The expression "sold down the river" originated as a lament of Upper South slaves, especially from Kentucky, who were shipped via the Ohio and Mississippi to cotton and sugar plantations in the Deep South. Eventually the upper and middle sections combined to form what is essentially the modern Ohio River. It is considered to separate Midwestern Great Lakes states from the Upper South states, which were historically border states in the Civil War. Before there were cities, there were colonial forts. Delaware Lake is a central Ohio reservoir designed and constructed by the Huntington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Fortunately, the bridge was not blown up during the American Civil War. Through the . From there, it forms the border between West Virginia and Ohio, upstream of Wheeling, West Virginia. These forts played a dominant role in the French and Indian War, Northwest Indian War and pioneering settlement of Ohio Country. Known as butternuts, they formed the dominant culture in the southern portions of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois with a society that was primarily Southern in nature. Similarly, in the 1990s, Kentucky challenged Illinois' right to collect taxes on a riverboat casino docked in Metropolis, citing its own control of the entire river. However, once past Cincinnati, the river deepens s… It received its English name from the Iroquois word, "O-Y-O," meaning "the great river". The largest tributaries of the Ohio by discharge volume are: By drainage basin area, the largest tributaries are:[36], The largest tributaries by length are:[36], Major tributaries of the river, in order from the head to the mouth of the Ohio, include:[36]. If your impeached can you run for president again? A north-flowing river was temporarily dammed by natural forces southwest of present-day Louisville, creating a large lake until the dam burst. In 1987, the plant moved its water intakes from the shore to the middle of the river as part of a routine intake replacement. The bridge has been improved in 1859 and 1872, and remains in use as the oldest vehicular suspension bridge in the U.S. Louisville was founded in 1779 at the only major natural navigational barrier on the river, the Falls of the Ohio. In the five centuries before European conquest, the Mississippian culture built numerous regional chiefdoms and major earthwork mounds in the Ohio Valley, such as Angel Mounds near Evansville, Indiana, as well as in the Mississippi Valley and the Southeast. Usually, the river is shallow. The dams raise the water level in shallow stretches, allowing for commercial navigation. The Ohio river runs 981 miles long, and its depth is about 30 ft [4] European discovery of the Ohio River may be attributed to English explorers from Virginia in the latter half of the 17th century. [10], An earlier Miami-Illinois language name was also applied to the Ohio River, Mosopeleacipi ("river of the Mosopelea" tribe). Because the Ohio River flowed westward, it became a convenient means of westward movement by pioneers traveling from western Pennsylvania. The Ohio River as a whole is ranked as the most polluted river in the United States, based on 2009 and 2010 data, although the more industrial and regional West Virginia/Pennsylvania tributary, the Monongahela River, ranked behind 16 other American rivers for water pollution at number 17. Virginian Englishman Abraham Wood's trans-Appalachian expeditions between 1654 and 1664;[15] Frenchman Robert de La Salle's putative Ohio expedition of 1669;[16] and two expeditions of Virginians sponsored by Colonel Wood: the Batts and Fallam expedition of 1671,[17] and the Needham and Arthur expedition of 1673-74. The overflowing lake carved through the separating hill and connected the rivers. The river flows northward, towards Pittsburgh for a total of 128.7 miles. In some places in western Ohio the buried valley of the Teays River is more than 400 feet deep but no hint of it is visible on the flat surface of the landscape. [22] In 1774 the Quebec Act restored the land east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River to Quebec, in effect making the Ohio the southern boundary of Canada. A barge hauls coal in the Louisville and Portland Canal, the only artificial portion of the Ohio River. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted. The movement across the Allegheny Mountains of British settlers and the claims of the area near modern-day Pittsburgh led to conflict with the French, who had forts in the Ohio River Valley. Louisville, Kentucky, The deepest point of the Ohio River is a scour hole just below Cannelton locks and dam (river mile 720.7). The colonial charter for Virginia defined its territory as extending to the north shore of the Ohio, so that the riverbed was "owned" by Virginia. From Vigo County to the confluence of the Ohio River it is the state border between Illinois and Indiana. The Ohio River is, at this point, nearly 40 feet deep. The forks (the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at what is now Pittsburgh) were considered a strategic military location. [32], The Ohio River is heavily industrialized and populated and sees traffic from large barge cargoes carrying oil, steel and other industrial goods. In the early 1980s, the Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area was established at Clarksville, Indiana. Originating in the Great Cypress Swamp on the Maryland-Delaware border, the Pocomoke flows 55 miles through Maryland before it empties into Pocomoke Sound at the Chesapeake Bay. The Indians and early explorers and settlers of the region also often considered the Allegheny to be part of the Ohio. Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), Jefferson, Thomas, 1743–1826. Copyright © 2021 Multiply Media, LLC. Because the river is the southern border of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, it was part of the border between free states and slave states in the years before the American Civil War. The natural depth of the river varied from about 0.9 to 6 meters (3 to 20 feet). It is located in the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania south of Lake Erie to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. [30] The river again ranked as the most polluted in 2013 and has been the most polluted river since at least 2001, according to the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO). NOTE: River forecasts for this location take into account past precipitation and the precipitation amounts expected approximately 48 hours into the future from the forecast issuance time. Most were abandoned by 1800. Thus Wheeling Island, the largest inhabited island in the Ohio River, belongs to West Virginia, although it is closer to the Ohio shore than to the West Virginia shore. Successive glaciers pushed Teays south until it formed what is called the "Deep Stage Ohio". [33] The Ohio River flow is higher than that of the Mississippi River so hydrologically, the Ohio River is the main stream of the river system. The Commission also noted mercury pollution as an ongoing concern, citing a 500% increase in mercury discharges between 2007 and 2013. Cincinnati.[25]. Across the river from Fort Meigs is the Tow Path which is part of Side Cut Park. I’m watching the sonar screen, which occasionally registers a long, curving blur. The times have been expressed by 20th-century novelists as well, such as the Nobel Prize-winning Toni Morrison, whose novel Beloved was adapted as a film of the same name. The Pocomoke River ranges in depth from 7 to 45 feet and has a total length of 73 miles. The Mohican River watershed is located with Ashland, Crawford, Knox, Morrow Richland, and Wayne counties. USGS - Cooperative Matching Funds . The Ohio River boatmen were the inspiration for performer Dan Emmett, who in 1843 wrote the song "The Boatman's Dance". Cities along the Ohio are also among the oldest cities in their respective states and among the oldest cities in the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains (by date of founding): Old Shawneetown, Illinois, 1748; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1758; Wheeling, West Virginia, 1769; Huntington, West Virginia, 1775; Louisville, Kentucky, 1779; Clarksville, Indiana, 1783; Maysville, Kentucky, 1784; Martin's Ferry, Ohio, 1785; Marietta, Ohio, 1788; Cincinnati, Ohio, 1789; Manchester, Ohio, 1790; Beaver, Pennsylvania, 1792; and Golconda, Illinois, 1798. Near its origin at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, the Ohio remains fairly shallow, never rising above around 30 feet (nine meters) all the way past Cincinnati. After flowing just 30 miles in Ohio the Wabash passes through 18 counties in Indiana. In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated: "The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. The course forms the northern borders of West Virginia and Kentucky; and the southern borders of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, until it joins the Mississippi River at the city of Cairo, Illinois. Cincinnati skyline showing the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge to Covington, Kentucky. Where the river serves as a boundary between states today, Congress designated the entire river to belong to the states on the east and south, i.e., West Virginia and Kentucky at the time of admission to the Union, that were divided from Virginia. Obvious risks to swimming in the Ohio River include river currents, floating or submerged debris, and commercial and recreational traffic. The upper Ohio River formed when one of the glacial lakes overflowed into a south-flowing tributary of the Teays River. A U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine Once Submerged In A River To Ride Out A Hurricane During Hurricane Hugo, one Skipper of a wayward nuclear submarine came up with a novel idea—dive! Other states had to limit their cruises to going forwards, then reversing and going backwards on the Indiana shore only. The low-lift dams were authorized by the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1909 to provide a nine-foot navigation channel for the entire length of the The south-flowing Marietta River (no longer in existence) ended between the present-day cities. The Ohio River at Cairo is 281,500 cu ft/s (7,960 m3/s);[1] and the Mississippi River at Thebes, Illinois, which is upstream of the confluence, is 208,200 cu ft/s (5,897 m3/s). Short-lived special purpose forts included Fort Steuben (Ohio), Fort Finney (Indiana), Fort Finney (Ohio) and Fort Gower (Ohio). The river had great significance in the history of the Native Americans, as numerous civilizations formed along its valley. The Commission found that 92% of toxic discharges were nitrates, including farm runoff and waste water from industrial processes like steel production. A new route was carved to the Mississippi. region's heart, the 981-mile-long Ohio River carries the largest volume There are several major cities located along the northern and southern banks of the river including Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Louisville, Kentucky.[14]. The Ohio's drainage basin covers 189,422 square miles (490,600 km2), encompassing the easternmost regions of the Mississippi Basin. The river is sometimes considered as the western extension of the Mason–Dixon Line that divided Pennsylvania from Maryland, and thus part of the border between free and slave territory, and between the Northern and Southern United States or Upper South. region's heart, the 981-mile-long Ohio River carries the largest volume There, some continued on up the Missouri River, some up the Mississippi, and some farther west over land routes. The Ohio River drains to the Mississippi River which flows to the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic Ocean. Through the . Valleys of some abandoned rivers can still be seen on satellite and aerial images of the hills of Ohio and West Virginia between Marietta, Ohio, and Huntington, West Virginia. The Pocomoke River is a tea-colored waterway. 5735 Kellogg Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45230. In 1763, following the war, France ceded the area to Britain, and thus to the settlers in the colonies of Britain. From its origin to Cincinnati, the average depth is approximately 27 feet (eight m). Fears that Louisville's transshipment industry would collapse proved ill-founded: the increasing size of steamships and barges on the river meant that the outdated locks could only service the smallest vessels until well after the Civil War. The Ohio River Scenic Byway follows the Ohio River through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio ending at Steubenville, Ohio, on the river. Across the river from Fort Meigs is the Tow Path which is part of Side Cut Park. The Scioto River (/ s aɪ ˈ oʊ t ə / sy-OH-tah) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than 231 miles (372 km) in length. The advance of the Illinoian glacier 300,000 years ago continued the modification of the Ohio landscape, eroding bedrock and older sediments and depositing sediment as it melted. The bedrock of the Ohio Valley was mostly set during this time. The Mohican River watershed is located in north central Ohio. [31], The Ohio River was polluted with hundreds of thousands of pounds of PFOA, a fluoride-based chemical used in making teflon, among other things, by the DuPont chemical company from an outflow pipe at its Parkersburg, West Virginia, facility for several decades beginning in the 1950s. It ends approximately 900 miles downstream at Cairo, Illinois, where it flows into the Mississippi River. Along the banks of the Ohio are some of the largest cities in their respective states:[note 1] Pittsburgh, the largest city on the river and second-largest city in Pennsylvania; Cincinnati, the third-largest city in Ohio; Louisville, the largest city in Kentucky; Evansville, the third-largest city in Indiana; Owensboro, the fourth-largest city in Kentucky; and three of the five largest cities in West Virginia—Huntington (second), Parkersburg (fourth), and Wheeling (fifth). In the early 19th century, river pirates such as Samuel Mason, operating out of Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, waylaid travelers on their way down the river. The maximum depth is around 55 feet where it backs up in Louisville KY at the lock and dam. OHIO RIVER TRAIL COUNCIL “Joining communities through fitness, recreation, heritage and transportation networks” Cities and towns of pop. This lake filled areas of the current Ohio river valley near the Ohio/Kentucky/West Virginia intersection. The Deep Stage Ohio River. Tennessee: all but a small part in the extreme west drained directly by the Mississippi, and a very small area in the southeastern corner which is drained by the, Ohio: 80% (all except a northern strip bordering Lake Erie, and the northwest corner), This page was last edited on 21 January 2021, at 22:13. The Monongahela River forms at the junction of Tygart Valley River and West Fork Rivers in Maron County, WV. The collapse took the lives of 46 people who had been crossing on the bridge at the moment of its failure. Trading boats and ships traveled south on the Mississippi to New Orleans, and sometimes beyond to the Gulf of Mexico and other ports in the Americas and Europe. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. Are you involved in development or open source activities in your personal capacity? 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