The Hughes River is a tributary

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 Little Kanawha River

Little Kanawha River

The Little Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, 169 mi long, in western West Virginia in the United States. Via the Ohio, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 2,320 mi² on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau...

 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...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Via the Little Kanawha and Ohio

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...

 Rivers, it is part of the 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...

 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...

. As measured from the confluence of its north and south forks, the Hughes is 18 mi (29 km) long, and drains a rural area of the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau

Allegheny Plateau

The Allegheny Plateau is a large dissected plateau area in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio...

.

The river is believed to have been discovered and named by the 18th century settler Jesse Hughes, but it may also have been named for others of the same surname residing in the area during roughly the same time period. According to the Geographic Names Information System

Geographic Names Information System

The Geographic Names Information System is a database that contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its territories. It is a type of gazetteer...

, it has also been known historically as the Junius River.

Course

The Hughes flows for most of its length through Ritchie County

Ritchie County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 10,343 people, 4,184 households, and 2,999 families residing in the county. The population density was 23 people per square mile . There were 5,513 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...

 as two streams:

• The North Fork Hughes River, 57 mi (92 km) long, rises in northern Ritchie County near the community of Mountain, and flows generally southwestwardly, passing through North Bend State Park
  North Bend State Park
  North Bend State Park sits on along the North Fork of the Hughes River in Ritchie County near Cairo, West Virginia. The park is named after the sharp bend in the river that the formed three sides of the original park boundary. The North Bend Rail Trail, a 72-mile hiking and biking corridor, is...
  
  , where in 2003 it was dam
  Dam
  A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
  
  med to form North Bend Lake
  North bend lake
  North Bend Lake is a 305 acre lake created through the Natural Resource Conservation Service via the Little Kanawha Conservation District. North Bend Lake is 8.1 river miles in length and has an average permanent pool width of 310 feet.-References:*...
  
  , and through the town of Cairo
  Cairo, West Virginia
  Cairo is a town in Ritchie County, West Virginia, United States, along West Virginia Route 31, the North Fork of the Hughes River, and the North Bend Rail Trail...
  
  . It is crossed six times by the North Bend Rail Trail
  North Bend Rail Trail
  The North Bend Rail Trail is a rail trail in north-central and western West Virginia in the United States. It is operated by West Virginia State Parks and is part of the American Discovery Trail....
  
  , which was a former line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
  Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
  The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
  
   built between 1853 and 1857.

• The South Fork Hughes River, 54 mi (87 km) long, rises in western Doddridge County
  Doddridge County, West Virginia
  As of the census of 2000, there were 7,403 people, 2,845 households, and 2,102 families residing in the county. The population density was 23 people per square mile . There were 3,661 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...
  
  , and flows generally westwardly through southern Ritchie County, past the communities of Berea, Smithville, and Macfarlan. West Virginia Route 47 roughly parallels the south fork's lower course.

The Hughes' north and south forks join near the community of Cisco, and the Hughes River then flows for 18 mi (29 km) through northern Wirt County

Wirt County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 5,873 people, 2,284 households, and 1,699 families residing in the county. The population density was 25 people per square mile . There were 3,266 housing units at an average density of 14 per square mile...

 and meets the Little Kanawha River near the community of Newark, 12 mi (19 km) southeast of Parkersburg

Parkersburg, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 33,099 people, 14,467 households, and 8,767 families residing in the city. In 2006 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Parkersburg's population had decreased 4.4% to 31,755. The population density was 2,800.5 people per square mile . There were 16,100 housing...

.

Varieties of fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 in the Hughes River include muskellunge

Muskellunge

A muskellunge , also known as a muskelunge, muscallonge, milliganong, or maskinonge , is a large, relatively uncommon freshwater fish of North America. Muskellunge are the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae...

; rock

Rock bass

The rock bass , also known as the rock perch, goggle-eye, or red eye is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. They are similar in appearance to smallmouth bass but are usually quite a bit smaller...

, smallmouth

Smallmouth bass

The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...

 and spotted

Spotted bass

The Spotted Bass , also called "Spotty", "Leeman", or "Spots" in various fishing communities, is a species of freshwater fish sunfish family of order Perciformes. One of the black basses, it is native to the Mississippi River basin and across theGulf States, from central Texas through the Florida...

 bass

Bass (fish)

Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...

; flathead

Flathead catfish

The flathead catfish , also called the yellow cat, opelousas, and shovelhead cat, are large North American freshwater catfish. This is the only species of the genus Pylodictis...

 and channel

Channel catfish

Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States they are the most fished catfish species with approximately 8...

 catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

; and several species of sunfish

Centrarchidae

The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...

.