Just outside New York City runs the Passaic River and one of the most impressive sets of waterfalls in the east. The Lenni Lenape Indians knew the falls well as a prime camping and fishing site. They called it “Totowa,” to sink or be forced down beneath the waters by weight, a tribute to this awesome mass of water. The falls were also a natural bottleneck for prodigious amounts of sturgeon during their annual spawn. Long before the canvas sails of the Europeans appeared on the ocean’s horizon, present-day Paterson, New Jersey, was an important and thriving Indian community. - JB