Little Kanawha River

Infobox River
river_name = Little Kanawha River

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caption = The Little Kanawha River just upstream of its mouth in Parkersburg
origin = Upshur County, West Virginia
mouth = Ohio River, Parkersburg, West Virginia
basin_countries = United States
length = 169 mi (269 km)
elevation =
discharge =
watershed = 2,320 mi² (6,009 km²) The Little Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, 169 mi (269 km) long,Gilchrist-Stalnaker, Joy Gregoire. 2006. "Little Kanawha River." "The West Virginia Encyclopedia". Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. ISBN 0-9778498-0-5.] in western West Virginia in the United States. Via the Ohio, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 2,320 mi² (6,009 km²) [Willis, Todd C. (ed.) 1987. "Length of rivers and watershed areas in West Virginia." West Virginia Blue Book. Vol. 71.] on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau. It served as an important commercial water route in the early history of West Virginia, particularly in the logging and petroleum industries. [ [http://www.newsandsentinel.com/communities/commprofiles/littlekriver.asp "Little Kanawha once was vital transportation link," Parkersburg News & Sentinel website] ]

Course

The Little Kanawha rises in southern Upshur County, approximately 20 mi (32 km) south of Buckhannon. It follows a meandering course generally west-northwestwardly, through Lewis, Braxton, Gilmer, Calhoun, Wirt and Wood Counties, past the towns of Burnsville, Sand Fork, Glenville, Grantsville, Palestine and Elizabeth, to its mouth at the Ohio River in Parkersburg.DeLorme (1997). "West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer". Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-246-3.]

About 3 mi (5 km) upstream of Burnsville [ [http://www.lrh.usace.army.mil/projects/lakes/bus/ Burnsville Lake website, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] ] , a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam causes the river to form Burnsville Lake, which was completed in 1976 at a cost of $56.2 million. [ [http://www.dailymail.com/static/specialsections/lookingback/lb06151.htm Hohmann, George. "Lock offered combination for growth." "Charleston Daily Mail." 15 June 1999.] ]

Tributaries

The Little Kanawha's largest tributary is the Hughes River, which flows into it near the Wirt County community of Newark, approximately 12 mi (19 km) southeast of Parkersburg. [ [http://www.bartleby.com/69/2/L05002.html Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry for Little Kanawha River] ] Other tributaries include the headwaters stream Right Fork Little Kanawha River, [Gnis|1545666|Right Fork Little Kanawha River] which flows along the boundaries of Upshur, Lewis and Webster Counties.; and the West Fork Little Kanawha River, [Gnis|1548928|West Fork Little Kanawha River] which rises in southern Calhoun County and flows northwestwardly along the boundary of Roane County to the Wirt County community of Creston. Additionally, a minor tributary near Grantsville is known as the Bull River; despite being named as a "river," it is no larger than dozens of other small streams that flow into the Little Kanawha.

Variant names

According to the Geographic Names Information System, the Little Kanawha River has also been known as: [Gnis|1542136|Little Kanawha River]

ee also

*Kanawha River
*List of West Virginia rivers

External links

* [http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/huc.cfm?huc_code=05030203 United States Environmental Protection Agency, watershed profile for Little Kanawha River]
* [http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~bradytrilogy/memories/images/bibliography/little-kanawha-river.htm Local Little Kanawha River history on rootsweb.com]

References