Black Warrior River

Black Warrior River
River
The Black Warrior River passes by a park in downtown Tuscaloosa. The Hugh R. Thomas Bridge is seen in the background.
Country	United States
State	Alabama
Source	Confluence of the Mulberry and Locust forks
- location	Jefferson and Walker counties, Alabama, United States
- elevation	255 ft (78 m)
- coordinates	33°33′25″N 87°11′9″W
Mouth	Tombigbee River
- location	Demopolis, Alabama, United States
- elevation	125 ft (38 m)
- coordinates	32°31′55″N 87°51′11″W
Length	178 mi (286 km)
Basin	6,275 sq mi (16,252 km2)
Map of the Black Warrior River watershed

The Black Warrior River is a waterway in west central Alabama in the southeastern United States. The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles (286 km) to the Tombigbee River, of which the Black Warrior is the primary tributary. The river is named after the Mississippian paramount chief Tuskaloosa, whose name meant Black Warrior in Muskogean. The Black Warrior is impounded along nearly its entire course by a series of locks and dams to form a chain of narrow reservoirs, which not only provide aid to navigation, but hydroelectric power and drinking water.

The river flows through the Black Warrior Basin, a region historically important for the extraction of coal and methane. The cities of Tuscaloosa and Northport grew at the historical head of navigation at the fall line between the Appalachian Highlands (specifically, the Cumberland Plateau) and Gulf Coastal Plain. Birmingham, though not directly on the river, became a manufacturing hub and one of the largest cities in the South through use of the Black Warrior for transportation of goods

Overall, watershed of the Black Warrior has an area of 6,275 square miles (16,250 km²).

Course

The river is formed 22 mi (40 km) west of Birmingham by the confluence of the Mulberry and Locust forks, which join as arms of Bankhead Lake, a narrow reservoir on the upper river formed by the Bankhead Lock and Dam. Bankhead Lake drains directly onto Holt Lake, formed by the Holt Lock and Dam, which itself then drains onto Oliver Lake, formed by the Oliver Lock and Dam. These three reservoirs encompass the entire course of the river for its upper 60 miles (80 km) stretching southeast into central Tuscaloosa County and Tuscaloosa, the largest city on the river. Past Oliver Dam, immediately west of downtown Tuscaloosa, the Black Warrior flows generally south in a highly meandering course, joining the Tombigbee from the northeast at Demopolis. The lower 30 mi (48 km) of the river are part of the narrow Lake Demopolis.

The Black Warrior River receives its largest tributary, the North River, from the north approximately 1 mi (1.6) northwest of Tuscaloosa. North River was dammed in 1968 to form Lake Tuscaloosa and is the main source for drinking water for the municipalities and some unincorporated areas of Tuscaloosa County.

Crossings

Main article: List of crossings of the Black Warrior River

Outside Tuscaloosa County, there are only three vehicular crossings of the Black Warrior River. Within Tuscaloosa County, there are seven, though none upstream of the Paul Bryant Bridge in Tuscaloosa.

History

Variant names of the river used over time include Apotaka Hacha River, Bance River, Chocta River, Pafallaya River, Patagahatche River, Tascaloosa River, Tuskaloosa River, and Warrior River.

Historically, the river was called the Warrior River above Tuscaloosa and the Black Warrior River below Tuscaloosa. Though unofficial, this naming convention is still often used by the public and occasionally by government agencies. However, the official name of the entire river from Bankhead Lake south is the Black Warrior River.

To develop the coal industries of central Alabama, the US federal government in the 1880s began building a system of dressed rock lock and dams that concluded in 17 impoundments. The first 16 locks and dams were constructed of sandstone quarried from the banks of the river and the river bed itself. Huge blocks of stone were hand shaped with hammer and chisel to construct the locks and dams, and a few of these dams were in service until the 1960s. One example of the craftsmanship of the stone locks is at University Park on Jack Warner Parkway in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The bank side wall of Lock 3 (Later renumbered Lock 12 and today largely disassembled) is the last remnant of the old dams made of this dressed rock from the 1880s-90s. A concrete dam completed in 1915, Lock 17 (John H. Bankhead Lock and Dam) is the last and only existing of the original dams, and has been modernized over the years with the addition of spillway gates, and replacement of the two stage lift with a larger single lift lock. Lock 17 and Holt Lock and Dam also have hydro generating plants owned by Alabama Power suppling electricity for the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, Alabama areas.

This lock and dam system made the Black Warrior River navigable along its entire course and it is one of the longest channelized waterways in the United States forming part of the extended system that link the Gulf of Mexico to Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham became the "Pittsburgh of the South", shipping iron and steel products via the Black Warrior River through the Panama Canal to the West Coast and the world. Coal is barged to Mobile and is shipped throughout the world today making Mobile the largest coal port in the South. Coal mining and production in West Central Alabama is one of the larger employers and will continue be very important to the energy needs of the world.

Today, a severe threat to the Black Warrior River is sedimentation, or siltation, the primary cause of which are development projects, logging and mining operations, and the building and maintaining of roads.

Weather History

On April 8, 1998, a supercell thunderstorm produced an F3 tornado and it traveled north of the city of Tuscaloosa. Two injuries were reported and five homes and 11 mobile homes were destroyed from this storm that traveled over 17 miles (27 km) from Holman to north of Northport. 24 homes and 13 mobile homes were also damaged. The worst of the outbreak started around 7:00 PM CDT when a supercell originating from Mississippi entered Pickens and Tuscaloosa Counties and traveled north of the city of Tuscaloosa. Two injuries were reported and five homes and 11 mobile homes were destroyed from this storm that traveled over 17 miles (27 km) from Holman to north of Northport. 24 homes and 13 mobile homes were also damaged.an F5 tornado struck northeastern Tuscaloosa County and traveled across the river into western Jefferson County where it destroyed Oak Grove High School and killed thirty-two people in its path.

On December 16, 2000, an F4 tornado struck south of downtown Tuscaloosa. It touched down before 1:00PM CDT near the Black Warrior River in southern Tuscaloosa County and proceeded northeastward for 18 miles (28.8 km) across the Englewood, Hinton Place, Hillcrest Meadows, Bear Creek and Woodland Forest communities. A Tornado emergency was issued for the area before it lifted near Cottondale east of Tuscaloosa near Interstate 20. At its peak intensity, the tornado was about 750 yards wide. The worst damage was located near the Bear Creek area where F4 damage occurred. Near I-20, several commercial buildings including hotels and restaurants were heavily damaged and a shopping center near Route 69 was also hit and partially destroyed. Damage was estimated at over $12 million US (2000 dollars). Over 40 houses and 70 mobile homes were completely destroyed with hundreds more seriously damaged.

Gallery

Bankhead Lock and Dam, impounding Bankhead Lake in Tuscaloosa County   Holt Lock and Dam, impounding Holt Lake in Tuscaloosa County   The Black Warrior River

See also

• List of Alabama rivers

References

• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Black Warrior River Black Warrior River
• The Harnessing of the Black Warrior River by Kenneth Willis
• Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. "Tuscaloosa: Riversong" Southern Spaces

External links

• Black Warrior Clean Water Partnership