A Tribute to Ruth Jones
PTN pays tribute to the icon of the Delaware River, Ruth Jones, former owner of Kittatinny Canoes.
Ruth Jones loved the river and saw it as a resource essential to her livelihood. She believed that you can't keep taking from a resource without giving something back, and for her, river stewardship was a way of giving back.
That was the kind of person Ruth Jones was—spending her 92 years on the Delaware River and ensuring it remained as nature intended.
The matriarch of the former owners of Kittatinny Canoes has taken her final river trip, but not before leaving a legacy of environmental stewardship for the river and the Poconos region.
"And when I'm not here anymore, if I go upstairs, I'm gonna look for a river to clean up," Ruth once said.
Ruth Jones was known as the River Queen of the Delaware, and for good reason. Raised on the river by her parents—pioneers in the river trip industry—she developed a lifelong passion for its preservation.
"I was an only child and grew up in the river. That’s where I played. It was my playground, my playmate, my best friend," she once recalled.
Ruth grew up during the fight against the proposed Tocks Island Dam. Though the dam was ultimately stopped, the Jones family had to relocate upriver to what would become one of Kittatinny’s bases of operation in Matamoras, where Brianna Strunk interviewed Ruth in 2021.
The occasion was the 31st annual On and Under the Delaware River Cleanup, an event Ruth started decades earlier.
"I've always paddled on the river, but every time I paddled, if I saw a piece of trash, I picked it up," she said. "I always made sure I got out on the river at least once a week on my day off. I said, there's so much trash out there, and I can't handle it all. It’s beyond me. We need to do something about it because no one had ever cleaned the river. I said, but if we're gonna do it, let's do it right. So we started the first cleanup in 1990."
Year after year, the event grew, attracting more volunteers.
"And on the fourth year, we removed 1,004 tires. Isn't that amazing?"
Even more amazing was the dedicated fleet of men, women, and children Ruth Jones inspired—each finding a love for the river just like she had.
"And now we have the same volunteers that come every year. It’s like a giant reunion. You should really talk to some of the volunteers, especially when they come off the river, to see what they brought in."
The On and Under the Delaware River Cleanup will continue long after Ruth Jones' lifetime of work to keep these waters pristine. She wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
"Anytime you go paddling, bring out trash with you. Keep the river clean because if we keep the river clean annually, people will be less likely to throw trash in it. And it is squeaky clean now."
Ruth Jones, the River Queen of the Delaware. If you're interested in carrying on her legacy, look for ways to sign up for the annual river cleanup at Kittatinny.com or participate in Pick Up the Poconos for Earth Day on April 26, 2025.