Grasse River
| Grass River | |
| Grasse River | |
| River | |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Black Brook, Plumb Brook, Gibbons Brook, Harrison Creek, Line Creek, Massena Power Canal |
| - right | North Branch Grass River, Pleasant Creek, Edmond Brook, Little River, Nettle Creek, McConnell Creek |
| Source |
Middle Branch Grass River, South Branch Grass River |
|---|---|
| Mouth | St. Lawrence River |
| - location | Massena, New York |
| - elevation | 171 ft (52 m) |
| - coordinates | 44°59′12″N 74°46′14″W / 44.9868°N 74.7706°WCoordinates: 44°59′12″N 74°46′14″W / 44.9868°N 74.7706°W |
| Length | 73 mi (117 km) |
| Basin | 619 sq mi (1,603 km2) |
The Grasse River or Grass River (per 1905 decision of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names) is a 73-mile-long (117 km)river in northern New York, in the United States. The river was named after François Joseph Paul, comte de Grasse(1722–1788), a French admiral who assisted American forces during the Battle of Yorktown in the Revolutionary War.
The river mainly flows northeast from the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains into the St. Lawrence Valley, making up what is known as the greater St. Lawrence River Drainage Basin along with other tributaries such as the Oswegatchie and Raquette River.
The river is created by a series of small ponds, lakes and streams located in the northern New York towns of Russell, Clare and Clifton. Two main branches of streams and ponds, known as the Northern Branch and Southern Branch, lay claim as the ultimate source. The southern branch is the dominant flow of the river, feeding off Moosehead Pond and Little Moosehead Pond, and is located near the hamlet of Degrasse. The weaker northern branch is fed from smaller ponds such as Clear Pond, Bullhead Pond and Horseshoe Pond near the hamlet of Russell, and runs through the Grasse River Wild Forest Reserve. The two branches meet in the town of Russell and form the main branch of the river which slowly grows along its northeasterly track.
This area of New York was first explored in the 1790s as part of the Macomb's Purchase, in which Alexander Macomb, a wealthy Revolutionary-Era American merchant purchased 3.6 million acres (15,000 km²) from New York State at 12 cents an acre. This area was divided into counties and townships which were established between 1800 and 1815. The area thrived on thick pine forests, stone quarries and the mining of various ores. On the St. Lawrence Valley floor, the pine forests were razed and the land used for agriculture, and later for industry.
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