Cumberland River

This article is about the American river. For the river in Australia, see Cumberland River (Victoria).

Cumberland River
Canoers on the Cumberland River upstream from Cumberland Falls
Origin	Small stream in Letcher County, KY near Flat Gap, VA
Mouth	Ohio River at Livingston County, near Smithland, Kentucky
Basin countries	United States
Length	688 miles (1,107 km)
Source elevation	1,155 ft (352 m)
Avg. discharge	30,441 ft³/s (862 m3/s
Basin area	18,081 mi² (46,830 km²)

Map of the Cumberland River Watershed

Barge traffic on the Cumberland River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains the river for tug-and-barge navigation.

The Cumberland River is a waterway in the southern United States. It is 688 miles (1,107 km) long. Its tributaries are three separate forks that begin in Kentucky, and converge in its Harlan County. Martin's Fork starts in Hensley Settlement on Brush Mountain in Bell County and snakes its way north through the mountains to Baxter. Clover Fork starts on Black Mountain in Holmes Mill, near the Virginia border, and flows west in parallel with Kentucky Route 38 until it reaches Harlan. Clover Fork once flowed through downtown Harlan and merged with Martin's Fork at the intersection of Kentucky Route 38 and US Route 421, until a flood control project in 1992 diverted it through a tunnel under Little Black Mountain, from which it emerges in Baxter and converges with Martin's Fork. Poor Fork begins as a small stream on Pine Mountain in Letcher County near Flat Gap, Virginia. It flows southwest in parallel with Pine Mountain until it merges with the other two forks in Baxter. From there, the wider river continues flowing west through the mountains of Kentucky to Cumberland Falls.

Cumberland Falls, 68 feet (21 m) high, is one of the largest waterfalls in the eastern United States and is one of the few places in the Western Hemisphere where a moonbow can be seen.

Beyond Cumberland Falls, the river continues to grow as it converges with other creeks and streams. It is the source of the manmade Lake Cumberland, as well as Old Hickory Lake northeast of Nashville, Tennessee. After flowing through Nashville, the river continues west through Tennessee and back into Kentucky at the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, a section of land nestled between Lake Barkley, which is fed by the Cumberland River, and Kentucky Lake. Finally, the river flows north and merges with the Ohio River northeast of Paducah.

History

The Cumberland River was called Wasioto by Native Americans and Rivere des Chaouanons, or "river of the Shawnee," by French traders. The river was also known as the Shawnee River (or Shawanoe River) for years after Walker's trip.

In 1750, Dr. Thomas Walker led a party of hunters across the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia, mapped and named the river for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.

Important first as a passage for hunters and settlers, the Cumberland River also supported later riverboat trade which reached to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Villages, towns and cities were located at landing points along its banks. Through the middle of the 19th century, settlers depended on rivers for trading and travel.

In more recent history, a number of severe floods have struck various regions that the river flows through. In April of 1977, Harlan, KY and many surrounding communities were inundated with floodwaters, destroying most of the homes and businesses within the flood plain of the Cumberland River. This event led to the building of the Martins Fork Dam for flood control, the diversion of the Poor Fork around the city of Harlan, KY, as well as the diversion of the river through a mountain cut in Loyall, KY.

In late April and early May 2010, due to extensive rains, the Cumberland River overflowed its banks and flooded Nashville and Clarksville. The downtown area was ordered to evacuate.

See also

• Quadrula tuberosa — Cumberland River endemic 'Rough rockshell' freshwater mussel.
• List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)

References

• Albright, Edward. "Early History of Middle Tennessee". (1908).
• Stewart, George R. "Names on the Land". (Boston: 1967) (See George R. Stewart)
• Arthur Benke & Colbert Cushing, "Rivers of North America". Elsevier Academic Press, 2005 ISBN 0-12-088253-1
• Myers, Fred (2004) Cumberland River CruiseGuide, ISBN 0-9704962-3-0
• Duthie, Bob & Mavis (2008) What to Expect Cruising the Cumberland River,CD-ROM [1]
• Hay, Jerry (2010_ Cumberland River Guidebook, ISBN 978-1-4507-2458-6
• Kohrs, Randy (2009 'Cumberland', Album, 'Quicksand' ASIN: B002N1AEI2)
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cumberland River

External links

•  "Cumberland River". The American Cyclopædia. 1879.