Kanawha River

Kanawha River
The Kanawha River at St. Albans, West Virginia
Origin	Confluence of New River and Gauley River at Gauley Bridge
Mouth	Ohio River at Point Pleasant
Basin countries	USA
Source elevation	660 ft (201 m)
Mouth elevation	540 ft (165 m)
Avg. discharge	18,964 ft³/s (537 m³/s)
Basin area	12,236 mi² (31,690 km²)

Map of the Kanawha River watershed, showing its main tributary, the New River.

The Kanawha River (pronounced kuh-NAW-uh 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.

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.

List of cities and towns along the Kanawha River

The confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers at Point Pleasant, West Virginia

Variant names

Winfield Lock and Dam on the Kanawha River at Winfield, West Virginia, 31 miles upriver from the mouth at Point Pleasant. • Map

According to the Geographic Names Information System, the Kanawha River has also been known as:

Highways

• Interstate 64 crosses the Kanawha four times on major bridges in the Charleston vicinity.

See also

• List of West Virginia rivers
• Little Kanawha River
• 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

Kanawha Falls on the Kanawha River at Glen Ferris, WV.

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

Donate to Wikimedia