Mullica River

Mullica River northwest of Lake Atsion.

Mullica River

The Mullica River is a 50.6-mile-long (81.4 km)^[1] river in southern New Jersey in the United States. The Mullica was once known as the Little Egg Harbor River.

The river provides one of the principal drainages into the Atlantic Ocean of the extensive Pinelands. Its estuary on Great Bay is considered one of the least-disturbed marine wetlands habitats in the northeastern United States.

Course

It rises in central Camden County, near Berlin, on the southeastern fringes of the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia. It flows generally east-southeast across the state, crossing the Wharton State Forest. Near The Forks, where it receives the Batsto River, the Mullica broadens into a navigable river approximately 20 miles (32 km) long, stretching east-southeast and emptying into Great Bay approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of Atlantic City. Approximately 3 miles (5 km) upstream from its mouth on Great Bay it receives the estuary of the Wading River from the north. Approximately 2 miles (3 km) upstream from its mouth it receives the Bass River from the north.

The estuary is crossed by the Garden State Parkway and US 9 near its mouth. The lower reaches of the river form an extensive wetlands area, which is protected on its southern bank as the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. The river is noted as a spawning ground for striped bass.

Name

The river is named after Eric Pålsson Mullica, an early Finnish settler born in 1636 who founded a homestead on the river after moving there from the vicinity of Philadelphia.^[2] The settlement was located about 15 miles (24 km) upstream from the mouth near present-day Lower Bank.

Tributaries

• Judies Creek
• Roundabout Creek
• Ballanger Creek
• Big Graveling Creek
• Nacote Creek
• Bass River
• Wading River
• Big Creek
• Fence Creek
• Jerry Creek
• Turtle Creek
• Tar Kiln Branch
• Teal Creek
• Landing Creek
• Becky Lane Creek
• Stump Creek
• Pine Creek
• Cedar Creek
• Negro Creek
• Little Bull Creek
• Bull Creek
• Hatch's Creek
• First Branch
• Batsto River
• Nescochague Creek
• Sleeper Branch
• Alquatka Branch

References

1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed April 1, 2011
2. ^ "Finnish Place Names - New Jersey". The Genealogical Society of Finland. http://www.genealogia.fi/place/placenje.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-20. 

See also

• List of New Jersey rivers
• Mullica Hill, New Jersey, a census-designated place located within Harrison Township, New Jersey, in Gloucester County
• Mullica Township, New Jersey, a township in Atlantic County, New Jersey

External links

• Mullica River National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Origin of the Name
• Pirates of the Mullica during the American Revolution
• U.S. Geological Survey: NJ stream gaging stations

Coordinates: 39°47′30″N 74°49′40″W / 39.7916°N 74.8278°W / 39.7916; -74.8278