Kittatinny Mountains
Encyclopedia
The Kittatinny Mountains are a long ridge traversing across northwestern New Jersey
running in a northeast-southwest axis. It is the first major ridge in the far northeastern extension of the Ridge and Valley
province of the Appalachian Mountains. The second ridge is Walpack Ridge which is lower in elevation of six hundred to eight hundred feet.
Native American
word meaning "endless hill" or "great mountain".[1] The highest peak in the range is High Point at 1803 feet (549.6 m), which is also the highest point in the state of New Jersey. This peak is located in High Point state park and has a road leading to the top. The second highest mountain is Sunrise Mountain, located within Stokes State Forest. The elevation here is 1653 feet (503.8 m) and has a road leading almost to the top. At the top there is a shelter with a roof with no sides.
The Kittatinny Mountain is of the Silurian
Shawangunk Conglomerate which is mainly composed of quartz. Due to the hardness of the quartz
, the mountain is extremely resistant to weathering
.
Around four hundred fifty million years ago, a chain of volcanic islands shaped like an arch collided with proto North America. The North American plate
went under the chain of islands. The islands went on top of the edge of North America creating the Highlands and the Kittatinny Valley which is the Ordovician
Martinsburg Shale. Quartz and other sedimentary conglomerate
was transported to the inland sea, which was over part of the Martinsburg Shale. A small continent then collided with North America around four hundred million years ago. Geologic pressure resulted, which caused compression and then folding
and faulting resulted. The folding ran perpendicular to the directional forces. During folding, intense heat melted silica which cemented the quartz and other stones together. Also the intense heat allowed the rock layers to bend, thus the Kittatinny Mountain was born.
Near the base of the west side of the mountain is the Silurian
High Falls Formation, which is red and green shale
and sandstone
. The east side of the mountain near the base is of the Ordovician
Martinsburg Formation which contains slate
, shale and sandstone. The top of the mountain has a fairly even elevation ranging between 1400 feet (426.7 m) and 1600 feet (487.7 m). There are two exceptions. One is Culver's Gap, which was created by an ancient stream which was diverted and is now a wind gap. The base of Culver's Gap is at least 400 feet (121.9 m) below the top of the mountain. Culver's Gap is located near Culver's Lake, just west of Branchville
. The second is a small gap in the mountain, south of Catfish Pond, which is north of the gap. This gap is about 350 feet (106.7 m) deep.
Culver's Gap was a route used by Paleo Indians and the Lenape Native Americans to go through the mountain to trade and hunt. The second is a groove or depression in the mountain ridge near Catfish Pond. This is about 373 feet (113.7 m) deep as the base of the depression is 1100 feet (335.3 m) and the top of the mountain at that place is 1473 feet (449 m). The top of the mountain ranges from 50 meters wide to nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) wide.
West of the Kittatinny Mountain, at the northwestern end is the Port Jervis trough, also called the Minisink Valley. Next to the mountain on the western side is the Flatbrook Valley which runs from Steam Mill to Flatbrookville.
From the Delaware Water Gap
to the New York line is 21 miles (33.8 km) but the ridges continues into New York State where it is known as the Shawangunk Mountain. The ridge continues to nearly Kingston, New York
.
The Wisconsin
glacier
covered the entire mountain about 21,000 BC, and melted about 13,000 BC. The terminal moraine
is located near Belvidere
. The glacier has left end moraines, periglacial rock fields, and kettle
s, at the northern end of the mountain in Stokes State Forest
.
The area was a Tundra biome after the glacier melted and then became a Taiga biome as the climate warmed. At that time coniferous trees such as spruce and pine inhabited the area. The area warmed more around 8000 BC so oak, maple, birch, willow, and other deciduous trees began to grow.
The Marshall Creek Mastodon found just north of the Gap was dated at 10,210BC+ or - 180 years. Other big game existed at the time such as caribou and musk ox.
A second falls is seasonable during heavy rains next to Route 80 near the Big Cliffs. Water slides over the rocks and drops over a small ledge before going under Route 80.
There are several cliffs on the mountain. The largest is located at the Delaware Water Gap. The cliff is up to 300 feet (91.4 m) high and starts at Route 80 and extends about 400 meters along the mountain The second largest cliff is located 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the Gap, on the eastern side. Small rock faces exist on the western face and eastern face along the mountain. The southeastern face of the mountain has a steeper pitch than the northwestern face.
The top of the mountain has 14 lakes and ponds. Sunfish Pond, Catfish Pond, Mountain Ridge Lake, Blue Mountain Lake, Long Pine Pond, Lake Success, Crater Lake, Hemlock Lake, Kittatinny Lake, Steeny Kill Lake and Lake Marcia are some of them. Lake Marcia is the lake with the highest elevation on the mountain, 1574 feet (479.8 m) (479 meters) above sea level. This lake is located in High Point State Park which is at the northern end of Kittatinny Mountain.
Animals such as whitetailed deer, gray squirrels, red squirrels, chipmunks, gray fox, beaver, black bears as well as a large variety of birds inhabit the mountain. Turkey Vultures and Red Tail Hawks are also common.
Fish such as trout , pickerel, and bass are also in the lakes.
, which is 8 miles (12.9 km) north of the Gap, off Old Mine Road
.
This mine is located in the Silurian Highfalls Formation on the west side of the mountain. This sandstone is very hard and made mining very difficult. The copper was between 2 to 3 percent in the ore which made mining unprofitable. Mining was done in the 1800s, by various companies which went bankrupt. The mine sold several times.
Silver mining began in the 1880s with John Snook digging a mine at the northern end and western face of the Kittatinny mountain in an area now known as Stokes State Forest. He extracted silver ore for a short time and the silver ore was depleted. The mine is now flooded with water.
The Big Flatbrook drains the mountain on the northwestern end beginning at Steam mill swamp and flows in a southwesterly direction which drains into the Delaware River near Flatbrookville. This area is known as the Flatbrook Valley.
The Port Jervis trough is at the northwestern end of the mountain.
The Delaware River
flows near the mountain at the south end, finally cutting across the ridge at the Delaware Water Gap
just south of Mount Tammany
.
The Kittatinnies are a far northeastern extension of the Ridge and Valley
province of the Appalachian Mountains
. In Pennsylvania
, the ridge forming the Kittatinnies becomes known as Blue Mountain
and runs southwest for 150 miles (241.4 km), nearly to Maryland
. In Franklin County, Pennsylvania
, however, a parallel ridge to Blue Mountain is named "Kittatinny Mountain"; the Pennsylvania Turnpike
tunnel
s through both ridges (a very short distance apart) with the western tunnel named "Kittatinny Mountain
" and the eastern one "Blue Mountain
." To the north in New York
, the ridge is known as the Shawangunk Mountains
which goes to Kingston, New York.
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
running in a northeast-southwest axis. It is the first major ridge in the far northeastern extension of the Ridge and Valley
Ridge-and-valley Appalachians
The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending from southeastern New York through northwestern New...
province of the Appalachian Mountains. The second ridge is Walpack Ridge which is lower in elevation of six hundred to eight hundred feet.
Geology
The name comes from a LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
word meaning "endless hill" or "great mountain".[1] The highest peak in the range is High Point at 1803 feet (549.6 m), which is also the highest point in the state of New Jersey. This peak is located in High Point state park and has a road leading to the top. The second highest mountain is Sunrise Mountain, located within Stokes State Forest. The elevation here is 1653 feet (503.8 m) and has a road leading almost to the top. At the top there is a shelter with a roof with no sides.
The Kittatinny Mountain is of the Silurian
Silurian
The Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician Period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Devonian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya . As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the...
Shawangunk Conglomerate which is mainly composed of quartz. Due to the hardness of the quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
, the mountain is extremely resistant to weathering
Weathering
Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soils and minerals as well as artificial materials through contact with the Earth's atmosphere, biota and waters...
.
Around four hundred fifty million years ago, a chain of volcanic islands shaped like an arch collided with proto North America. The North American plate
North American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, Bahamas, and parts of Siberia, Japan and Iceland. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plate includes both continental and oceanic crust...
went under the chain of islands. The islands went on top of the edge of North America creating the Highlands and the Kittatinny Valley which is the Ordovician
Ordovician
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...
Martinsburg Shale. Quartz and other sedimentary conglomerate
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
was transported to the inland sea, which was over part of the Martinsburg Shale. A small continent then collided with North America around four hundred million years ago. Geologic pressure resulted, which caused compression and then folding
Fold (geology)
The term fold is used in geology when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of permanent deformation. Synsedimentary folds are those due to slumping of sedimentary material before it is lithified. Folds in rocks vary in...
and faulting resulted. The folding ran perpendicular to the directional forces. During folding, intense heat melted silica which cemented the quartz and other stones together. Also the intense heat allowed the rock layers to bend, thus the Kittatinny Mountain was born.
Near the base of the west side of the mountain is the Silurian
Silurian
The Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician Period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Devonian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya . As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the...
High Falls Formation, which is red and green shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
and sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. The east side of the mountain near the base is of the Ordovician
Ordovician
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...
Martinsburg Formation which contains slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
, shale and sandstone. The top of the mountain has a fairly even elevation ranging between 1400 feet (426.7 m) and 1600 feet (487.7 m). There are two exceptions. One is Culver's Gap, which was created by an ancient stream which was diverted and is now a wind gap. The base of Culver's Gap is at least 400 feet (121.9 m) below the top of the mountain. Culver's Gap is located near Culver's Lake, just west of Branchville
Branchville, New Jersey
Branchville is a borough in Sussex County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 841. The borough is located in the northernmost region of Sussex County....
. The second is a small gap in the mountain, south of Catfish Pond, which is north of the gap. This gap is about 350 feet (106.7 m) deep.
Culver's Gap was a route used by Paleo Indians and the Lenape Native Americans to go through the mountain to trade and hunt. The second is a groove or depression in the mountain ridge near Catfish Pond. This is about 373 feet (113.7 m) deep as the base of the depression is 1100 feet (335.3 m) and the top of the mountain at that place is 1473 feet (449 m). The top of the mountain ranges from 50 meters wide to nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) wide.
West of the Kittatinny Mountain, at the northwestern end is the Port Jervis trough, also called the Minisink Valley. Next to the mountain on the western side is the Flatbrook Valley which runs from Steam Mill to Flatbrookville.
From the Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap
The Delaware Water Gap is on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains...
to the New York line is 21 miles (33.8 km) but the ridges continues into New York State where it is known as the Shawangunk Mountain. The ridge continues to nearly Kingston, New York
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
.
The Wisconsin
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
covered the entire mountain about 21,000 BC, and melted about 13,000 BC. The terminal moraine
Terminal moraine
A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a moraine that forms at the end of the glacier called the snout.Terminal moraines mark the maximum advance of the glacier. An end moraine is at the present boundary of the glacier....
is located near Belvidere
Belvidere, New Jersey
Belvidere is a Town in Warren County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 2,681. It is the county seat of Warren County....
. The glacier has left end moraines, periglacial rock fields, and kettle
Kettle
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a small kitchen appliance used for boiling water. Kettles can be heated either by placing on a stove, or by their own electric heating element.- Stovetop kettles :...
s, at the northern end of the mountain in Stokes State Forest
Stokes State Forest
Stokes State Forest is a state park located in Sandyston Township, Montague and Frankford Twp. in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. Stokes comprises of mountainous woods...
.
The area was a Tundra biome after the glacier melted and then became a Taiga biome as the climate warmed. At that time coniferous trees such as spruce and pine inhabited the area. The area warmed more around 8000 BC so oak, maple, birch, willow, and other deciduous trees began to grow.
Paleo Indians
Paleo Indians inhabited the Delaware River Valley around 10,500 BC. after the Wisconsin Glacier melted. They hunted, fished and gathered plants to eat in the Delaware Valley and on Kittatinny Mountain. They had no permanent camps and traveled often in search of food. The area was coniferous and deciduous forests mixed with grasslands in the valleys.The Marshall Creek Mastodon found just north of the Gap was dated at 10,210BC+ or - 180 years. Other big game existed at the time such as caribou and musk ox.
Native Americans
The Lenape Native Americans that came to the area two thousand years ago, traveled on the mountain in search of food and game. There was a deciduous forest with many varieties of nut trees, Native Americans collected these foods. They collected acorns, walnuts, hickory nuts, beech nuts, chestnuts, and butternuts. Fresh water streams were used to collect water. Game such as deer, elk, and bear was hunted on the mountain.Waterfalls, cliffs and lakes
There is one waterfall on the western side of the mountain known as Buttermilk Falls. This is about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Route 206, in which a dirt road leads to the base of it. A wooden stair case has been built near it, so people can climb to the top.A second falls is seasonable during heavy rains next to Route 80 near the Big Cliffs. Water slides over the rocks and drops over a small ledge before going under Route 80.
There are several cliffs on the mountain. The largest is located at the Delaware Water Gap. The cliff is up to 300 feet (91.4 m) high and starts at Route 80 and extends about 400 meters along the mountain The second largest cliff is located 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the Gap, on the eastern side. Small rock faces exist on the western face and eastern face along the mountain. The southeastern face of the mountain has a steeper pitch than the northwestern face.
The top of the mountain has 14 lakes and ponds. Sunfish Pond, Catfish Pond, Mountain Ridge Lake, Blue Mountain Lake, Long Pine Pond, Lake Success, Crater Lake, Hemlock Lake, Kittatinny Lake, Steeny Kill Lake and Lake Marcia are some of them. Lake Marcia is the lake with the highest elevation on the mountain, 1574 feet (479.8 m) (479 meters) above sea level. This lake is located in High Point State Park which is at the northern end of Kittatinny Mountain.
Flora and fauna
The mountain is a northern deciduous forest of various oaks, hickories, maples, birches, walnut, elm, ash, birch, sycamore, cherry, beech, chestnut, and sweet gum. Wild blueberries and rhodendrum also grow on the mountain.Animals such as whitetailed deer, gray squirrels, red squirrels, chipmunks, gray fox, beaver, black bears as well as a large variety of birds inhabit the mountain. Turkey Vultures and Red Tail Hawks are also common.
Fish such as trout , pickerel, and bass are also in the lakes.
Mining
Copper mining began in the 1750s at the Pahaquarry Copper MinePahaquarry Copper Mine
The Pahaquarry Copper Mine is a historic, legendary, abandoned copper mine near the Delaware River in the former Pahaquarry Township, New Jersey....
, which is 8 miles (12.9 km) north of the Gap, off Old Mine Road
Old Mine Road
Old Mine Road is a road in New Jersey and New York said to be one of the oldest continuously-used roads in the United States of America. At a length of 104 miles, it stretches from the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to the vicinity of Kingston, New York.Among the theories regarding the...
.
This mine is located in the Silurian Highfalls Formation on the west side of the mountain. This sandstone is very hard and made mining very difficult. The copper was between 2 to 3 percent in the ore which made mining unprofitable. Mining was done in the 1800s, by various companies which went bankrupt. The mine sold several times.
Silver mining began in the 1880s with John Snook digging a mine at the northern end and western face of the Kittatinny mountain in an area now known as Stokes State Forest. He extracted silver ore for a short time and the silver ore was depleted. The mine is now flooded with water.
Kittatinny and Flatbrook Valleys
To the east of the Kittatinny Mountain, is the Great Kittatinny Valley. This is drained by the Paulinskill river in the south and the Wallkill River in the north.The Big Flatbrook drains the mountain on the northwestern end beginning at Steam mill swamp and flows in a southwesterly direction which drains into the Delaware River near Flatbrookville. This area is known as the Flatbrook Valley.
The Port Jervis trough is at the northwestern end of the mountain.
The Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
flows near the mountain at the south end, finally cutting across the ridge at the Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap
The Delaware Water Gap is on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains...
just south of Mount Tammany
Mount Tammany
Mount Tammany is the southernmost peak of the Kittatinny Mountains in Warren County, New Jersey. It is tall, and forms the east side of the Delaware Water Gap. Across the Gap is Mount Minsi, on the Pennsylvania side of the river. The mountain is named after the Lenni Lenape chief Tamanend. It lies...
.
The Kittatinnies are a far northeastern extension of the Ridge and Valley
Ridge-and-valley Appalachians
The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending from southeastern New York through northwestern New...
province of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
. In Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, the ridge forming the Kittatinnies becomes known as Blue Mountain
Blue Mountain (Pennsylvania)
Blue Mountain is a ridge that forms the eastern edge of the Appalachian mountain range in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It cuts across the eastern half of the state from New Jersey to Maryland, providing a distinct boundary between a number of Pennsylvania's geographical and cultural regions...
and runs southwest for 150 miles (241.4 km), nearly to Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. In Franklin County, Pennsylvania
Franklin County, Pennsylvania
As of the census of 2000, there were 129,313 people, 50,633 households, and 36,405 families residing in the county. The population density was 168 people per square mile . There were 53,803 housing units at an average density of 70 per square mile...
, however, a parallel ridge to Blue Mountain is named "Kittatinny Mountain"; the Pennsylvania Turnpike
Pennsylvania Turnpike
The Pennsylvania Turnpike is a toll highway system operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. The three sections of the turnpike system total . The main section extends from Ohio to New Jersey and is long...
tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
s through both ridges (a very short distance apart) with the western tunnel named "Kittatinny Mountain
Kittatinny Mountain Tunnel
The Kittatinny Mountain Tunnel is a tunnel through Kittatinny Mountain in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It is one of seven tunnels completed for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and one of four still in use today. The Kittatinny Mountain Tunnel is 4727 feet in length, and is located 600 feet west of...
" and the eastern one "Blue Mountain
Blue Mountain Tunnel
The Blue Mountain Tunnel is one of two tunnels through Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania, located west of Newburg. It is one of seven tunnels completed for the Pennsylvania Turnpike mainline, and at in length, is the shortest of the four still in use today. The Blue Mountain Tunnel is to the east...
." To the north in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the ridge is known as the Shawangunk Mountains
Shawangunk Ridge
The Shawangunk Ridge , also known as the Shawangunk Mountains or The Gunks, is a ridge of bedrock in Ulster County, Sullivan County and Orange County in the state of New York, extending from the northernmost point of New Jersey to the Catskill Mountains.The ridgetop, which widens considerably at...
which goes to Kingston, New York.