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Big Sandy River (Ohio River)
Encyclopedia
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, approximately 29 miles (46.7 km) long, in western West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
and northeastern Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The river forms part of the boundary between the two states along its entire course. Via the Ohio River, it is part of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
.
It is formed between Louisa, Kentucky
Louisa, Kentucky
Louisa is a city in Lawrence County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,018 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lawrence County. The Levisa Fork River and Tug Fork River join at Louisa to form the Big Sandy River...
, and Fort Gay, West Virginia
Fort Gay, West Virginia
Fort Gay is a town in Wayne County, West Virginia, along the Tug Fork and Big Sandy Rivers. The town adjoins Louisa, Kentucky. The population was 819 at the 2000 census. The estimate as of 2009 was 801....
, by the confluence
Confluence (geography)
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...
of the Tug Fork and Levisa Fork. It flows generally northwardly in a highly meander
Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
ing course, between Lawrence
Lawrence County, Kentucky
Lawrence County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 15,569. Its county seat is Louisa. The county is named for James Lawrence, and co-founded by Isaac Bolt, who served as a Lawrence County Commissioner and Justice of the Peace. It is the home of...
and Boyd
Boyd County, Kentucky
Boyd County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1860. Its are found at the northeastern edge of the state the near the Ohio River and Big Sandy River, nestled in the verdant rolling hills of Appalachia. The county seat is Catlettsburg. Its largest municipality is...
counties in Kentucky and Wayne
Wayne County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 42,903 people, 17,239 households, and 12,653 families residing in the county. The population density was 85 people per square mile . There were 19,107 housing units at an average density of 38 per square mile...
County in West Virginia. It joins the Ohio between Catlettsburg, Kentucky
Catlettsburg, Kentucky
Catlettsburg is a city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States and is the county seat of Boyd County. The city population was 1,960 at the 2000 census. The city's postal ZIP code serves a greater population of 10,029, which is a better reflection of the community's size. Catlettsburg is a part of...
and Kenova, West Virginia
Kenova, West Virginia
Kenova is a city in Wayne County, West Virginia, at the confluence of the Ohio and Big Sandy Rivers. The name of the town comes from its unique position where the borders of Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia meet. Founded in 1859 but not incorporated until 1894, the town's early history and...
, 8 miles (13 km) west of Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. A small portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Its population was 49,138 at...
, at the common boundary between West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
.
The river is navigable and carries commercial shipping, primarily coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
mined in the immediate region.
The name of the river comes from the presence of extensive sand bars. The Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
names for the river included Tatteroa, Chatteroi, and Chatterwha which had similar meaning to the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
name. It was known to the Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
as Sikeacepe, meaning "Salt River", from the presence of salt lick
Salt lick
A mineral lick is a natural mineral deposit where animals in nutrient-poor ecosystems can obtain essential mineral nutrients...
s on the river (see: Licking River
Licking River (Kentucky)
The Licking River is a tributary of the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky in the United States. The river and its tributaries drain much of the region of northeastern Kentucky between the watersheds of the Kentucky River to the west and the Big Sandy River to the east.-Origin of name:The Native...
).
Two well-known fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
tunes take their name from the Big Sandy River: "Sandy River Belle" and the "Big Sandy River". Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
's "Van Lear Rose" also mentions the river.
Martin County sludge spill
On October 11, 2000, the Martin County sludge spillMartin County sludge spill
The Martin County Sludge Spill was an accident that occurred after midnight on October 11, 2000 when the bottom of a coal sludge impoundment owned by Massey Energy in Martin County, Kentucky, USA, broke into an abandoned underground mine below. The slurry came out of the mine openings, sending an...
polluted hundreds of miles of the Ohio River, the Big Sandy River and its tributaries. The accident was caused when what's known as a coal sludge impoundment owned by Massey Energy
Massey Energy
Massey Energy Company was a coal extractor in the United States with substantial operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. By revenue, it was the fourth largest producer of coal in the United States and the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia...
in Kentucky broke into an abandoned underground mine below. Toxic pollutants including heavy metals such as mercury, lead, arsenic, copper and chromium were found in the sludge that spilled into these waterways.
The spill was 30 times larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill (12 million USgals (45,424.9 m³)) and one of the worst environmental disasters ever in the southeastern United States, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
See also
- List of Kentucky rivers
- List of West Virginia rivers
- Little Sandy RiverLittle Sandy River (Kentucky)The Little Sandy River is a tributary of the Ohio River, about long, in northeastern Kentucky in the United States. Via the Ohio, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed.-Course:...