The Cheat River is a
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed August 15, 2011 tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...
of the
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-c ...
in eastern
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
and southwestern
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. Via the
Ohio River, the Cheat and Monongahela are part of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...
watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
. Owing to the ruggedness of the surrounding
Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...
, the Cheat remains largely remote with few settlements or developments along its banks. Its headwaters are in the Cheat-Potomac Ranger District of the
Monongahela National Forest
The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over of federally managed land within a proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Regio ...
.
Geography
The Cheat is formed at
Parsons, West Virginia, by the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river ( main stem); ...
of
Shavers Fork and
Black Fork. Black Fork is fed by the
Blackwater River
A blackwater river is a type of river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling black tea. ...
and by the
Dry
Dry or dryness most often refers to:
* Lack of rainfall, which may refer to
** Arid regions
** Drought
* Dry or dry area, relating to legal prohibition of selling, serving, or imbibing alcoholic beverages
* Dry humor, deadpan
* Dryness (medica ...
,
Glady, and
Laurel Forks — these are traditionally referred to as the five Forks of Cheat. (The "High Falls of Cheat"
5 feet/4.6 m highis a few miles upstream of
Bemis on Shavers Fork.) From Parsons the Cheat River flows generally northward through
Tucker and
Preston
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
Places
England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...
counties, past the towns of
Rowlesburg and
Albright Albright may refer to:
* Albright (surname)
* Albright, Alberta, Canada
* Albright, West Virginia, United States
* Albright College, a liberal arts college located in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
* Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New ...
. It then flows through an impressive gorge —
Cheat Canyon — northeastwardly from Albright, collecting
Big Sandy Creek before entering
Monongalia County, where a hydro-electric
dam just south of the Pennsylvania border causes it to widen as the
Cheat Lake reservoir. It then flows for a short distance through southwestern
Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Fayette County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in southwestern Pennsylvania, adjacent to Maryland and West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 128,804. Its county seat is Uniontown. The county wa ...
, before joining the Monongahela River at
Point Marion, Pennsylvania. Upstream of its dam, the Cheat is one of the largest undammed watersheds in the eastern United States.
Cheat Mountain, a high and rugged ridge, runs about southward from its northernmost tip, just a few miles west of the confluence at Parsons.
Name
The
Delaware (Lenape) Indian name for Cheat was reportedly ''Ach-sin-ha-nac'', meaning "stony river". "Cheat River" is variously reported to have been named for (1) a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
explorer (or an Indian) named Cheat or Chaet, (2) an abundance of
cheat grass
''Bromus tectorum'', known as downy brome, drooping brome or cheatgrass, is a winter annual grass native to Europe, southwestern Asia, and northern Africa, but has become invasive in many other areas. It now is present in most of Europe, southe ...
along its banks (possibly a misidentification of frost-killed wheat), or (3) deceptively deep sections containing whirlpools that presumably "cheated" men of their lives by drowning them. None of these theories have strong documentary support, but the latter is the most often cited.
Historical names
According to the
Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...
,
the Cheat River has formerly been known as:
*Ach-sin-ha-nac
*Achsinhanac
*Cheal River
*Chealt River
*Eleat River
*Wilmoths River
History
18th century
In 1756, the Eckarly family became the first white settlers to move into the Cheat River Valley when they lodged at
Dunkard's Bottom Dunkard's Bottom or Dunkard Bottom may refer to the following places in the United States:
* Dunkard's Bottom, Virginia, established on the New River in 1745, submerged under Claytor Lake 1939
* Dunkard Bottom, West Virginia, established on the C ...
in what is now
Preston County, West Virginia
Preston County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 34,216. Its county seat is Kingwood. The county was formed from Monongalia County in 1818 and named for Virginia Governor Jam ...
. They, and a few in the surrounding region, were soon forced to abandon their homesteads by hostile Indians and no further attempts at settlement were made until after the conclusion of the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...
(1754-1763). In October 1767,
Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon completed their famous survey of the
Maryland–Pennsylvania border shortly after extending it to a crossing of the Cheat River just above its confluence with the Monongahela. (The party was forced to stop a few miles west at
Dunkard Creek near present-day
Mount Morris, Pennsylvania. Their
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
guides had refused to go any further, having reached the border of their lands with the
Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...
, with whom they were engaged in hostilities.) According to George W. Atkinson (1876), "From 1765 to 1774 there were comparatively few attacks made upon the white colonists by the Indians. The
Treaty of Paris ">763resulted in general peace along the frontiers, had been pretty generally adhered to by all the savage tribes. The peace, however, which had for nine years blessed and fostered the frontier settlements, was suddenly broken by the murder of several friendly Indians, in 1774, on the Monongahela and Cheat rivers. This unfortunate aggression on the part of these white men gave rise to a general raid by the Indians upon all the settlements of the frontier."
The Cheat River Valley was part of a much larger area disputed in the 1770s by the Colonies of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
. (This was before the parties agreed to extend the
Mason–Dixon line
The Mason–Dixon line, also called the Mason and Dixon line or Mason's and Dixon's line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (part of Virgini ...
westward from Maryland.) Virginia attempted to administer this vast region as the
District of West Augusta between 1774 and 1776, after which it subdivided the District into three counties, the Cheat River becoming part of
Monongalia County. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania tried to oversee it as part of the overlapping
Westmoreland County. After additional surveys, and the resolution of the
Virginia-Pennsylvania border dispute in the 1780s, it became established that all but the lowermost 3 miles of the Cheat were within the state of Virginia. The Cheat River country remained part of Monongalia County until 1791 when that county was divided into a smaller Monongalia County and
Randolph County.
19th century
The
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 1 ...
authorized the first two
ferries
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
on the Cheat in 1806. On January 2, a ferry in Monongalia County was approved on Charles Stuart property to James Stafford property. On January 18, the Assembly authorized the second ferry in Monongalia County from the forge location of Samuel Jackson to Charles Magill property. Another act in 1806 authorized to conduct a lottery to fund the construction of a toll bridge across Cheat River near Dunkard's Bottom. Concerned included Michael Kern, John Steally, Augustus Werninger, Ralph Barkshire, and William N. Jarrett. The Assembly also authorized in 1806 the construction of mill dams across the Monongahela River, Cheat River,
Tygart Valley River, or the
West Fork of the Monongahela River.
Along with the rest of western Virginia, the Cheat River Valley became part of the new state of
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
in 1863.
20th century
A state militia facility,
Camp Dawson, was established on the banks of the Cheat in Preston County in 1909 and continues in operation today.
1985 flood
In November 1985, heavy rains caused a massive flood on the Cheat, essentially wiping out the small town of
Albright Albright may refer to:
* Albright (surname)
* Albright, Alberta, Canada
* Albright, West Virginia, United States
* Albright College, a liberal arts college located in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
* Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New ...
. The river flow was estimated at 190,000 cubic feet per second, much larger than normal flows ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 cubic feet per second. The massive flood also caused the Cheat River to leave its banks and flood the small town of
Rowlesburg. The town lost many businesses, and many families left their homes or the land that they owned. The flood also wiped out the school in Rowlesburg, which caused the consolidation of a high school for the county. The devastation was caused not so much by the steady-state flow of water, but rather by the repeated damming of the river by debris under the various road and railroad bridges that crossed the Cheat. Thus as the flood proceeded down the river, the water would rise behind the obstructed bridge, break through the inadvertent dam, and pick up more debris that would block the river at the next bridge site, repeating the process.
Pollution
In the vicinity of Albright, the Cheat has been plagued by
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
, notably
acid mine drainage. Although the rocks downstream of Albright have been stained a rust brown, and the river has a very low fish population below Albright,
water quality
Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through ...
has been making slow improvements since the 1990s.
Friends of the Cheat
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, ...
, the local river advocacy organization, has been instrumental in promoting remediation, cleanup, river stewardship, and education.
Whitewater recreation
The
Cheat Canyon section of the Cheat River (from
Albright Albright may refer to:
* Albright (surname)
* Albright, Alberta, Canada
* Albright, West Virginia, United States
* Albright College, a liberal arts college located in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
* Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New ...
to
Jenkinsburg, West Virginia), which features
Class IV rapids (and
Class V rapids
Class or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...
at upper levels), has become a favorite destination for
whitewater
Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...
kayak
A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word '' qajaq'' ().
The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each ...
ing and
rafting. On the first weekend in May of every year, paddlers gather from many states to attend the Cheat Festival. A very popular whitewater race—the Cheat River Race—takes place in the Cheat Canyon on the Friday of that weekend. Unlike the overwhelming majority of
whitewater races, which employ a staggered start, this race uses a mass start (in which all participants start at the same time). For the first few miles, paddlers must avoid one another, in addition to the whitewater hazards that the river presents. The race, which usually attracts 150 people, is often cited as the largest whitewater race in existence.
The Cheat Narrows section of the Cheat River (upstream of Albright) is also utilized by whitewater paddlers, and features
Class II and III rapids.
See also
*
List of rivers of Pennsylvania
This is a list of streams and rivers in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name.
Delaware Bay
Chesapeake Bay
*' ...
*
List of rivers of West Virginia
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of West Virginia.
List of West Virginia rivers includes streams formally designated as rivers. There are also smaller streams (i.e., branches, creeks, drains, forks, licks, runs, etc.) in the state. Ex ...
References
External links
U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stationsNational Whitewater River Inventory: Cheat NarrowsNational Whitewater River Inventory: Cheat CanyonFriends of the Cheat
{{authority control
Tributaries of the Monongahela River
Rivers of Pennsylvania
Rivers of West Virginia
Rivers of Monongalia County, West Virginia
Rivers of Preston County, West Virginia
Rivers of Tucker County, West Virginia
Monongahela National Forest
Rivers of Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Allegheny Plateau