Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Neva

NEVA, a river of Russia, flowing W. from Lake Ladoga to the Bay of Cronstadt, in the Gulf of Finland. It passes through St. Petersburg, and carries to the sea an enormous volume of water (greater than that of the Rhine) from the lakes Ladoga, Onega, Ilmen, and others. Its total length, with windings, is about 40 miles; in places it is over 4,000 feet wide, elsewhere the channel is narrowed to 180 feet; and in one or two places the navigation is embarrassed by reefs and rapids. It is frozen on an average from Nov. 25 to April 21. By the Ladoga canal the Neva communicates with the vast water system of the Volga, and thus it may be said to join the Baltic with the Caspian Sea.