The Cumberland River is a major

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

of the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and north-central

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

. The river flows generally west from a source in the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...

to its confluence with the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...

near Paducah, Kentucky, and the mouth of the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other name ...

. Major tributaries include the Obey, Caney Fork, Stones, and Red rivers. Although the Cumberland River basin is predominantly rural, there are also some large cities on the river, including

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

and Clarksville, both in Tennessee. Also, the river system has been extensively altered for

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

. Major dams impound areas of both the

main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow. ...

and many of its important tributaries.

Geography

Its headwaters are three separate forks that begin in

and converge in Baxter, KY, located in Harlan County. Martin's Fork starts near 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 Kentucky Route 38, also known as KY 38, is a state highway in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Part of the State Secondary System, it runs east from U.S. Highway 421 (Kentucky), U.S. Highway 421 in Harlan, KY, Harlan east via Brookside, Kentucky, Brook ...

until it reaches Harlan. Clover Fork once flowed through downtown Harlan and merged with Martins Fork at what is now the intersection of

and

US Route 421 U.S. Route 421 (also U.S. Highway 421, US 421) is a diagonal northwest–southeast United States Numbered Highway in the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. The highway runs for from Fort Fisher, North Caro ...

. A flood control project begun in 1992 diverted it through a tunnel under Little Black Mountain, from which it emerges in Baxter and converges with Martins 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. Cumberland river confluence baxter kentucky april 2017

Cumberland river confluence baxter kentucky april 2017

From there, the wider, now named Cumberland River continues flowing west through the mountains of Kentucky before turning northward toward Cumberland Falls. The falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the southeastern United States and is one of the few places in the Western Hemisphere where a moonbow can be seen. Beyond Cumberland Falls, the river turns abruptly west once again and continues to expand as other creeks and streams feed into it. It receives the Laurel and Rockcastle rivers from the northeast, followed by the

Big South Fork of the Cumberland River The Big South Fork of the Cumberland River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river in the U.S. states of Tennessee and Kentucky. It is a major drainage fea ...

from the south. From here it flows into the man-made Lake Cumberland, formed by

Wolf Creek Dam The Wolf Creek Dam is a multi-purpose dam on the Cumberland River in the western part of Russell County, Kentucky, United States. The dam serves at once four distinct purposes: it generates hydroelectricity; it regulates and limits flooding; it r ...

. The more than reservoir is one of the largest artificial lakes in the eastern US. Near

Celina, Tennessee Celina is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the ...

, the river crosses south into that state, where it is joined by the Obey River and Caney Fork. Northeast of

, the river is dammed twice more, forming

Cordell Hull Lake Cordell Hull Lake is a lake in the Cumberland River in north-central Tennessee, about forty miles east of Nashville, in the vicinity of Carthage. It covers approximately . Cordell Hull Dam, on the Cumberland River, was built by the United States ...

and

Old Hickory Lake Old Hickory Lake is a reservoir in north central Tennessee. It is formed by the Old Hickory Lock and Dam (), located on the Cumberland River at mile 216.2 in Sumner and Davidson counties, approximately upstream from Nashville. The city ...

. After flowing through Nashville and picking up the Stones River, the river is dammed to form

Cheatham Lake Cheatham may refer to: ;Places * Cheatham County, Tennessee, a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee * Cheatham House (disambiguation) * Cheatham Lock and Dam, a dam in Ashland City, Tennessee, USA. * Cheatham Middle School, a middle school ...

. The river turns northwest toward Clarksville, where it is joined by the Red River. It flows 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

at Smithland, northeast of Paducah.

History

The explorer Thomas Walker of Virginia in 1758 named the river, but whether for the Duke of Cumberland or the English county of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...

is not known. The Cumberland River was called ''Wasioto'' by the

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Native Americans, who lived in this area. French traders called it the ''Riviere des Chaouanons'', or "River of the Shawnee" for this association. The river was also known as the ''

River'' (or ''Shawanoe River'') for years after Walker's trip. Important first as a passage for hunters and settlers, the Cumberland River also supported later riverboat trade, which traveled to the Ohio and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

rivers. Villages, towns, and cities were located at landing points along its banks. Through the middle of the 19th century, settlers depended on rivers as the primary transportation routes for trading and travel.

Floods

In more recent history, a number of severe floods have struck various regions that the river flows through. In April 1977, Harlan, Kentucky, and many surrounding communities were inundated with floodwaters, destroying most of the homes and businesses within the floodplain of the river. This event led to the building of the Martins Fork Dam for flood control and the diversion of the Clover Fork around the city of Harlan. In addition, the river was diverted through a mountain cut in Loyall, Kentucky. In late April and early May 2010, due to the 2010 Tennessee floods, the river overflowed its banks and flooded

and Clarksville, Tennessee. The downtown area was ordered to evacuate. Major flooding occurred along the Cumberland River at Pineville, Barbourville, and Williamsburg in early February 2020.

References

Notes Bibliography * Albright, Edward (1908) ''Early History of Middle Tennessee'' * Benke, Arthur and Cushing, Colbert (2005) ''Rivers of North America''. Elsevier Academic Press. * Duthie, Bob and Duthie, Mavis (2008)
What to Expect Cruising the Cumberland River
', CD-ROM * Hay, Jerry (2010) ''Cumberland River Guidebook'', * Kohrs, Randy (2009) "Cumberland" on ''Quicksand'' (album) ASIN: B002N1AEI2 * Myers, Fred (2004) ''Cumberland River CruiseGuide'', * Stewart, George R. (1967) ''Names on the Land''. Boston. *

External links

* * {{authority control Rivers of Kentucky Rivers of Tennessee Tributaries of the Ohio River Rivers of Cheatham County, Tennessee Rivers of Harlan County, Kentucky Rivers of Livingston County, Kentucky Rivers of Davidson County, Tennessee Rivers of McCreary County, Kentucky Rivers of Whitley County, Kentucky Rivers of Montgomery County, Kentucky Rivers of Clay County, Tennessee Rivers of Stewart County, Tennessee

Geography

History

Floods

See also

References

External links