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Subject: [GenConnecticut-L] The Connecticut River
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2000 18:24:57 EST

The Connecticut River--New England's longest--separates New Hampshire from
Vermont and today as in the distant past is among the most significant
defining features of the two neighbor states. This is particularly so when it
comes to historical and cultural development. The pace, direction and
characteristics of settlement and change were and continue to be inextricably
linked to the river that the native population called Kwenitekw or
Quinatucquet or any number of other similar names meaning Great or Long
River.

Until the building of the turnpikes in the early 1800s and the railroads in
the mid 1800s, the river provided the chief transportation route for goods,
settlers and ideas, and explains why the early development of the western
areas of New Hampshire and the eastern areas of Vermont has so much of its
origins in Connecticut. Navigation was not an easy task, particularly along
the upper reaches of the river. Canals were built as a result. In 1802, the
canal at Bellows Falls was opened, followed by others at Hartland and Wilder.

http://www.valley.net/~connriver/Trail6.htm

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