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Ipswich River is a small river in northeastern Massachusetts, USA. It is long, and its watershed is approximately , with an estimated population in the area of 160,000 people. == Geography == The river begins in the northeastern part of Burlington. It passes through the towns of Wilmington, Reading, North Reading, Peabody, Middleton, Topsfield, Hamilton, and joins with Plum Island Sound in connecting with the Atlantic Ocean at Ipswich Bay. There is always some flow from the river into the bay. However, the lower Ipswich and Plum Island Sound, as well as the lower four other rivers flowing into it, and the Merrimack River to the north, are tidal estuaries. High tides cover all of Great Marsh and the flood plains of the lower rivers. Low tides uncover the mud flats, reducing the channels to small streams. The river is navigable upstream to nearly Ipswich center by small craft. There a sharper drop in elevation over some rocks prevents further navigation upstream. The river and riverlands currently suffer from diminished flow due to extensive withdrawals from the ground water in urban areas upstream. The upper third of the river may become a dry bed in the summer. Wetland reservations, however, for wildlife have been created along much of the lower river. The level there has been prevented from falling precipitously by Willowdale Mill Dam, a remnant of a 19th-century mill system. It is currently privately owned by a canoe-rental concession. The combined Ipswich River/Plum Island Sound exits through a relatively narrow, shallow channel that passes under Castle Hill and along Crane's Beach to the south. On the north, Sandy Point at the tip of Plum Island juts into the flow. In the days of sail, Bar Head, Bar Head Rocks, and Emerson Rocks posed some threat to sailing vessels trying to tack into or out of the estuary. The shallow waters often stranded vessels in storms, which would then be dismantled by severe breakers. The combination was inevitably tragic to vessels caught there in a northeaster, or violent winter storm of near-hurricane force winds. Despite these difficulties, the sound and the mouth of the Ipswich were mooring places of ocean-going cargo vessels and fishing and whaling boats, before the opening of Newburyport Harbor, then blocked by a sandbar. The now abandoned shores of the region give little hint of its former importance to commerce and prosperity. The settlement of Essex County typically began at the oldest community there, Agawam, later Ipswich, and proceeded westward and northward along the Ipswich. Only Salem and Charlestown are older. The river therefore forms part of the borders between the Town of North Reading and the Town of Lynnfield, the Town of Middleton and the City of Peabody, the Town of Middleton and the Town of Danvers, and the Town of Boxford and the Town of Topsfield. The wide swamps along the river made it impossible to ford the stream anywhere east of Wilmington in colonial times. The only route north out of Boston was via the Andover Road, which forded the stream just below the confluence of Lubbers and Maple Meadow brooks. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ipswich River」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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