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The St. Johns River (commonly misspelled as the St. John's River) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida, stretching 310 miles (500 km) from Indian River County to the Atlantic Ocean in Duval County. It is one of only a handful of North American rivers that flow from South to North. The elevation change from headwaters to mouth is only about 30 feet, making the St. Johns one of the world's "laziest" rivers. This slow flow makes it difficult for pollutants to be flushed from the waters, which has become a serious problem for the river ecosystem. Despite the pollution the river is home to numerous species. It is not uncommon to see dolphins in the river north of Jacksonville, manatees in the springtime when the water warms up, alligators, bald eagles, ospreys, stingrayThis article is about the fish. For other uses of the word see Other Uses below. See text The Stingray is any of a class of cartilaginous marine animals of the subclass Elasmobranchii, orders Myliobatiformes (rays) or Rajiformes ( skates), found in both ss, and many species of fish, both salt and fresh water.
The upper (southern) basin of the river has indistinct banks, with numerous sloughThe term slough (In the UK, pronounced to rhyme with bough; In the US, pronounced "slew") has several meanings related to wetland or aquatic features that seem to derive from local experience. For example: In the UK, a slough is a muddy or marshy area (fos and lagoonSee lagoon (disambiguation) for other possible meanings. A lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank), coral reef, or similar feature. Thus, the enclosed body of water behind a barrs, often pooling into ponds and lakes. Some of the larger lakes are known today as Lake Hell 'n' Blazes , Sawgrass Lake , Lake WashingtonLake Washington is the second largest natural lake in Washington state, USA, behind Lake Chelan, and the largest lake in King County. It is situated between Seattle to the west, Bellevue to the east, Renton to the south, and Kenmore to the north, and surr, Lake Winder , Lake Poinsett , Ruth Lake , Puzzle Lake and Lake Harney .
Below Lake Harney, the river is joined by the Econlockatchee River , and runs between higher bluffs on either side, forming the middle basin. This part of the river runs through what is now the Ocala National Forest . After the English acquisition of Florida from Spain in 1762Events Neolin begins to preach. January 4 Britain declares war on Spain & Naples July 17 Catherine II becomes empress of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia. Empress Go-Sakuramachi ascends to the throne of Japan British East India Company seizes, English explorer William BartramWilliam Bartram ( April 20, 1739 July 22, 1823) was an American naturalist, the son of John Bartram. Bartram was born in Kingsessing, Pennsylvania. He accompanied his father on many of his travels, to the Catskill Mountains and Florida, and was noted at a was sent by King George III to explore the territory. In his subsequent book Travels, Bartram called the middle basin a "...blessed land where the gods have amassed into one heap all the flowering plants, birds, fish and other wildlife of two continents in order to turn the rushing streams, the silent lake shores and the awe-abiding woodlands of this mysterious land into a true garden of Eden." Here the river forms the broad and shallow Lake GeorgeFor other bodies of water with the same name, see Lake George. Lake George is a broad and shallow lake on the St. Johns River in the U. state of Florida. It is six miles (10 km) wide and twelve miles (20 km) long, with an average depth of ten feet (3 m)., where marine sharks have been seen in drought years where the normally rain-fed freshwaters of the river cannot fight back the inflowing Atlantic salt water.
The lower (northern) basin begins where the largest tributary of the St. Johns, the Ocklawaha River , joins the flow. (Both rivers are part of the modern Caravelle Ranch Wildlife Management Area .) It passes through the historic city of Palatka, Florida, then through unspoiled riverine bottomland hardwoods, pine flatwoods and sandhill communities, on its way to Jacksonville.
Past Jacksonville, the river becomes an estuary, where fresh and salt water meet, and a wide diversity of living species inhabit the islands, inlets, sounds, streams and marshes of the area.