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Connecticut River

The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for 406 mi through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island Sound. Its watershed encompasses 11260 sqmi, covering parts of five U.S. states and one Canadian province, via 148 tributaries, 38 of which are major rivers. It produces 70% of Long Island Sound's fresh water, discharging at 18400 cuft per second.

The Connecticut River Valley is home to some of the northeastern United States' most productive farmland, as well as the Hartford–Springfield Knowledge Corridor, a metropolitan region of approximately two million people surrounding Springfield, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut.

History
The word "Connecticut" is a corruption of the Mohegan word quinetucket and Nipmuc word kwinitekw, which mean "beside the long, tidal river". The word came into English usage during the early 1600s to name the river, which was also called simply "The Great River". It was also known as the Fresh River, and the Dutch called it the Verse River.

Early spellings of the name by European explorers included "Cannitticutt" in French or in English.

Pre-1614: American Indian populations
Archaeological digs reveal human habitation of the Connecticut River Valley for 6,000 years before present. Numerous tribes lived throughout the fertile Connecticut River valley prior to Dutch exploration beginning in 1614. Information concerning how these tribes lived and interacted stems mostly from English accounts written during the 1630s.

The Pequots dominated a territory in the southern region of the Connecticut River valley, stretching roughly from the river's mouth at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, north to just below the Big Bend at Middletown, Connecticut. They warred with and attempted to subjugate neighboring agricultural tribes such as the Western Niantics, while maintaining an uneasy stand-off with their rivals the Mohegans.

The Mattabesset (Tunxis) tribe takes its name from the place where its sachems ruled at the Connecticut River's Big Bend at Middletown, in a village sandwiched between the territories of the aggressive Pequots to the south and the more peaceable Mohegans to the north.

The Mohegans dominated the region due north, where Hartford and its suburbs sit, particularly after allying themselves with the Colonists against the Pequots during the Pequot War of 1637. Their culture was similar to the Pequots, as they had split off from them and become their rivals some time prior to European exploration of the area.

The agricultural Pocomtuc tribe lived in unfortified villages alongside the Connecticut River north of the Enfield Falls on the fertile stretch of hills and meadows surrounding Springfield, Massachusetts. The Pocomtuc village of Agawam eventually became Springfield, situated on the Bay Path where the Connecticut River meets the western Westfield River and eastern Chicopee River. The Pocomtuc villagers at Agawam helped Puritan explorers settle this site and remained friendly with them for decades, unlike tribes farther north and south along the Connecticut River. The region stretching from Springfield north to the New Hampshire and Vermont state borders fostered many agricultural Pocomtuc and Nipmuc settlements, with its soil enhanced by sedimentary deposits. Occasionally, these villages endured invasions from more aggressive confederated tribes living in New York, such as the Mohawk, Mahican, and Iroquois tribes.

The Pennacook tribe mediated many early disagreements between colonists and other Indian tribes, with a territory stretching roughly from the Massachusetts border with Vermont and New Hampshire, northward to the rise of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The Western Abenaki (Sokoki) tribe lived in the Green Mountains region of Vermont but wintered as far south as the Northfield, Massachusetts, area. The (Sokoki) tribe migrated to Odanak, Quebec following the epidemics and the wars with the settlers but returned to Vermont.

1614–1636: Dutch and Puritan settlement
In 1614, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block became the first European to chart the Connecticut River, sailing as far north as Enfield Rapids. He called it the "Fresh River" and claimed it for the Netherlands as the northeastern border of the New Netherland colony. In 1623, Dutch traders constructed a fortified trading post at the site of Hartford, Connecticut, called the Fort Huys de Hoop ("Fort House of Hope").

Four separate Puritan-led groups also settled the fertile Connecticut River Valley, and they founded the two large cities that continue to dominate the Valley: Hartford (est. 1635) and Springfield (est. 1636). The first group of pioneers left the Plymouth Colony in 1632 and ultimately founded the village of Matianuck (which became Windsor, Connecticut) several miles north of the Dutch fort. A group left the Massachusetts Bay Colony from Watertown, seeking a site where they could practice their religion more freely. With this in mind, they founded Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1633, several miles south of the Dutch fort at Hartford.

In 1635, Reverend Thomas Hooker led settlers from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he had feuded with Reverend John Cotton, to the site in Connecticut of the Dutch Fort House of Hope, where he founded Newtowne. Shortly after Hooker's arrival, Newtowne annexed Matianuck based on laws articulated in Connecticut's settlement charter, the Warwick Patent of 1631. The patent, however, had been physically lost, and the annexation was almost certainly illegal.

The fourth English settlement along the Connecticut River came out of a 1635 scouting party commissioned by William Pynchon to find the most advantageous site for commerce and agriculture, hoping to found a city there. His scouts located the Pocumtuc village of Agawam, where the Bay Path trade route crossed the Connecticut River at two of its major tributaries—the Chicopee River to the east and Westfield River to the west—and just north of Enfield Falls, the river's first unnavigable waterfall. Pynchon surmised that traders using any of these routes would have to dock and change ships at his site, thereby granting the settlement a commercial advantage. It was initially named Agawam Plantation and was allied with the settlements to the south that became the state of Connecticut, but it switched allegiances in 1641 and was renamed Springfield in honor of Pynchon's native town in England.

Of these settlements, Hartford and Springfield quickly emerged as powers. In 1641, Springfield splintered off from the Hartford-based Connecticut Colony, allying itself with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. For decades, Springfield remained the Massachusetts Bay Colony's westernmost settlement, on the northern border of the Connecticut Colony. By 1654, however, the success of these English settlements rendered the Dutch position untenable on the Connecticut River. A treaty moved the boundary westward between the Connecticut Colony and New Netherland Colony to a point near Greenwich, Connecticut. The treaty allowed the Dutch to maintain their trading post at Fort Huys de Hoop, which they did until the 1664 British takeover of New Netherland.

Border disputes
The Connecticut River Valley's central location, fertile soil, and abundant natural resources made it the target of centuries of border disputes, beginning with Springfield's defection from the Connecticut Colony in 1641, which brought the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the river. In 1640, Massachusetts Bay Colony asserted a claim to jurisdiction over lands surrounding the river; however, Springfield remained politically independent until tensions with the Connecticut Colony were exacerbated by a final confrontation later that year.

Hartford kept a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook for protection against the Pequots, Wampanoags, Mohegans, and the New Netherland Colony. After Springfield broke ties with the Colony, the remaining Connecticut settlements demanded that Springfield's ships pay tolls when passing the mouth of the river. The ships refused to pay this tax without representation at Connecticut's fort, but Hartford refused to grant it. In response, the Massachusetts Bay Colony solidified its friendship with Springfield by levying a toll on Connecticut Colony ships entering Boston Harbor. Connecticut was largely dependent on sea trade with Boston and therefore permanently dropped its tax on Springfield, but Springfield allied with Boston nonetheless, drawing the first state border across the Connecticut River.

The Fort at Number 4 in Charlestown, New Hampshire, was the northernmost British colonial presence on the Connecticut River until the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. The Abenaki had resisted British colonial settlement for decades, but colonists began settling north of Brattleboro, Vermont, following the war. Settlement of the Upper Connecticut River Valley increased quickly, with population assessments of 36,000 by 1790.

Vermont was claimed by both New Hampshire and New York, and was settled primarily through the issuance of land grants by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth beginning in the 1740s. New York protested these grants, and King George III decided in 1764 that the border between the provinces should be the western bank of the Connecticut River. Ethan Allen, the Green Mountain Boys, and other residents of the disputed area resisted attempts by New York to exercise authority there, which resulted in the establishment of the independent Vermont Republic in 1777 and its eventual accession to the United States in 1791 as the fourteenth state. Boundary disputes between Vermont and New Hampshire lasted for nearly 150 years and were finally settled in 1933, when the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed King George's boundary as the ordinary low-water mark on the Vermont shore. In some places, the state line is now inundated by the impoundments of dams built after this time.

The Treaty of Paris and the 19th century

The Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the American Revolutionary War created a new international border between New Hampshire and the Province of Canada at "northwesternmost headwaters of the Connecticut". Several streams fit this description, and thus a boundary dispute led to the short-lived Indian Stream Republic, which existed from 1832 to 1835.

The broad, fertile Connecticut River Valley attracted agricultural settlers and colonial traders to Hartford, Springfield, and the surrounding region. The high volume and numerous falls of the river led to the rise of industry along its banks during the Industrial Revolution. The cities of Springfield and Hartford in particular became centers of innovation and "intense and concentrated prosperity."

The Enfield Falls Canal was opened in 1829 to circumvent shallows around Enfield Falls, and the locks built for this canal gave their name to the town of Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The Connecticut River Valley functioned as America's hub of technical innovation into the 20th century, particularly the cities of Springfield and Hartford, and thus attracted numerous railroad lines. The proliferation of the railroads in Springfield and Hartford greatly decreased the economic importance of the Connecticut River. From the late 1800s until today, it has functioned largely as a center of wildlife and recreation.

Log drives and the early 20th century

Starting about 1865, the river was used for massive logging drives from Third Connecticut Lake to initially water powered sawmills near Enfield Falls. Trees cut adjacent to tributary streams including Perry Stream and Indian Stream in Pittsburg, New Hampshire, Halls Stream on the Quebec–New Hampshire border, Simms Stream, the Mohawk River, and the Nulhegan River basin in Essex County, Vermont, would be flushed into the main river by the release of water impounded behind splash dams. Several log drivers died trying to move logs through Perry Falls in Pittsburg. Teams of men would wait at Canaan, Vermont, to protect the bridges from log jams. Men guided logs through a 400 ft drop along the length of Fifteen-Mile Falls (now submerged under Moore and Comerford reservoirs), and through Logan's Rips at Fitzdale, Mulligan's Lower Pitch, and Seven Islands. The White River from Vermont and Ammonoosuc River from New Hampshire brought more logs into the Connecticut. A log boom was built between Wells River, Vermont, and Woodsville, New Hampshire, to hold the logs briefly and release them gradually to avoid jams in the Ox Bow. Men detailed to this work utilized Woodsville's saloons and red-light district. Some of the logs were destined for mills in Wilder and Bellows Falls, Vermont, while others were sluiced over the Bellows Falls dam. North Walpole, New Hampshire, contained twelve to eighteen saloons, patronized by the log drivers. Mount Tom was the landmark the log drivers used to gauge the distance to the final mills near Holyoke, Massachusetts. These spring drives were stopped after 1915, when pleasure boat owners complained about the hazards to navigation. The final drive included 500 workers controlling 65 million feet of logs. A final pulp drive consisted of 100,000 cords of four-foot logs in 1918. This was to take advantage of the wartime demand.

The flood of 1936
In March 1936, due to a winter with heavy snowfall, an early spring thaw and torrential rains, the Connecticut River flooded, overflowing its banks, destroying numerous bridges and isolating hundreds of people who had to be rescued by boat.

The dam at Vernon, Vermont, was topped by 19 ft. Sandbagging by the National Guard and local volunteers helped prevent the dam's powerhouse from being overwhelmed, despite blocks of ice breaking through the upstream walls.

In Northampton, Massachusetts, looting during the flood became a problem, causing the mayor of the city to deputize citizen patrols to protect flooded areas. Over 3,000 refugees from the area were housed in Amherst College and the Massachusetts State Agricultural College (now UMass Amherst).

Unprecedented accumulated ice jams compounded the problems created by the flood, diverting water into unusual channels and damming the river, raising water levels even further. When the jam at Hadley, Massachusetts, gave way, the water crest overflowed the dam at Holyoke, overwhelming the sandbagging there. The village of South Hadley Falls was essentially destroyed, and the southern parts of Holyoke were severely damaged, with 500 refugees.

In Springfield, Massachusetts, 5 sqmi, and 18 mi of streets, were flooded, and 20,000 people lost their homes. The city lost power, and nighttime looting caused the police to issue a "shoot on sight" edict; 800 National Guard troops were brought in to help maintain order. Rescue efforts using a flotilla of boats saved people trapped in upper stories of buildings, bringing them to local fraternal lodges, schools, churches and monasteries for lodging, medical care, and food. The American Red Cross and local, state and federal agencies, including the WPA and the CCC, contributed aid and manpower to the effort. Flooding of roads isolated the city for a time. When the water receded, it left behind silt-caused mud which in places was 3 ft thick; the recovery effort in Springfield, at the height of the American Great Depression, took approximately a decade.

Overall, the flood caused 171 deaths and US$500 million (US$0 with inflation) in damages. Across the northeast, over 430,000 people were made homeless or destitute by flooding that year.

The Connecticut River Flood Control Compact between the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont was established in 1953 to help prevent serious flooding.

1936–present: Water supply
The creation of the Quabbin Reservoir in the 1930s diverted the Swift River, which feeds the Chicopee River, a tributary of the Connecticut. This resulted in an unsuccessful lawsuit by the state of Connecticut against the diversion of its riparian waters.

Demand for drinking water in eastern Massachusetts passed the sustainable supply from the existing system in 1969. Diverting water from the Connecticut River was considered several times, but in 1986 the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority instead undertook a campaign of water conservation. Demand was reduced to sustainable levels by 1989, reaching approximately a 25% margin of safety by 2009.

Course
The Connecticut River is the largest river ecosystem in New England. Its watershed spans Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, small portions of Maine, and the Canadian province of Quebec.

The Upper Connecticut River: New Hampshire and Vermont

The Connecticut River rises from Fourth Connecticut Lake, a small pond 300 yd south of the Canada–United States border in the town of Pittsburg, New Hampshire, at an elevation of 2670 ft above sea level. It flows through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis for 14 mi, all within the town of Pittsburg, and then widens as it delineates 255 mi of the border between New Hampshire and Vermont. The river drops more than 2480 ft in elevation as it winds south to the border of Massachusetts where it sits 190 ft above sea level.

The region along the river upstream and downstream from Lebanon, New Hampshire, and White River Junction, Vermont, is known as the "Upper Valley". The exact definition of the region varies, but it generally is considered to extend south to Windsor, Vermont, and Cornish, New Hampshire, and north to Bradford, Vermont, and Piermont, New Hampshire. In 2001, the Trust for Public Land purchased 171000 acre of land in New Hampshire from International Paper, allowing the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Partnership Task Force to plan the future protection of the land. The property spans the towns of Pittsburg, Clarksville, and Stewartstown, New Hampshire, nearly 3 percent of the land in the state of New Hampshire. The Trust for Public Land worked in partnership with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, The Nature Conservancy of New Hampshire, and others to raise around $42 million. A conservation easement over 146000 acre of the property prohibits development of the land while allowing public access. The forest is managed by the Lyme Timber Company, and the conservation easement over the land ensures sustainable forest management of the property.

The Middle Connecticut River: Massachusetts through central Connecticut
Following the most recent ice age, the Middle Connecticut River Valley sat at the bottom of Lake Hitchcock. Its lush greenery and rich, almost rockless soil comes from the ancient lake's sedimentary deposits. In the Middle Connecticut region, the river reaches its maximum depth – 130 ft – at Gill, Massachusetts, around the French King Bridge, and its maximum width – 2100 ft – at Longmeadow, directly across from the Six Flags New England amusement park. The Connecticut's largest falls – South Hadley Falls – features a vertical drop of 58 ft. Lush green forests and agricultural hamlets dot this middle portion of the Connecticut River; however, the region is best known for its numerous college towns, such as Northampton, South Hadley, and Amherst, as well as the river's most populous city, Springfield. The city sits atop bluffs beside the Connecticut's confluence with two major tributaries, the Chicopee River to the east and Westfield River to the west. The region around the Connecticut River is known locally as the Pioneer Valley, and the name adorns many local civic organizations and local businesses. While the southern part of the valley in Massachusetts is heavily urbanized, the northern section is largely rural and the local agriculture is well known for Connecticut shade tobacco.

The Connecticut River is influenced by the tides as far north as Enfield Rapids in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, approximately 58 mi north of the river's mouth. Two million residents live in the densely populated Hartford-Springfield region, which stretches roughly between the college towns of Amherst, Massachusetts, and Middletown, Connecticut. Hartford, the second-largest city and the only state capital on the river, is at the southern end of this region on an ancient floodplain that stretches to Middletown.

The Lower Connecticut River: Southern Connecticut to Long Island Sound
15 mi south of Hartford, at Middletown, the Lower Connecticut River section begins with a narrowing of the river, and then a sharp turn southeast. Throughout southern Connecticut, the Connecticut passes through a thinly populated, hilly, wooded region before again widening and discharging into Long Island Sound between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme in flat coastal marshlands. Due to the presence of large, shifting sandbars at its mouth, the Connecticut is the only major river in the Northeastern United States without a port at its mouth.

Mouth and tidelands

The Connecticut River carries a heavy amount of silt from as far north as Quebec, especially during the spring snow melt. This results in a large sandbar near the river's mouth which is a formidable obstacle to navigation. The Connecticut is one of the few major rivers in the United States without a major city at its mouth because of this obstacle. Major cities on the Connecticut River are Hartford and Springfield, which lie 45 and 69 mi upriver respectively.

The Nature Conservancy named the Connecticut River's tidelands one of the Western Hemisphere's "40 Last Great Places", while the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands listed its estuary and tidal wetlands as one of 1,759 wetlands of international importance. In 1997, the Connecticut River was designated one of only 14 American Heritage Rivers, which recognized its "distinctive natural, economic, agricultural, scenic, historic, cultural, and recreational qualities." In May 2012, the Connecticut River was designated America's first National Blueway in recognition of the restoration and preservation efforts on the river.

Dams
The Connecticut River's flow is slowed by main stem dams, which create a series of slow-flowing basins from Lake Francis Dam in Pittsburg, New Hampshire, to the Holyoke Dam at South Hadley Falls in Massachusetts. Among the most extensively dammed rivers in the United States, the Connecticut may soon flow at a more natural pace, according to scientists at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who have devised a computer that – "in an effort to balance human and natural needs" – coordinates the holding and releasing of water between the river's 54 largest dams. The Cabot and Turners Falls hydroelectric stations generate up to 68 MW. The Holyoke Canal System and Hadley Falls Station at Holyoke Dam are rated a combined 48 MW.

Tributaries
The Connecticut River watershed encompasses 11260 sqmi, connecting 148 tributaries, including 38 major rivers and numerous lakes and ponds. Major tributaries include (from north to south) the Passumpsic, Ammonoosuc, White, Black, West, Ashuelot, Millers, Deerfield, Chicopee, Westfield, and Farmington rivers. The Swift River, a tributary of the Chicopee, has been dammed and largely replaced by the Quabbin Reservoir which provides water to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority district in eastern Massachusetts, including Boston and its metropolitan area.

Ecology

Along its southern reaches, the Connecticut River has carved a wide, fertile floodplain valley (known in Massachusetts as the Pioneer Valley), depositing rich silt and loam soils known internationally for their agricultural merit. Abundant riparian hardwood species include sycamores, cottonwood, basswood, willows, sassafras, box elder, black elder, osier dogwood and more. The river itself and its many tributaries are home to many typical New England freshwater species. These include dace, crawfish, hellgramites, freshwater mussels, typical frog species, snapping turtles, brook trout, freshwater sturgeon, catfish, walleye, chain pickerel and carp. Introduced species include stocked rainbow trout. The river is an important conduit of many anadromous fish, such as American shad, lamprey, and Atlantic salmon. American eels are also present, as are predators of these migratory fish including striped bass. Shad run as far north as Holyoke, Massachusetts where they are lifted over the Holyoke Dam by a fish elevator. This station publishes annual statistics of the run, and has recorded an occasional salmon. They pass an additional elevator in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, and make it at least as far as Bellows Falls, Vermont. Harbor seals have been recorded traveling upriver as far north as Holyoke in pursuit of migratory fish; it is possible that they ranged farther upstream before the dam was built. In the southernmost portions in southern Connecticut near Long Island Sound, dolphins are spotted on occasion.

There are 12 species of freshwater mussels. Eleven of them occur in the mainstem of the Connecticut; the brook floater is found only in small streams and rivers. Species diversity is higher in the southern part of the watershed (Connecticut and Massachusetts) than in the northern part (Vermont and New Hampshire), largely due to differences in stream gradient and substrate. Eight of the 12 species in the watershed are listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern in one or more of the states in the watershed.

A number of colonial animal species make their home in the waters of the Connecticut. Deeper areas are habitat for a diversity of colonial organisms including bryozoa. Freshwater sponges the size of dinner plates have been found by scuba divers at depths of more than 130 ft, thought to be the deepest location of the river, around the French King Bridge in Erving, Massachusetts. Mussels, eels, and northern pike were also observed there.

Fish

There are several species of anadromous and catadromous fish, including brook trout, winter flounder, blueback herring, alewife, rainbow trout, large brown trout, American shad (Alosa sapidissima), hickory shad, smallmouth bass, Atlantic sturgeon, striped bass (Morone saxatilis), American eel, sea lamprey, and endangered shortnose sturgeon and dwarf wedgemussels. Additionally, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has repopulated the river with another species of migratory fish, the Atlantic salmon, which for more than 200 years had been extinct from the river due to damming. Several fish ladders and fish elevators have been built to allow fish to resume their natural migration upriver each spring.

Fresh and brackish water residents of the main branch and tributaries include common carp, white catfish, brown bullhead, fallfish, yellow perch, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, northern pike, chain pickerel, bluegill, pumpkinseed sunfish, golden shiner, and rock bass.

Much of the beginning of the river's course in the town of Pittsburg is occupied by the Connecticut Lakes, which contain lake trout and landlocked salmon. Landlocked salmon make their way into the river during spring spawning runs of bait fish and during their fall spawn. The river has fly-fishing-only regulations on 5 mi of river. Most of the river from Lake Francis south is open to lure and bait as well. Two tail-water dams provide cold river water for miles downstream, making for bountiful summer fishing on the Connecticut.

After the first major dam was built near Turners Falls, Massachusetts, thirteen additional dams have ended the Connecticut River's great anadromous fish runs. Salmon restoration efforts began in 1967, and fish ladders at a fish elevator at Hadley Falls have since enabled migrating fish to return to some of their former spawning grounds. In addition to dams, warm water discharges between 1978 and 1992 from Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Vernon, Vermont released water up to 105 F degrees, with the thermal plume reaching 55 mi downstream as far as Holyoke. This thermal pollution appears to be associated with an 80% decline in American shad fish numbers from 1992 to 2005 at Holyoke Dam. This decline may have been exacerbated by over-fishing in the mid-Atlantic and predation from resurging striped bass populations. The nuclear plant was closed at the end of 2014, after which the shad population has increased.

Boating
The mouth of the river up to Essex is thought to be one of the busiest stretches of waterway in Connecticut. Some local police departments and the state Environmental Conservation Police patrol the area a few times a week. Some towns keep boats available if needed. In Massachusetts, the most active stretch of the Connecticut River is centered on the Oxbow, 14 mi north of Springfield in the college town of Northampton.

Camping is available along much of the river, for non-motorized boats, via the Connecticut River Paddlers' Trail. The Paddlers' Trail currently includes campsites on over 300 mi of the river.

Pollution and cleanup

The Water Quality Act of 1965 had a major impact on controlling water pollution in the Connecticut River and its tributaries.

Since then, the river has been restored from Class D to Class B (fishable and swimmable). Many towns along the Lower Connecticut River have enacted a cap on further development along the banks, so that no buildings may be constructed except on existing foundations. Currently, a website provides water quality reports twice a week, indicating whether various portions of the river are safe for swimming, boating and fishing.

Tributaries
Listed from south to north by location of mouth:

 * Black Hall River (Old Lyme, CT)
 * Falls River (Essex, CT)
 * Eightmile River (Hamburg, CT)
 * Deep River (Deep River, CT)
 * Salmon River (Moodus, CT)
 * Mattabesset River (Middletown, CT)
 * Hockanum River (East Hartford and Hartford, CT)
 * Park River (Hartford, CT)
 * Farmington River (Windsor, CT)
 * Scantic River (South Windsor, CT)
 * Westfield River (West Springfield and Springfield, MA)
 * Mill River (Springfield, MA)
 * Chicopee River (Chicopee and Springfield, MA)
 * Manhan River (The Oxbow of Northampton, MA)
 * Mill River (Northampton, MA)
 * Fort River (Hadley, MA)
 * Mill River (Hatfield, MA)
 * Mill River (Amherst, MA)
 * Sawmill River (Montague, MA)
 * Deerfield River (Deerfield and Greenfield, MA)
 * Fall River (Greenfield and Gill, MA)
 * Millers River (Millers Falls, MA)
 * Ashuelot River (Hinsdale, NH)
 * Whetstone Brook (Brattleboro, VT)
 * West River (Brattleboro, VT)
 * Partridge Brook (Westmoreland, NH)
 * Cold River (Walpole, NH)
 * Saxtons River (Westminster, VT)
 * Williams River (Rockingham, VT)
 * Black River (Springfield, VT)
 * Little Sugar River (Charlestown, NH)
 * Sugar River (Claremont, NH)
 * Blow-me-down Brook (Cornish, NH)
 * Ottauquechee River (Hartland, VT)
 * Mascoma River (West Lebanon, NH)
 * White River (White River Junction, VT)
 * Mink Brook (Hanover, NH)
 * Ompompanoosuc River (Norwich, VT)
 * Waits River (Bradford, VT)
 * Oliverian Brook (Haverhill, NH)
 * Wells River (Wells River, VT)
 * Ammonoosuc River (Woodsville, NH)
 * Stevens River (Barnet, VT)
 * Passumpsic River (Barnet, VT)
 * Johns River (Dalton, NH)
 * Israel River (Lancaster, NH)
 * Upper Ammonoosuc River (Northumberland, NH)
 * Paul Stream (Brunswick, VT)
 * Nulhegan River (Bloomfield, VT)
 * Simms Stream (Columbia, NH)
 * Mohawk River (Colebrook, NH)
 * Halls Stream (Beecher Falls, VT)
 * Indian Stream (Pittsburg, NH)
 * Perry Stream (Pittsburg, NH)

Crossings
The Connecticut River is a barrier to travel between western and eastern New England. Several major transportation corridors cross the river including Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, Interstate 95 (Connecticut Turnpike), Interstate 90 (Massachusetts Turnpike), Interstate 89, Interstate 93, and Interstate 84. In addition, Interstate 91, whose route largely follows the river, crosses it twice – once in Connecticut and once in Massachusetts.

In literature
Lydia Sigourney's poem "Connecticut River" was first published in her 1834 poetry collection. A later poem, "Passage up the Connecticut", was published in 1845, together with a description of a journey along the river.

Wallace Stevens, one of America's most important 20th century poets, lived in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was vice-president of the Hartford Insurance Co. He composed many of his poems, including "The River of Rivers in Connecticut", on his 2.4 mile daily walk to and from his office.

title: Connecticut River


text:
Jim Steinman

James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, musical theater, and film score genres. He wrote songs for Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf, including Bat Out of Hell (one of the best-selling albums in history), and also wrote and produced Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell and Tyler's Faster Than the Speed of Night.

His most successful chart singles include Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", the Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion" and "More", Barry Manilow's "Read 'Em and Weep", Take That's "Never Forget", Celine Dion's cover of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (originally released by Steinman's project Pandora's Box) and Boyzone's "No Matter What". Steinman's only solo album, Bad for Good, was released in 1981.

Steinman's work also extended to musical theater, where he began his career. He was credited with the book, music, and lyrics for Bat Out of Hell: The Musical, lyrics for Whistle Down the Wind, and music for Tanz der Vampire.

Early life
Steinman was born November 1, 1947, in Hewlett Harbor, New York, the son of Eleanor, a teacher of Latin, and Louis Steinman, who owned a steel distribution warehouse. He was of Jewish ancestry.

Steinman graduated from George W. Hewlett High School in 1965. In 1963, during his sophomore year at Hewlett High School, Steinman won Newsday's January essay contest on American History for his essay on what he believed were the three greatest American inventions. Steinman received his bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1969.

1960s
In March 1968, Steinman contributed music for an Amherst College adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's A Man's a Man. In May 1968, he directed an Amherst production of Michael McClure's The Beard. Over the summer of 1968, he contributed music for an adaptation of Brecht's Baal by the Island Theater Workshop on Martha's Vineyard.

As a senior at Amherst College in Massachusetts, Steinman wrote the book, music and lyrics for The Dream Engine (April 1969), a musical that was used to fulfil the requirements for an independent study course in his senior year. Steinman himself played Baal while an audition call went out to fellow students for the remaining roles of the production. Barry Keating (serving as the co-creator and director) also played the role of the Historian/Narrator and worked extensively with Jim to compile the book for the production, often shouting lines from the audience and sourcing heavily from their earlier work with Brechtian form and tropes. The play was presented at the Amherst campus's "Kirby Theater" in April 1969 and transferred to nearby Holyoke for a small handful of performances, infamously drawing the attention of local authorities for its ensemble-wide display of nudity in the finale (an element that was begrudgingly muted for the off-campus performances).

The Dream Engine, set in a satirical-dystopian 1969, is the story of a young boy named Baal who, along with his rebel fellows, doesn't accept the restraints and limits of their society. Baal is the leader of a self-assembled group of wild boys called The Tribe, whose mortal enemies are Max and Emily, the parents of the Girl, a young woman with whom Baal has fallen in love.

Several motifs, lyrics, and monologues from this show appear in songs Steinman later released. For example, the lyrics "turn around bright eyes" from "Total Eclipse of the Heart" can be heard in the song titled "The Formation of the Tribe". This was originally a reference to the blast flash of nuclear explosions, and the full riff of the original Dream Engine composition can be heard in the musical break of the Bonnie Tyler recording, including symbolic musical "blasts" to punctuate each phrase. Multiple esoteric references to "silver" and "gold" also occur first, throughout the book, and appear in numerous later Steinman works, and the full monologue that was later recorded to open "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)" is delivered in a love scene between Baal and The Girl.

Steinman said in an interview that Joseph Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival, saw the play and was so impressed he signed it up during intermission. He wanted to bring it to New York (either Broadway or Central Park), but balked when his Amherst faculty advisor explained to Papp that, contrary to Papp's published claim, Steinman was never threatened with "near-expulsion" from the college. Nonetheless, Steinman worked under Papp after his years at Amherst College.

1970s
In 1971, Steinman provided music for a puppet show titled Ubu. The show, put on by puppeteer and filmmaker Demian, was an adaptation of Ubu on the Hill, an 1888 play by Alfred Jarry.

In 1972, Steinman worked with college friend Barry Keating on a musical titled Rhinegold at the Mercer Arts Center, based on Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold. Steinman wrote the music and Keating wrote the lyrics.

In 1972, Bette Midler sang a demo of the Steinman song "Heaven Can Wait". Midler's career was at an early stage at the time; she went on to far greater fame, making that demo a collector's item. The demo has been in circulation among fans on the internet.

In 1973, Steinman's song "Happy Ending" appeared on the album Food of Love, sung by Yvonne Elliman. This was the first commercially released recording of a song written by Steinman. That same year, Steinman wrote music and lyrics for a musical titled More Than You Deserve (1973). One of the actors cast in this show was Marvin Lee Aday, who went by the name Meat Loaf, with whom Steinman later collaborated.

In 1973, a single of the song "More Than You Deserve", from the musical sharing that name, was released. Reid Whitelaw was producer. Norman Bergen was arranger. Meat Loaf was the lead singer. A cover of this single also appears on the 1981 album Dead Ringer.

In 1975, while working for Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Steinman contributed music and lyrics to Thomas Babe's Kid Champion, which starred Christopher Walken.

In 1976, there was a minor one-month run of a musical titled The Confidence Man. It was based loosely on the novel by the same title by Herman Melville. The book and lyrics were written by Ray Errol Fox, the music by Steinman. Ray Fox described the 1976 production as "a capsule version of the show". In 1986, a more elaborate production of the show with added songs was held at Queens College in New York City. It was directed by Susan Einhorn and performed by Queen's College students. Orchestrations were by Steven Margoshes, a frequent Steinman collaborator. One song from The Confidence Man, "Milady", was recorded by Barry Manilow, but never released. The melody of that song later appeared in Tanz der Vampire as the melody of "Für Sarah" (for Sarah). Some music from this show later appeared in the hit song "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", and in the score of the film A Small Circle of Friends. A cast album of the songs from The Confidence Man, produced by Jeff Olmstead, was released in 2003. A cabaret show featuring songs from The Confidence Man was presented in 1977 at the Manhattan Theatre Club, where Steinman had previously written music for another cabaret show titled Bloodshot Wine.

Since 1974, Steinman had been working on a musical entitled Neverland (its only performances were during a 1977 workshop at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC ). Adapted largely from the Steinman/Keating source material developed for the Dream Engine, it also loosely sourced material from Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. Steinman and Meat Loaf, who were touring with The National Lampoon Show, felt that three songs were "exceptional" and Steinman began to develop them as part of a seven-song set they wanted to record as an album. The three songs were "Bat Out of Hell", "Heaven Can Wait" and "The Formation of the Pack", which was retitled "All Revved Up With No Place to Go". The show also contained Steinman's "Bolero" (a.k.a. "Great Bolero's of Fire") which was later used at many live shows featuring Steinman work. Jim Steinman originally wanted Kim Milford to sing the album Bat Out of Hell, but later changed his mind.

Steinman and Meat Loaf had immense difficulty finding a record company willing to sign them. According to Meat Loaf's autobiography, the band spent most of 1975, and two-and-a-half years, auditioning Bat Out of Hell and being rejected. CBS executive Clive Davis even claimed that Steinman knew nothing about writing, or rock music in general. Recording started in 1976 in Bearsville, near Woodstock. After numerous further rejections, the album was released by Cleveland International Records in October 1977. The album was an immediate success in Australia and the United Kingdom, and later in the United States. Reports vary as to how many copies of the album have been sold, but in 2007, Cleveland International Records founder Steve Popovich said that it was around 40 million copies. The highest-charting song from the album was "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad", which reached No. 11 on the Billboard Charts.

In 1979, the Freeway Records label made a 2-LP compilation album titled L.A. Radio. It was not commercially released, but promo copies were distributed. It included a spoken word segment titled "Shadows on the Freeway", written and recited by Steinman. It later appeared on the 1981 album Dead Ringer with a new title, "Nocturnal Pleasure". Parts of it can also be heard at the beginning of the 1989 music video, directed by Ken Russell, for the first release of the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now".

Steinman wrote the theme music for the 1979 National Lampoon sitcom Delta House. Sean Kelly and Tony Hendra wrote the lyrics. Michael Simmons sang the lead vocal. The music from this later appeared on the song "Dead Ringer for Love".

1980s
In 1980, the film A Small Circle of Friends was released. It had an orchestral score composed by Steinman, and orchestrated by his frequent collaborator Steve Margoshes. The motifs of this orchestral score match the melodies of numerous songs Steinman later released, including "Total Eclipse of the Heart", "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" and "Für Sarah" from Tanz der Vampire.

Early in the production of a follow-up album to Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf developed vocal problems and was unable to continue on the project. Steinman proceeded with the album, released as Bad for Good in 1981. Most songs are sung by Steinman himself. Three of the songs are sung by Rory Dodd, who did not receive a clear indication for his work in the album's credits, and Karla DeVito sings a duet part on one song. Steinman was this time credited as co-producer with Todd Rundgren for all but one track. Steinman was credited as co-producer with Jimmy Iovine for the song "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through".

Meat Loaf again recorded songs by Steinman on the album Dead Ringer (1981). All of the songs on the album were written by Steinman. One of the songs, "More Than You Deserve", was previously released. Stephan Galfas was the primary producer for this album. Steinman's role in this album was less than his role in Bad for Good. The highest-charting song on this album was "Dead Ringer for Love", a duet with Cher, and the album reached No. 1 on the album charts in the United Kingdom.

Steinman is credited as music producer of every selection on Bonnie Tyler's album Faster Than the Speed of Night (1983). Steinman also wrote and composed two of the songs on the album: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Faster Than the Speed of Night", the album's title selection. For a period in 1983, two songs written and produced by Steinman held the top two positions on the Billboard singles chart, with "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at number one, and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", performed by Air Supply, at number two. The second of those appeared on Air Supply's 1983 compilation albums Greatest Hits and Making Love... The Very Best of Air Supply. On the inner cover of the album, Steinman is also credited with being the "seductive female voice" speaking the words "I'd do anything for love, but I won't do that" on the song "Getting so Excited", the same words that would later become the title of a hit single Steinman wrote for Meat Loaf which was released ten years later.

Barry Manilow's compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. II (1983) included the song "Read 'Em and Weep", written, composed, and produced by Steinman. It had appeared on Meat Loaf's Dead Ringer album in 1981, but with a slightly different lyric. The song stayed at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart for eight consecutive weeks.

In 1983, Ian Hunter released his album All of the Good Ones Are Taken. On the title selection, "All of the Good Ones Are Taken", Steinman is credited with "assistance". Rory Dodd and Eric Troyer, two singers who often sang on Steinman's studio work, were credited with "additional background vocals".

In 1984, the film Streets of Fire was released. The soundtrack included two songs written, composed, and produced by Steinman. They are "Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" and "Nowhere Fast". The performance of these two songs is credited to "Fire Incorporated", which was a reference to an assembly of studio musicians and singers hired for these two songs. The voices heard on these songs include those of Rory Dodd, Holly Sherwood, and Laurie Sargent.

Steinman is credited for producing all the selections on Billy Squier's album Signs of Life (1984), and Barbra Streisand's album of the same year, Emotion, featured "Left in the Dark", which Steinman wrote, composed and produced. The song had previously appeared on Bad for Good.

The soundtrack for the 1984 film Footloose included the song "Holding Out for a Hero", performed by Bonnie Tyler. Steinman produced the selection and is credited with composing the music, and Dean Pitchford, who had written the film itself directly for the screen, for writing the lyrics. The song was a hit single, the soundtrack album was successful, and the film was successful. Some of the music from this song was adapted from the music used for the song "Stark Raving Love" from the album Bad for Good.

In 1984, Steinman was hired by, and worked briefly with, rock band Def Leppard on some tracks that were intended for a Def Leppard album. However, Steinman was fired, and the recording work he made with the band was not released. The next album Def Leppard released after this, Hysteria, was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

Jim Steinman wrote a song titled "Vaults of Heaven" which has the same melody as "Milady" from The Confidence Man and "Für Sarah" from Tanz der Vampire. Rory Dodd sang a demo of this "Vaults of Heaven" in 1984. That demo has been in circulation among fans on the internet.

In 1985, Steinman wrote, composed, and produced a theme song for WWF performer Hulk Hogan. It was released in 1985 on an album titled The Wrestling Album. The selection was recorded during the recording sessions for Secret Dreams And Forbidden Fire, an album that Bonnie Tyler was then recording, and which Steinman also produced. The selection has no lead vocals, and it matches much of the non-vocal parts of the track of "Ravishing" that appeared on Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. The track was also heard as the theme music on the animated television show Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Steinman produced the track "Love Can Make You Cry", written by Michael Kehr, Don Kehr and Ian Hunter, for the soundtrack album for the 1986 film Iron Eagle. This was a modified version of the original recording of the same song, which had appeared on Urgent's 1985 album Cast The First Stone. The original recording had been produced by Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson.

According to Steinman in an interview, Andrew Lloyd Webber approached him to write lyrics for The Phantom of the Opera because Lloyd Webber felt that his "dark obsessive side" fit in with the project. However, Steinman declined in order to fulfill his commitments to a Bonnie Tyler album. In 1986, the album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire was released. Bonnie Tyler sang lead vocals, and Steinman produced all the selections on the album. Four of the songs on the album were written and/or composed by Steinman. One, "Holding Out for a Hero", was the same track from the Footloose soundtrack. The other three were "Ravishing", "Rebel Without a Clue" and "Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It", a duet with Todd Rundgren. This album was the first time Steinman worked with Steven Rinkoff, who was a recording engineer on this album. Since this album, the two have been co-producers and regular professional partners on Steinman's work.. The Jim Steinman directed video for "If You Were A Woman And I Was A Man" was nominated for six Billboard Video Awards.

In 1987, the Sisters of Mercy released their second album Floodland. The track "This Corrosion" was produced by Steinman, and the track "Dominion/Mother Russia" was co-produced by Steinman, along with Larry Alexander and Andrew Eldritch. The soundtrack album for the 1989 film Rude Awakening included two tracks produced by Steinman. One was the song "Rude Awakening", with lead vocals by Bill Medley and was written by Rick Rose and Paul Rothchild. The other, "Darling Be Home Soon", which featured lead vocals by Phoebe Snow, had been written, composed and originated by John Sebastian.

In 1989, the album Original Sin was released. The album artist name is Pandora's Box. Pandora's Box referred to a group assembled by Steinman, including, officially, four female singers and Steinman himself. The official four female singers were Ellen Foley, Elaine Caswell, Gina Taylor and Deliria Wilde (with Holly Sherwood doing lead vocals on "Good Girls Go to Heaven"). Gina Taylor, who is now better known as Gina Taylor-Pickens, was previously in the group Musique, including the 1978 hit single "In The Bush". In interview, Elaine Caswell said Pandora's Box was "four women; three that existed and [...] Deliria Wilde who was somewhat mythical, someone [Steinman] kind of created". Deliria Wilde might have been a pseudonym for Holly Sherwood. Sales in Europe were low. The album was successful and reached No. 1 on the album charts in South Africa. It was not released at all in North America. Years later, it was reissued and became available internationally on compact disc. Original Sin included the original recording of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", sung by Elaine Caswell. Two songs from this album "It Just Won't Quit" and "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" were re-recorded and released on Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell.

In the late 1980s, Jim Steinman was working on an adaptation of the 1974 movie Phantom of the Paradise by writer and director Brian De Palma. Steinman made demos for this project. His demos include Rory Dodd singing "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", with an extra verse not heard in the Air Supply recording, and include a 1980s recording of "Who Needs the Young?"

In the late 1980s, Jim Steinman was preparing to produce an album for ELO Part II, a spin-off of the group Electric Light Orchestra. Steinman made a demo of Rory Dodd singing the song Kiss Me Red by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. ELO Part II released their album Electric Light Orchestra Part Two in 1990, without Steinman producing. Eric Troyer, a frequent background vocalist on Steinman productions, sang the lead vocal on ELO Part II's released recording of "Kiss Me Red".

1990s
With Andrew Eldritch, Steinman co-wrote and co-produced the track "More" for the album Vision Thing (1990) by the group the Sisters of Mercy.

Around 1992, Steinman worked with the punk band Iron Prostate, which featured guitarist and writer George Tabb. The group reportedly dissolved while working with Steinman on what was to be their second album. Tabb's website has shared a recording of the song "Bring Me The Head of Jerry Garcia", with Steinman credited as executive producer. The song's lyric says of Jerry Garcia, "he plays guitar like diarrhea".

After a series of financial and legal disputes during the 1980s, Steinman and Meat Loaf met at the singer's house in Connecticut at Christmas 1989 or 1990 and sang Bat out of Hell on piano. Steinman says that "working together again seemed like the cool thing to do."

In 1993, the album Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell was released. Steinman wrote all the songs, and was credited as producer and arranger. Steven Rinkoff was, as usual, credited as co-producer, and others received co-producer credits. The album was successful, reaching the peak position on album charts in many countries. The album had three top 40 singles, with "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" reaching the peak position on pop singles charts in 28 countries. The other top 40 singles from this album were "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" and "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are".

"Original Sin", the eponymous song on the 1989 Pandora's Box album, featured on the soundtrack album for the film The Shadow (1994). The lyric on this release was slightly different from that heard on the original release of this song. Steinman also produced this version, with lead vocals by Taylor Dayne.

In 1995, the band Watershed released the album Twister. Steinman was executive producer for the album, and Steinman's partner Steven Rinkoff was producer for all but one track of it. The album consisted of songs written by the band members.

In 1995, Bonnie Tyler released the album Free Spirit, featuring two tracks produced and written by Steinman. They were dance versions of the past hits "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All".

Steinman, along with Brothers in Rhythm and David James, with Steven Rinkoff as associate producer and engineer, co-produced the song "Never Forget". It was written by Gary Barlow, for the British group Take That. It was released on the album Nobody Else (1995) and reached the No. 1 position on the UK singles chart. Like many Steinman/Rinkoff productions, it featured programming and keyboard work by Jeff Bova.

Celine Dion's album Falling into You (1996) included the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", written and produced by Steinman. He also produced, but not authored, two other songs on the album: "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Call the Man". "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts and won Steinman the award for BMI song of the year. That award is given for the song, out of all those represented in the BMI catalog, that receives the most radio airplay in a particular year. This album as a whole won two 1997 Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Album and for Album of the Year. Steinman also produced the track "Us", written by Billy Pace, for Dion's album Let's Talk About Love (1997). Steinman's production team prepared a recording of the Steinman/Black song "Is Nothing Sacred" for that album, but it was removed shortly before the album's release. A recording of Dion singing the song was leaked and has been shared on fan websites.

Steinman produced two tracks for films in the late 1990s. He produced "In the Dark of the Night", written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, for the soundtrack album of the film Anastasia (1997). He also produced "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" (music by James Horner, lyric by Will Jennings) for the film The Mask of Zorro (1998). Lead vocals were a duet between Tina Arena and Marc Anthony, and the track also appeared on Tina Arena's album In Deep (1997).

No later than 1996, Steinman worked on a movie musical titled Bat Out of Hell 2100. This was a predecessor to Bat Out of Hell: The Musical, and it built upon the storyline of Steinman's Neverland musical from the 1970s. This movie was not made. A script for Bat Out of Hell 2100 was leaked, and has been available among fans on the internet. Steinman also made demos for Bat Out of Hell 2100. Those include Kyle Gordon a.k.a. Scarpia singing "All Revved Up With No Place To Go" with an alternate lyric, Ellen Foley singing a song titled "City Night", and Marcus Lovett singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart". "City Night" incorporates material from "Come With Me" from Tanz der Vampire and Dance of the Vampires, which uses the melody from "New Orleans is Comin' To Me" from The Confidence Man and "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be". Recordings of all three of those demos have been leaked and circulated among fans on the internet.

Steinman provided lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Whistle Down the Wind, which opened in Washington, D.C. in December 1996. However, it received poor reviews and the Broadway run, scheduled for the following April, was cancelled. A reworked and more successful West End production opened at the Aldwych Theatre on July 1, 1998. In addition to a full-length cast album for the London production, an album was released of well-known performers singing pop versions of the songs from the show. This album was produced by Steinman, as usual with Steven Rinkoff. Those performers include Tom Jones, Tina Arena, Boyzone, Elaine Paige, Donny Osmond, The Everly Brothers, Meat Loaf, Boy George, Sounds of Blackness, Bonnie Tyler, Michael Ball, and Lottie Mayor. One track, "No Matter What" performed by Boyzone, reached the peak position on the pop charts in many countries. The same track appeared on a Boyzone album and their greatest hits album. As of 2019, Boyzone's 1998 recording of "No Matter What" is the most recent new song or project written at least in part by Steinman, or to contain any new work of his at all, to achieve major, chart-topping success. The track "Whistle Down the Wind", performed by Tina Arena, from the same album, also had some chart success. There was also a single released in the UK for charity, of children from Red Hill Primary School and Sylvia Young Theatre School performing "When Children Rule The World". The singers were named the Red Hill Children, and the single peaked at No. 40 on the UK singles chart.

Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires), opened in Vienna, Austria on October 4, 1997. The show was adapted from Roman Polanski's movie The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), and initially directed by Polanski himself. It won six International musical awards, at the International Musical Award Germany (IMAGE 1998), in Düsseldorf. There have been translated productions of Tanz der Vampire in Estonia, Poland, Finland, Hungary and Japan. Many of the various productions of Tanz der Vampire have had cast recordings released, some of them produced by Steinman, along with other co-producers. Like much of Steinman's work, the show includes adaptation (or, recycling) of material Steinman had released before. This includes the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart", the melody of "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are", and many other parts of earlier works.

Ten previously released Steinman songs were included on the 2-disc compilation album The Very Best of Meat Loaf (1998). The included recording of the song "Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back" was a new remix made by Steinman's production team. The compilation also included three new recordings of songs co-written by Steinman, all three of which he produced. They include the hybrid track "Home By Now/No Matter What" and "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste" from Whistle Down the Wind. Also included is the song "Is Nothing Sacred", on which Steinman wrote music for Don Black's lyrics.

2000s
In 2000, South African singer Jennifer Jones sang at the World Aids Day concert. Jones performed "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be". The World Aids Day concert was broadcast worldwide. For many people around the world, this was the first or only time they ever heard that song.

In 2001, the box set Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now & Forever was released. It included a recording, produced by Steinman and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and also co-produced by Steven Rinkoff and Nigel Wright, of the Steinman/Webber song "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste", from Whistle Down the Wind. It was credited to The Metal Philharmonic Orchestra, which was an unrealized performance project idea. Kyle Gordon, a.k.a. "Scarpia", a singer on many demo recordings for Steinman, sang the lead vocal.

Around 2001, Steinman was working with singer Karine Hannah. Plans to make an album with her were eventually abandoned. Demo recordings of Hannah singing four songs by Steinman were leaked to fans and have since been available on numerous fan sites. The songs on these demos are "Safe Sex", "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", "Is Nothing Sacred" and "Braver Than We Are". Steinman also recorded her voice on a demo of "Catwoman's Song", which recycled parts of the Steinman/Eldritch song "More". This demo was part of Steinman's preparations for the unrealized Batman: The Musical. He shared it with fans through a website. In 2002, Russell Watson released the album Encore. It included the Steinman/Black song "Is Nothing Sacred". Steinman had originally worked on his production of this song with Watson on lead vocals.

Composed by Michael Reed and Steinman, with a script by Warner Brown, Garbo – the Musical, about the life of the late screen idol Greta Garbo, opened in Sweden to poor reviews in 2002. Preparation for a stage musical based on the Batman comic book series began early in the decade, with Steinman working on the music and lyrics. In August 2002, the New York Post reported that Warner Bros. signed Tim Burton to direct. According to an unnamed source Burton was attracted to the project because it was as dark as his 1989 film Batman rather than "the goofy, campy turn the franchise took with Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, both of which were directed by Joel Schumacher." Steinman said about Burton and the project, "It's more like his first two movies than any of the other movies. It's very dark and gothic, but really wildly funny. It was my dream that he do this." However, Warner Bros. cancelled its plans to cast and stage the show. Steinman has since shared some of the song demos from the show via the Dream Pollution website. The Dream Engine has, according to its website and MySpace page, also worked on recordings of some of the songs that were in the show. That includes the songs "We're Still The Children We Were Then" and "Not Allowed To Love".

Steinman was executive producer for the 2003 MTV television film Wuthering Heights. He has cited Emily Brontë's novel, which had inspired "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", as one of his favorites. A limited-release six-track soundtrack CD was sold through MTV, on Steinman and Rinkoff's Ravenous Records label. Jim Steinman is credited as producer for the album and most of its tracks, and Steven Rinkoff is credited with recording, mixing and co-production. That album includes a simple recording of the Steinman/Eldritch song "More" with actors Mike Vogel and Erika Christensen performing lead vocals. It also includes the first-ever release of the song "If It Ain't Broke (Break It)", written by Steinman, with lead vocals by Mike Vogel. The album also has a version of "The Future Ain't What It Used to Be" by Jim Steinman with lead vocals from Erika Christensen.

In 2002, the Opera Babes released the album Beyond Imagination. Steinman produced the track "Vittoria!", adapted from the Giuseppe Verdi opera Aida. Steven Rinkoff was credited with co-production, recording and mixing. Like many Steinman productions, it includes work by electronic-music arranger and programmer Jeff Bova. Steinman was also credited as arranger, along with Jeff Bova and Jon Cohen. In 2004, the film Shrek 2 was released, along with a soundtrack album. The album has two dance covers of the Steinman/Pitchford song "Holding Out for a Hero", one with vocals by Jennifer Saunders and the other credited to Frou Frou.

In 2005, The Everly Brothers released a limited edition album titled On the Wings of a Nightingale: The Mercury Studio Recordings. This album included the song "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste", written and produced by Steinman. The recording on that album was made in 1987, during the recording sessions that ended up being the 1989 album Some Hearts. However, the Steinman song was not released until 2005. This song is different from the song with the same title in Whistle Down the Wind. The two songs with this title share only a few words and no music in common, with the Everly Brothers version containing musical motifs recycled from the Steinman song "Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire)". A demo recording of this song, with Rory Dodd singing lead vocals, has for many years been in circulation among fan websites. Steinman also wrote a later incarnation of "A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste", with partly different music and a partly different lyric. Steinman made a recording of this later incarnation with Gina Taylor, a.k.a. Gina Taylor-Pickens or Gina Taylor Pickens, singing the lead vocal. That recording was most likely made when the Pandora's Box album Original Sin was made, in the late 1980s, and has been in circulation among fans on the internet.

A separate and very different show from Tanz der Vampire, Dance of the Vampires opened on Broadway on October 16, 2002. After the original director left the show, it was directed by John Rando, who joined very shortly before the opening. The book was written by David Ives and was notable for the large number of jokes, many of which had a silly or vulgar quality to them. Whereas Tanz had been a "sung-through" musical with no breaks in the music (like an opera), Dance of the Vampires was a humorous spoken play with songs inserted at some parts.

The reviews tended to be very negative. It closed on January 25, 2003 after 61 preview and 56 regular performances. Financially, it was very unsuccessful and lost roughly $17 million. Steinman did not attend the opening night, in order to show his disgust with the show. In his blog, Steinman also described the show as "DOTV, which you guys know I hated & was disgusted by, & [I] was FIRED by my manager, acting as producer!" The manager he was referring to was David Sonenberg, who was one of the producers of the show and Steinman's longtime manager.

During the concerts in his Hair of the Dog tour, Meat Loaf told the audience that he and Steinman would be releasing a new album. Later, Meat Loaf said that "lawyers worked for over a year putting together a contract for Steinman to do Bat Out of Hell III. It was one of the best producer's contracts in the history of the record business." According to Meat Loaf, the composer had suffered some health setbacks, including a heart attack. Ultimately, according to the singer, Steinman was not well enough to work on such an intense project. However, Steinman's manager refuted this version, saying that Steinman's "health is excellent" and although he had some "meaningful health problems about four years ago... he's been totally healthy the last couple of years... that's not the reason he didn't participate in [Bat III]".

Produced by Desmond Child, Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose was released in October 2006. It has fourteen songs, seven of which were written by Steinman; five of these were covers of songs already released on other albums. The other two were adapted from Steinman's demos of songs that were intended for musical theater projects. Steinman's demo of "In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher is King", with Rob Evan singing lead vocal, was part of the preparations for the unrealized Batman: The Musical project. Steinman's demo of "Cry to Heaven", with Kyle Gordon singing lead vocal, was intended for the possibility that Steinman would provide songs for a musical based on the film Cry-Baby. Cry-Baby has since been staged, but without any work from Steinman.

In 2006, the album's title became the subject of a legal battle between Steinman and Meat Loaf. Steinman had registered a trademark on the title "Bat Out of Hell" in 1995, and sought to prevent Meat Loaf from using the title. Meat Loaf sought to cancel Steinman's trademark and use the title. Aside from the trademark case, he sued Steinman and longtime manager David Sonenberg for $50 million each, for a total of $100 million. An out-of-court settlement was reached, ending the legal cases, allowing Meat Loaf to use the title for this album, and allowing Meat Loaf to release his recordings of the songs "In the Land of the Pig the Butcher Is King" and "Cry to Heaven". The agreement allowed Steinman to use the title "Jim Steinman's Bat Out of Hell" for a musical theatre project based on the songs from Bat Out of Hell. This project was announced for opening on February 17, 2017 in Manchester.

In 2006, Westlife released The Love Album. It contained a cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart", produced by Steve Mac. A remix with an added intro, presumably done by Steinman, Rinkoff, and Bova, has leaked and been in circulation among fan sites.

First publicly presented in early 2006, Steinman and Steven Rinkoff created a music performance group named The Dream Engine. The group has worked on studio recordings and held live shows in New York City. It also performed at an award show in Atlanta, Georgia. The people in this project were the first ever to publicly perform the songs "What Part of My Body Hurts the Most", "We're Still the Children We Once Were", "Speaking in Tongues", "Not Allowed to Love" and "(It Hurts) Only When I Feel". The last of those songs is partly adapted from "If It Ain't Broke (Break It)". This project was also the first to perform a revised and politicized lyric to "Braver Than We Are". With the new lyric, the song alternatively has been called "An American Elegy" and "God's Gone A.W.O.L.". According to Steinman's blog, this project was "guided" by Steven Rinkoff. This project has not performed or been active in public since 2006.

2010s
In January 2012, it was announced that Steinman was working with Terry Jones of Monty Python fame on a heavy metal version of The Nutcracker. In February of the same year, it was announced that he would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 14. On April 10, 2012, Amherst College announced that Steinman would receive an honorary degree at the college's 191st commencement on May 20. However, honorary degrees are awarded only in person, and Steinman "had to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances". On April 17, 2013, the college announced that Steinman would speak at a "conversation" on campus that will be open to the public on May 25, and would receive an honorary degree, a doctorate of humane letters, at the college's 192nd commencement on May 26. In April 2013, Meat Loaf said that he and Steinman will collaborate on three new songs to be included on Meat Loaf's album Braver Than We Are, which was (at the time) to be released in 2015. In 2016, Jim Steinman was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.

Meat Loaf's album Braver Than We Are was released in Europe on September 9, 2016, and in North America on September 16, 2016. It contains ten songs composed by Steinman. Jim Steinman wrote either nothing or almost nothing specifically for this album. Paul Crook produced this album. Like Desmond Child's Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, this album was made separately from the production team of Jim Steinman and Steven Rinkoff. Rob Evan was the first singer to perform the songs "Only When I Feel" and "Speaking in Tongues", in 2005 and 2006. The track "Going All The Way" is a mixture of some previously released material, some previously leaked material, and a little bit of material neither previously released nor previously leaked. Part of "Going All the Way" is in the song "Braver Than We Are/Say A Prayer" from Dance of the Vampires. Part of it is in a leaked demo of Karine Hannah singing, titled "Braver Than We Are". A small minority of it is not in the leaked demo of Karine Hannah singing or in Dance of the Vampires. "Loving You's a Dirty Job (But Somebody's Got To Do It)" is a cover of the released recording of Bonnie Tyler and Todd Rundgren. "More" is a cover of the released recording of The Sisters of Mercy. The tracks "Who Needs The Young", "Souvenirs", "Godz", "Skull of Your Country", and "Train of Love" are all covers of unreleased recordings that Steinman made in the 1970s. Recordings from the 1970s of all of those songs have been in circulation among fans on the internet.

In February 2017, Steinman's Bat Out of Hell: The Musical opened for previews at the Manchester Opera House in Manchester, England, then officially premiered at the same venue, then continuing on to the London Coliseum in June. This musical was based on multiple projects, including Steinman's Neverland musical from the 1970s, the hit albums Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, and on assorted other recordings from Steinman's career. This musical did not contain any songs that had not been performed in public by the summer of the year 2006, though two songs - "Not Allowed to Love" and "What Part of My Body Hurts the Most" had never been released on any albums or singles at that point. The musical performed at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre, then finished in January 2018 to make a return to London in 2018, this time the Dominion Theatre. A German version of the show was produced by Stage Entertainment, and ran at Oberhausen's Metronom Theatre from November 2018 to September 2019. The Oberhausen production featured Willemijn Verkaik in the role of Sloane on launch, but she left the show at the end of March 2019. Steinman had also set an American tour of the musical to take place starting in late 2018 through 2019 but it was cancelled after its 3-week run in the first city Toronto was complete. The musical began a limited six week run in New York City's Center Theatre from August 1 to September 8, 2019.

A cast recording album for Bat Out of Hell: The Musical co-produced by Steinman, Steven Rinkoff, and Michael Reed was released in October 2017 on the BOOH Label, which was created specifically for this album. The album was first distributed in Canada to coincide with the show's run in Toronto, then later was released again via Ghostlight Records in July 2018, both as a worldwide digital release and on CD for sale in the UK to coincide with the show's run at the Dominion Theatre, London. The cast album features the vocals of the show's cast in Manchester, with Andrew Polec and Christina Bennington leading in their roles as Strat and Raven, Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton as Falco and Sloane, and Danielle Steers and Dom Hartley-Harris as Zahara and Jagwire. Of this original cast, only Andrew Polec, Christina Bennington and Danielle Steers remained with the show from opening in Manchester in 2017 through to complete the NYC run in 2019.

In 2017, Velvet Valve Records was preparing to release music with Karine Hannah singing. In March 2017, Velvet Valve Records digitally released a recording of Hannah singing "Braver Than We Are". This recording is different from the recording of Hannah singing "Braver Than We Are" from the early 2000s. Plans to release an album with Hannah after the single, possibly to be titled Renegade Angel, were abandoned.

Personal life
Responding to an interviewer's assertion that his songs are tragic, Steinman said he has "never been stomped on literally. Figuratively, I am stomped on every day ... anyway, that is the way I feel sometimes. I've never had my heart broken the way you are talking about. I've never been dumped... but probably because I don't allow myself to be dumped."

At the time of his death, Steinman lived in Ridgefield, Connecticut. According to The New York Times, Steinman lived alone in his 6,000 square-foot house described as a "majestic museum of the self, attached to a quaint cottage in the woods of Ridgefield. He spent years expanding and reimagining the house, transforming it into an embodiment of his own eccentric, complicated personality."

Health and death
Steinman had a stroke in 2004 and temporarily lost the ability to speak. He had another stroke four years prior to his death.

Per the death certificate from the Connecticut Department of Health, Steinman died from kidney failure at a hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, on April 19, 2021, at age 73. Upon Steinman's death, rock writer Paul Stenning said he left a "tremendous legacy", referring to him as "the greatest ever composer of symphonic rock" and citing him as an influence on a variety of bands across many genres.

His frequent collaborator Meat Loaf (who died nine months after Steinman) reacted to Steinman's death by saying, "We didn't know each other, we were each other."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Jim Steinman


text:
Gordon Wilson

Gordon Wilson may refer to:

Politicians

 * Gordon Wilson (British Columbia politician) (born 1949), Canadian politician, former leader of British Columbia Liberal Party
 * Gordon Wilson (Nova Scotia politician) (born 1955), Canadian politician, member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
 * Gordon Wilson (peace campaigner) (1927–1995), Irish peace campaigner and senator
 * Gordon Wilson (Scottish politician) (1938–2017), leader of the Scottish National Party
 * Gordon Crooks Wilson (1872–1937), Conservative and Unionist Party member of the Canadian House of Commons

Sportspeople

 * Phat Wilson (Gordon Allan Wilson, 1895–1970), Canadian ice-hockey player
 * Gordon Wilson (American football) (1915–1997), American football player
 * Gordon Wilson (footballer, born 1944), Scottish footballer
 * Gordon Wilson (footballer, born 1904) (1904–1947), English footballer

Other people

 * Gordon Wilson (architect) (1900–1959), New Zealand architect
 * Sir Gordon Wilson (British Army officer) (1887–1971), British Army officer
 * Gordon Chesney Wilson (1865–1914), British Army officer

title: Gordon Wilson


text:
Vomeronasal organ

The vomeronasal organ (VNO), or Jacobson's organ, is the paired auxiliary olfactory (smell) sense organ located in the soft tissue of the nasal septum, in the nasal cavity just above the roof of the mouth (the hard palate) in various tetrapods. The name is derived from the fact that it lies adjacent to the unpaired vomer bone (from Latin 'plowshare', for its shape) in the nasal septum. It is present and functional in all snakes and lizards, and in many mammals, including cats, dogs, cattle, pigs, and some primates. Some humans may have physical remnants of a VNO, but it is vestigial and non-functional. The VNO contains the cell bodies of sensory neurons which have receptors that detect specific non-volatile (liquid) organic compounds which are conveyed to them from the environment. These compounds emanate from prey, predators, and the compounds called sex pheromones from potential mates. Activation of the VNO triggers an appropriate behavioral response to the presence of one of these three.

VNO neurons are activated by the binding of certain chemicals to their G protein-coupled receptors: they express receptors from three families, called V1R,  V2R, and FPR. The axons from these neurons, called cranial nerve zero (CN 0), project to the accessory olfactory bulb, which targets the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which in turn project to the anterior hypothalamus. These structures constitute the accessory olfactory system.

The VNO triggers the flehmen response in some mammals, which helps direct liquid organic chemicals to the organ. The VNO was discovered by Frederik Ruysch prior to 1732, and later by Ludwig Jacobson in 1813.

The organ
The VNO is found at the base of the nasal cavity. It is split into two, being divided by the nasal septum, with both sides possessing an elongated C-shaped, or crescent, lumen. It is encompassed inside a bony or cartilaginous capsule which opens into the base of the nasal cavity.

The system
The vomeronasal receptor neurons possess axons which travel from the VNO to the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), which is also known as the vomeronasal bulb. These sensory receptors are located on the medial concave surface of the crescent lumen. The lateral, convex surface of the lumen is covered with non-sensory ciliated cells, where the basal cells are also found. At the dorsal and ventral aspect of the lumen are vomeronasal glands, which fill the vomeronasal lumen with fluid. Sitting next to the lumen are blood vessels that dilate or constrict, forming a vascular pump that deliver stimuli to the lumen. A thin duct, which opens onto the floor of the nasal cavity inside the nostril, is the only way of access for stimulus chemicals.

During embryological development, the vomeronasal sensory neurons form from the nasal (olfactory) placode, at the anterior edge of the neural plate (cranial nerve zero).

Sensory epithelium and receptors
The VNO is a tubular crescent shape and split into two pairs, separated by the nasal septum. The medial, concave area of the lumen is lined with a pseudo stratified epithelium that has three main cell types: receptor cells, supporting cells, and basal cells. The supporting cells are located superficially on the membrane while the basal cells are found on the basement membrane near the non-sensory epithelium. The receptor neurons possess apical microvilli, to which the sensory receptors are localized. These are G-protein-coupled receptors, which are often referred to as pheromone receptors since vomeronasal receptors have been tied to detecting pheromones.

Three G-protein-coupled receptors have been identified in the VNO, each found in distinct regions: the V1Rs, V2Rs, and FPRs. V1Rs, V2Rs and FPRs are seven transmembrane receptors which are not closely related to odorant receptors expressed in the main olfactory neuroepithelium.

 * V1 receptors, V1Rs, are linked to the G protein, Gαi2. The benefit of the GPCR is that they signal in more than one direction. V1Rs are located on the apical compartment of the VNO and a relatively short NH2-terminal and have a great sequence diversity in their transmembrane domains. V1R is specifically expressed in the rodent vomeronasal organ (VNO) and is thought to be responsible for pheromone reception, eliciting a signal transduction.
 * V2 receptors, V2Rs, are linked to the G-protein, Gαo. These have long extracellular NH2 terminals which are thought to be the binding domain for pheromonal molecules and are located on the basal compartment of the VNO. V2R genes can be grouped into four separate families, labelled A – D. Family C V2Rs are quite distinct from the other families, and they are expressed in most basal neurons of the VNO.

The vomeronasal organ's sensory neurons act on a different signaling pathway than that of the main olfactory system's sensory neurons. Activation of the receptors stimulates phospholipase C, which in turn opens the ion channel TRPC2. Upon stimulation activated by pheromones, IP3 production has been shown to increase in VNO membranes in many animals, while adenylyl cyclase and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), the major signaling transduction molecules of the main olfactory system, remain unaltered. This trend has been shown in many animals, such as the hamster, the pig, the rat, and the garter snake upon introduction of vaginal or seminal secretions into the environment.

V1Rs and V2Rs are activated by distinct ligands or pheromones.
 * Gi proteins are activated upon stimulation with lipophilic odorants.
 * Go proteins are activated by nonvolatile proteins, such as the major urinary proteins in mice and exocrine gland-secreting peptide 1 (ESP1).

Many vomeronasal neurons are activated by chemicals in urine. Some of the active compounds are sulfated steroids. Detecting the types and amounts of different sulfated steroids conveys information about the urine donor's physiological state, and may therefore serve as an honest signal.

Recent studies proved a new family of formyl peptide receptor like proteins in VNO membranes of mice, which points to a close phylogenetic relation of signaling mechanisms used in olfaction and chemosensors.

Sensory neurons
Vomeronasal sensory neurons are extremely sensitive and fire action potentials at currents as low as 1 pA. Many patch-clamp recordings have confirmed the sensitivity of the vomeronasal neurons. This sensitivity is tied to the fact that the resting potential of the vomeronasal neurons is relatively close to that of the firing threshold of these neurons. Vomeronasal sensory neurons also show remarkably slow adaptation and the firing rate increases with increasing current up to 10 pA. The main olfactory sensory neurons fire single burst action potentials and show a much quicker adaptation rate. Activating neurons that have V1 receptors, V1Rs, cause field potentials that have weak, fluctuating responses that are seen the anterior of the accessory olfactory bulb, AOB. Activation of neurons that contain V2 receptors, V2Rs, however, promote distinct oscillations in the posterior of the AOB.

Function
In mammals, the sensory neurons of the vomeronasal organ detect non-volatile chemical cues, which requires direct physical contact with the source of odor. Notably, some scents act as chemical-communication signals (pheromones) from other individuals of the same species. Unlike the main olfactory bulb that sends neuronal signals to the olfactory cortex, the VNO sends neuronal signals to the accessory olfactory bulb and then to the amygdala, BNST, and ultimately hypothalamus. Since the hypothalamus is a major neuroendocrine center (affecting aspects of reproductive physiology and behavior as well as other functions such as body temperature), this may explain how scents influence aggressive and mating behavior. For example, in many vertebrates, nerve signals from the brain pass sensory information to the hypothalamus about seasonal changes and the availability of a mate. In turn, the hypothalamus regulates the release of reproductive hormones required for breeding. Some pheromones are detected by the main olfactory system.

In animals
The vomeronasal organ originated in tetrapods. The functional vomeronasal system is found in all snakes and lizards, and many mammals.

 * Salamanders perform a nose-tapping behavior to presumably activate their VNO.
 * Snakes use this organ to sense prey, sticking their tongue out to gather scents and touching it to the opening of the organ when the tongue is retracted.
 * The organ is well developed in strepsirrhine primates such as lemurs and lorises, developed to varying degrees in New World monkeys, and underdeveloped in Old World monkeys and apes.
 * Elephants transfer chemosensory stimuli to the vomeronasal opening in the roof of their mouths using the prehensile structure, sometimes called a finger, at the tips of their trunks.
 * Painted turtles use this organ to use their sense of smell underwater.
 * Garter snakes – In addition to the main olfactory system, garter snakes also have the vomeronasal system which consists of the vomeronasal organ. The vomeronasal organ plays an important role in some vertebrates with its sensitivity toward chemicals that are related to mating or sensing prey. For example, the snakes use the organ to detect the presence of prey or predator by gathering the chemical cues in the environment through the flicking behavior of the forked tongue. Moreover, garter snakes also use the vomeronasal organ in their pheromone communication as well. Particularly, there should be a distinction made between the odors and vomodors. Odors are chemicals detected by the sensory cells in the nasal epithelium through the process of olfaction. Vomodors are chemicals detected by the sensory cells from the vomeronasal organ through the process of vomerolfaction. Upon entering the lumen of the organ, the chemical molecules will come into contact with the sensory cells which are attached to the neurosensory epithelium of the vomeronasal organ. More importantly, a new research has demonstrated that the vomeronasal organ is necessary in order for garter snake to respond to airborne prey odors, but fail to respond to airborne non-prey odors.

In some other mammals the entire organ contracts or pumps in order to draw in the scents.

Flehmen response
Some mammals, particularly felids (cats) and ungulates (which includes horses, cattle, and pigs among other species), use a distinctive facial movement called the flehmen response to direct inhaled compounds to the VNO. The animal lifts its head after finding the odorant, wrinkles its nose while lifting its lips, and ceases to breathe momentarily.

Flehmen behavior is associated with "anatomical specialization", and animals that present flehmen behavior have incisive papilla and ducts, which connect the oral cavity to the VNO, that are found behind their teeth. However, horses are the exception: they exhibit flehmen response but do not have an incisive duct communication between the nasal and the oral cavity because they do not breathe through their mouths; instead, the VNOs connect to the nasal passages by the nasopalatine duct.

Cats use their vomeronasal organ when scent rubbing; they are able to discriminate between similar smelling substances using this organ, and then perform the rubbing behaviour.

Evidence for existence in humans
Many studies have tried to determine whether there is a VNO in adult human beings. Trotier et al. estimated that around 92% of their subjects that had no septal surgery had at least one intact VNO. Kjaer and Fisher Hansen, on the other hand, stated that the VNO structure disappears during fetal development as it does for some primates. However, Smith and Bhatnagar (2000) asserted that Kjaer and Fisher Hansen simply missed the structure in older fetuses. Won (2000) found evidence of a VNO in 13 of his 22 cadavers (59.1%) and 22 of his 78 living patients (28.2%). In a study using retrospective analysis of nearly one thousand outpatient nasal endoscopies, Stoyanov et al. (2016) found the organ to be present in 26.83% of the Bulgarian population.

Given these findings, some scientists have argued that there is a VNO in adult human beings. However, most investigators have sought to identify the opening of the VNO in humans, rather than identify the tubular epithelial structure itself. Thus it has been argued that such studies, employing macroscopic observational methods, have sometimes misidentified or even missed the vomeronasal organ.

Among studies that use microanatomical methods, there is no reported evidence that human beings have active sensory neurons like those in working vomeronasal systems of other animals. Furthermore, there is no evidence to date that suggests there are nerve and axon connections between any existing sensory receptor cells that may be in the adult human VNO and the brain. Likewise, there is no evidence for any accessory olfactory bulb in adult human beings, and the key genes involved in VNO function in other mammals have pseudogenized in human beings. Therefore, while many debate the structure's presence in adult human beings, a review of the scientific literature by Tristram Wyatt concluded that on current evidence, "most in the field... are skeptical about the likelihood of a functional VNO in adult human beings."

History
The VNO was discovered by Frederik Ruysch prior to 1732, and later by Ludwig Jacobson in 1813.

title: Vomeronasal organ