CONFLUENCE - Kanawha and Ohio Rivers - Point Pleasant, WV - River Origins, Destinations and Confluences on Waymarking.com

Located along the shores of the Tu-Endie-Wei State Park at 1 Main St, Point Pleasant, WV 25550, The much shorter 97 mile long Kanawha River empties into the much larger 981 mile long Ohio River under the Bartow Jones Memorial Bridge. The Battle of Point Pleasant took place at the confluence in 1774.

"Beginning at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Ohio is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. It ends 981 miles later at Cairo, Illinois when it empties into the Mississippi. The average depth is 24 feet, with the deepest section of 130 feet near Louisville, Kentucky.

The Ohio receives its name from the Iroquois word, “O-Y-O,” meaning “the great river.” France first claimed the watershed of “La Belle Viviere” (the beautiful river). England later controlled the same land based on a purchase from the Native tribes in 1744, which ultimately led to the French and Indian War from 1756 to 1763. During the late 18th century, the Ohio River served as the southern border of what would later be known as the Northwest Territory. It also was generally the dividing line between British settlements in Kentucky and Native communities in the Ohio Country. " -National Park Service

"The Kanawha or Great Kanawha River is West Virginia’s largest inland waterway, flowing for 156 km. The river serves as a tributary of the Ohio River and, through it, drains into the Mississippi River drainage basin. The word Kanawha comes from the Iroquois term Kaihnawha, which roughly means waterway or way for the canoe. The river has a drainage area of 8,450 square miles and is the fourth largest tributary of the Ohio River. With its deposits of coal and natural gas, the area around the Kanawha River Valley has been critical to local settlement and development. In the 1800s, the Valley and drainage basin began to be developed for the mining industry, an activity that continues into the modern era.

The river flows largely from southeast to northwest, entering the Ohio River at Point Pleasant in Mason County. The river creates a winding course through the Allegheny Plateau, a geological feature that stretches in a kind of arc from southeastern Ohio through West Virginia and into western Pennsylvania and New York State. It is characterized as a dissected plateau consisting of sandstone and shale, with seams of coal running between them. Within the Plateau, the Kanawha River Valley was created by a continental ice sheet, which dammed a prehistoric version of the river in the last Ice Age. It formed a huge lake, which deposited silt and organic material in the Valley. The Kanawha River and its tributaries started to form after the ice receded. The mountainous area ranges from elevations exceeding 4,000 feet above sea level down to roughly 560 feet at the river's mouth in Point Pleasant."-World Atlas

Parking Coordinates: 38.83872012218394, -82.14045112017861 Relevant Web Site: [Web Link] Trailhead Coordinates: Not listed

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