somerville at the border of Bridgewater, Branchburg, and Hillsborough Townships.

The North Branch Raritan River's headwaters are located in Mendham Borough and it flows from out of Morris County southward into Somerset County, to the southern end of the Watchung Mountains. The South Branch Raritan River's headwaters are located at Budd Lake (a glacial remnant a few miles northeast of Hackettstown), and it flows out of Morris County, through the heart of Hunterdon County, and along the western edge of Somerset County.