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The Delaware — The Little River That Could
Submitted by Christopher Roberts, Delaware River Basin
Commission
 The
Delaware is the longest un-dammed river east of the Mississippi.
But it's not big as rivers go. The Nile, the Amazon, the Yangtze
— each stretch for some 4,000 miles.
The Delaware River and the bay it flows into are but 330 miles
long. Size, however, doesn't speak for their might.
Roughly half of New York City's water comes from Delaware River
headwater reservoirs. The Delaware and its tributaries serve
up water to Philadelphia and a cluster of other nearby riverbank
cities, which collectively comprise the world's largest freshwater
port.
In all, over 17 million people, or 6.4 percent of the U.S. population,
rely on the river, its feeder streams, and its reservoirs for
their water.
 The
Delaware is a river of diverse demands and moods. Fed by the
runoff from four states, it tumbles out of New York State's
Catskill Mountains, trips over the rocks at the head of tide
at Trenton, then glides towards the Delaware Bay.
Giant cargo ships and barges off-load at piers along the river's
tidal reach, the products supporting a sprawl of heavy industry
and one of the nation's largest oil refining-petrochemical centers.
Upstream, bald eagles hunt for prey along the river's main stem
and feeder streams that support a world class trout fishery.
Canoeists and tubers seek out riffles and rapids.
The Delaware is abundant with natural wonders, its waters beckoning
those yearning for a true river adventure.
 Its
magic and rich history have become the subjects of literary
giants.
Walt Whitman discovered poetry in its commerce, describing the
steam tugs that plied it as "saucy little bullpups of the
current."
Rudyard Kipling wrote about war:
The snow lies thick on Valley Forge,
The ice on the Delaware,
But the poor dead soldiers of King George
They neither know nor care.
Thomas Eakins painted sailboats skipping over the Delaware Bay's
white-capped waves, and scullers racing on the Schuylkill.
 As
a result of a remarkable comeback in water quality and a growing
appreciation of her myriad attractions, much of the Delaware
River and numerous feeder streams today are part of the National
Wild and Scenic Rivers System — a designation most often
reserved for bucolic trout streams out West. And the tidal reach
of the Delaware, along with the Delaware Bay, are part of the
National Estuary Program, a project set up in 1988 to protect
estuarine systems of national significance.
Additional recognition recently was bestowed on the river.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has named the Delaware the
state's River of the Year for 2002.
 Because
of the improved water quality, the Delaware today supports year-round
fish populations, offering excellent trout, bass, walleye, herring,
and shad fisheries. A telltale year in the river's comeback
was 1981 when Fred Lewis, operator of the only commercial shad
fishery on the non-tidal Delaware, netted 6,392 shad.
It was the biggest catch since1896 when his father was running
the business.
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