Kanawha River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kanawha River | |
| River | |
 Kanawha River at St. Albans, West Virginia
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| Country |  United States |
|---|---|
| State |  West Virginia |
| Counties | Fayette, Kanawha, Mason, Putnam |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Coal River |
| - right | Elk River, Pocatalico River |
| Source | New River [1] |
| - location | Ashe County, NC |
| - elevation | 2,546 ft (776 m) |
| - coordinates | |
| Secondary source | Gauley River [2] |
| - location | Three Forks of Gauley, Pocahontas County, WV |
| - elevation | 2,917 ft (889 m) |
| - coordinates | |
| Source confluence | |
| - location | Gauley Bridge, WV |
| - elevation | 653 ft (199 m) |
| - coordinates | |
| Mouth | Ohio River [3] |
| - location | Point Pleasant, WV |
| - elevation | 538 ft (164 m) |
| - coordinates | |
| Length | 97 mi (156 km) |
| Basin | 12,236 sq mi (31,691 km²) |
| Discharge | for Kanawha Falls at Glen Ferris, WV |
| - average | 17,000 cu ft/s (481 m³/s) [4] |
| - max | 82,800 cu ft/s (2,345 m³/s) (1987) |
| - min | 4,660 cu ft/s (132 m³/s) (1976) |
 Map of the Kanawha River and its New River tributary, with the Kanawha River highlighted.
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The Kanawha River (pronounced ka-NAW-ah or kuh-NAW and earlier, kuh-NOIE) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, it has formed a significant industrial region of the state since the middle of the 19th century.
It is formed at the town of Gauley Bridge in northwestern Fayette County, approximately 35 mi (56 km) SE of Charleston, by the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers. It flows generally northwest, in a winding course on the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, through Fayette, Kanawha, Putnam and Mason Counties, past the cities of Charleston and St. Albans and numerous smaller communities. It joins the Ohio at Point Pleasant.
The river valley contains significant deposits of coal and natural gas. In colonial times, the wildly fluctuating level of the river prevented its use for transportation. The removal of boulders and snags on the lower river in the 1840s allowed navigation, extended after the construction of locks and dams starting in 1875. The river is now navigable to Deepwater, an unincorporated community about 20 miles upriver from Charleston. A thriving chemical industry along its banks provides a significant part of the economy of West Virginia.
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[edit] Tributaries
In addition to the New and Gauley Rivers, the Kanawha is joined at Charleston by the Elk River, at St. Albans by the Coal River, and at Poca by the Pocatalico River.
[edit] List of cities and towns along the Kanawha River
[edit] Variant names
According to the Geographic Names Information System, the Kanawha River has also been known as:
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[edit] Highways
- Interstate 64 crosses the Kanawha four times on major bridges in the Charleston vicinity.
[edit] See also
- List of West Virginia rivers
- Little Kanawha River
- Kanawha River Valley AVA, an American Viticultural Area
- USS Kanawha (AO-1) — a fleet oiler built in 1914.
- Kanawha a steam-powered luxury yacht built in 1899 which was owned by Henry Huttleston Rogers, developer of [coal]] and railroad properties in southern West Virginia, including the $40 million dollar Virginian Railway
- The General Frank M. Coxe (ship) was built in Charleston on the Kanawha River in 1922, by the Charles Ward Engineering Works, served as an Army transport vessel and later a cruise ship on San Francisco Bay. It is now preserved as a floating restaurant in Burlingame, California, just south of San Francisco.
[edit] Further reading
Arthur Benke & Colbert Cushing, "Rivers of North America". Elsevier Academic Press, 2005 ISBN 0-12-088253-1
Rhodes, Captain Rick, "The Ohio River in American History and Voyaging on Today's River" has a chapter on the Kanawha River. Heron Island Guides, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9665866-33
