| Hoosic River | |
| Name Other: | Hoos-ick |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | United States |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | Massachusetts, Vermont, New York |
| Subdivision Type3: | Region |
| Subdivision Name3: | Hudson Valley |
| Length: | 76miles[1] |
| Discharge1 Location: | Eagle Bridge, New York[2] |
| Discharge1 Min: | 160cuft/s |
| Discharge1 Max: | 3300cuft/s |
| Source1: | Cheshire Reservoir |
| Source1 Location: | Cheshire, Massachusetts |
| Source1 Coordinates: | 42.5539°N -73.1656°W[3] |
| Source1 Elevation: | 970feet |
| Mouth: | Hudson River |
| Mouth Location: | Schaghticoke, New York |
| Mouth Coordinates: | 42.9278°N -73.6581°W |
| Mouth Elevation: | 65feet |
| Basin Size: | 720sqmi |
| Tributaries Left: | Green River, Little Hoosic River |
| Tributaries Right: | North Branch Hoosic River, Walloomsac River |
The Hoosic River, also known as the Hoosac, the Hoosick (primarily in New York) and the Hoosuck (mostly archaic), is a 76.3adj=midNaNadj=mid[4] tributary of the Hudson River in the northeastern United States. The different spellings are the result of varying transliterations of the river's original Algonquian name. It can be translated either as "the beyond place" (as in beyond, or east of, the Hudson) or as "the stony place" (perhaps because the river's stony bottom is usually exposed except in spring, or perhaps because local soils are so stony).[5]
The Hoosic River watershed is formed from tributaries originating in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and the Taconic Mountains. The main (South) Branch of the river begins on the west slope of North Mountain and almost immediately fills the man-made Cheshire Reservoir in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. From there, the river flows north, west, and northwest, through the towns of Cheshire and Adams, the city of North Adams, and the town of Williamstown. It then travels through Pownal in the southwest corner of Vermont, after which it enters Rensselaer County, New York. There, it flows through the towns of Petersburgh and Hoosick, where it passes over a hydroelectric power dam in the village of Hoosick Falls. (There are also dams in Johnsonville, Valley Falls, and Schaghticoke.) The river provides the northwest border of the town of Pittstown, then flows through the town of Schaghticoke with its villages of Valley Falls and Schaghticoke before it terminates at its confluence with the Hudson above the city of Troy.