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Our Place in the World
Major
Waterways
The Mississippi
River begins at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and empties into the Gulf of
Mexico approximately 100 miles downstream from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Measurements of the total length of the river vary as it changes course
slightly from time to time. However, the U.S. government records the
river's length at 2320 miles.
The Mississippi
River has the third largest drainage
basin in the world, topped only by the Amazon River and the Congo.
It drains all or part of 31 states and two Canadian provinces, covering
more than 1,245,000 square miles or 3,225,000 square kilometers.
Major tributaries of the Mississippi include
the Illionois River, Missouri River, Ohio River, Arkansas River, and the
Atchafalya.
The Ohio River and its
Tributaries
The Ohio River runs into the Mississippi after draining a
watershed that spans 14 states, including all of the state of Kentucky
except for a small portion of the Jackson
Purchase in extreme western Kentucky, which drains directly into
the Mississippi.
The Ohio River is formed
by the confluence
of the Allegheny
and Monongahela
rivers at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and flows 981 miles or 1579
kilometers before reaching the Mississippi at Cairo,
Illinois.
Kentucky cities
along the Ohio River include: Maysville, Ashland, Newport, Covington,
Louisville, Owensboro, Henderson, and
Paducah.
Major tributaries of the river
that flow in or through the Commonwealth of Kentucky include: Big
Sandy, Cumberland, Green, Kentucky, Licking, and Tennessee rivers.
The Big Sandy
River
The Big Sandy is formed
between Louisa, Kentucky and Fort Gay, West Virginia by the confluence
of the Tug Fork and Levisa Fork. It flows almost 30 miles before
reaching the Ohio River at the shared state boundary of Kentucky,
Ohio, and West Virginia, between Catlettsburg, Kentucky and Kenova,
West Virginia. The entire course of the Big Sandy forms part of the
state boundary line between Kentucky and West Virginia.
The
Cumberland River
The Cumberland
River, a portion of which is classified as a "wild
river", is approximately 700 miles long and has a drainage
basin of 18,500 square miles or 48,000 square
kilometers.
The river begins in Letcher
County, Kentucky near the Virginia border, flows through SE Kentucky,
and dips into Tennessee, before curving back into Western Kentucky and
joining the Ohio River at Smithland,
Kentucky.
A famous feature on the river,
and a highlight of one of our state parks, is Cumberland
Falls. The waterfall is one of the largest in the eastern United
States and home to the only moonbow in the Western
Hemisphere.
Large resevoirs, or
recreational lakes, have been created along the Cumberland River by a
series of dams, including Lake
Barkley in western Kentucky, Lake
Cumberland in southern Kentucky and Old Hickory Lake to the east
of Nashville, Tennessee.
Dams on the
tributaries of the Cumberland have created Dale Hollow Lake on the
Obey River in NE middle Tennessee, Percy Priest Lake on the Stones
River in Nashville, and Laurel
Lake on the Laurel River in southern
Kentucky.
Other tributaries of the
Cumberland include the Little River, formed in Christian County (KY),
the Rockcastle River, formed on the Jackson-Laurel (KY) county line,
and the Big South Fork.
The Big South Fork of the Cumberland River
is a world-class whitewater canoeing and kayaking stream and is
protected by the U.S. National Park Service as the central feature of
the Big South
Fork National Recreation Area.
The Green
River
The 370-mile long Green River
holds claim to "Kentucky's longest river" because its entire course
flows within the boundaries of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, as
opposed to longer rivers which dip into other
states.
The river is a national showcase in
terms of biodiversity.
It is considered one of the top four river systems in the United
States in terms of the fish and
mussel varieties found there. The river supports 150+ known species of
fish and over 70 mussels. Twelve of the fish species that live in the
Green River are found no where else in the
world.
Rising in Lincoln County, the Green
River flows west draining 12 counties
and creating Green River Lake on its way to the Ohio River across from
Evansville, Indiana.
The river flows
through and drains Mammoth Cave in Edmonson County - the longest known
cave system in the world. It is within the Green River drainage system
that the unique creatures of Mammoth Cave National Park dwell. (See:
Mammoth
Cave, for more information.)
Tributaries of the Green River
include the Barren, Little Barren, Mud, Nolin, Pond, and Rough
rivers.
The Kentucky
River
The Kentucky River is formed
by the confluence
of the North and South Forks in Lee County and meanders 259 miles, or
417 km, before reaching the Ohio River at Carrollton,
Kentucky.
The river carries water from the
hills of the Daniel Boone National Forest through the central part of
the state where it supplies approximately one-sixth of Kentucky's
population, including the city of Lexington,
with drinking water.
The Kentucky
River Palisades is the most prominent natural feature along the
river's course.
Tributaries of the Kentucky
River include: the Dix and Red rivers and Benson and Elkhorn
creeks.
A dam on Dix River creates Kentucky's oldest man-made
resevoir, Herrington
Lake, before the Dix joins the Kentucky at High
Bridge.
Mouth of
the Licking River, Covington-Newport, Kentucky, (Photo by Rick
Dikeman, 2004)
The
Licking River
The Licking River
rises in SE Magoffin County. The course of the river twists and turns
taking the flow past Salyersville and West Liberty to Rowan County,
where it is impounded to form Cave Run
Lake.
The river continues on a
meandering course to the Ohio River, receiving waters from its
tributaries of Fleming Creek, North Fork of the Licking River, and
South Fork of the Licking River, before separating the Kentucky cities
of Newport and Covington, (see photo above), and pouring into the Ohio
across from Cincinnati.
The ecosystem
of the river supports a number of unique species of fish
including: blue sucker, eastern sand, mimic shiner, paddlefish,
redside dace, slender madtom, and streamline
chub.
The river is also considered to be a
rare example of a native muskie stream.
The Tennessee
River
The Tennessee River is the
largest tributary of the Ohio. It is formed on the east side of
Knoxville (TN), by the confluence
of the Holston and French Broad rivers. It flows SW toward
Chattanooga (TN), loops south into northern Alabama, then flows
northward back into Tennessee and on to Kentucky where it separates
the Jackson
Purchase from the rest of the state before joining the Ohio at Paducah.
The
course of the river runs 650 miles or 1,046
km.
Tributaries include the East and West
forks of Clarks River.
Minor Tributaries of the Ohio River
Within Kentucky's
Boundaries:
Little Kentucky River
- rises in Henry County, flows through Trimble and Carroll counties
and joins the Ohio west of
Carrollton.
Little Sandy River - rises in
Elliott County, flows NE forming Grayson Lake along its way to the
Ohio at Greenup, Kentucky.
Salt River -
rises near Danville; forms Taylorsville Lake in Spencer County on its
way to the Ohio at West Point,
Kentucky.
Tradewater River - rises in
northern Christian County and joins the Ohio SW of
Sturgis.
Tygarts Creek - forms in Carter
County and flows into the Ohio at South Shore.
Rivers - Puzzles and Games
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