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West Virginia gets a lot of rain and snow. This water, combined with hundreds of millions of years of erosion, has created an incredible number of waterways: about 10,000 named streams covering nearly 40,000 miles, giving West Virginia one of the highest stream densities in all of North America.
Almost all of this water belongs to one of two huge river basins. The Potomac River Basin drains the entire Eastern Panhandle. The Potomac forms the border between West Virginia and Maryland and eventually flows into the Chesapeake Bay. Major rivers here include the North Branch and South Branch of the Potomac, the Cacapon, and the Shenandoah. The Ohio River Basin drains the vast majority of the state.
Note that a tiny bit of the state, in Monroe County, is drained by the James River, but that’s a very small area.
This exhibit covers the more notable rivers included in e-WV.
The Big Sandy River and its two main branches, the Tug Fork and Levisa Fork, form the southwestern border of West Virginia with Kentucky. The two forks begin about 20 miles apart and flow north to join at Louisa, Kentucky. The main Big Sandy River...
The 31-mile-long Blackwater River is known for its color and splendid canyon. It begins in the Canaan Valley (Tucker County) at a high elevation.It’s called "Blackwater" because of its dark amber color, which comes from tannic acid (like in tea) t...
The Birch River is a fast-flowing stream that starts near Cowen (Webster County) and runs 36.6 miles northwest through isolated, rural country before joining the Elk River.Birch River was heavily used by the timber industry between 1880 and 1920, ...
The Bluestone River begins in Virginia and gets its name from the blue-grey limestone rocks along its banks. It flows 86.7 miles, with about 55 miles running through West Virginia. The river enters the state near Wolfe (Mercer County), cutting thr...
The Buckhannon River is Upshur County's main waterway and the namesake of the city of Buckhannon. The river starts high in the mountains from three forks near Pickens (Randolph County) and flows nearly 47 miles north to join the Tygart Valley Rive...
The Cacapon (pronounced kuh-KAY-pon) flows 112 miles through the Eastern Panhandle and is a major tributary of the Potomac River. It drains a long, narrow strip of land. The Cacapon River and the Lost River are actually the same waterway. During d...
The Cheat River is a major, untamed river that flows about 156 miles through northern West Virginia. It starts high in the mountains from five forks (like fingers on a hand) that meet at Parsons, and it ends where it joins the Monongahela River ne...
The Coal River joins the Kanawha River at St. Albans and gets its name because it drains a large part of the southern coalfields. The river system is made up of two main branches: the Big Coal River and the Little Coal River, which fork into many ...
The Cranberry River begins on Cranberry Mountain at a high elevation (4,600 feet), near Cranberry Glades. It flows slowly through the glades for a few miles and then rushes quickly for 25 miles until it meets the Gauley River.The area was too rugg...
The East River is a small but important waterway that begins near the rail yards in Bluefield. Despite its name, it's more like a large creek. It flows straight for 23 miles northeast through Mercer County before joining the New River in Virginia....
The 177-mile Elk River meanders from its start in Pocahontas County, cutting through some of West Virginia's wildest areas before joining the Kanawha River at Charleston. Its watershed covers about 6.5% of the state.The river is an important resou...
The Gauley River begins high in Pocahontas County, drops nearly 4,000 feet along its 104-mile journey, and flows west to join the New River at Gauley Bridge to form the Kanawha River.The Gauley flows through extremely rugged country. Its deep vall...
The Greenbrier River begins at a high elevation in Pocahontas County and flows 162 miles south and west to join the New River at Hinton. Its path is straight for much of its length because it flows along the border between two different geologic r...
The rugged land made the Guyandotte an important route for early settlers. Although the state of Virginia tried to build locks and dams in the 1850s to make it fully navigable, the project failed due to poor construction and was completely destroy...
The Holly River begins as two separate streams—the Left Fork and the Right Fork—in the rugged mountains of Webster and Randolph counties. These two streams join together in Braxton County.The main Holly River is actually the shortest river in West...
The Hughes River was named by frontiersman Jesse Hughes, who discovered the waterway in 1772. The river drains Ritchie and part of Wirt County before emptying into the Little Kanawha River near Parkersburg.About 12 miles upstream, the Hughes River...
The Kanawha River's headwaters start in North Carolina as the New River. When the New meets the Gauley River at Gauley Bridge, it officially becomes the Kanawha, where it flows 97 miles northwest to the Ohio River at Point Pleasant.Early settlers ...
The 9.5-mile Little Bluestone River is located in Summers County. It flows from Flat Top Mountain until it joins the Bluestone River near the former village of Lilly, which was settled in the late 1700s.A colonial soldier who lived there started o...
The 169-mile-long Little Kanawha River starts in Upshur County and flows west through several counties until it joins the Ohio River at Parkersburg.To help boats travel farther upstream for trade, five locks and dams were built between 1867 and 18...
The 52.6-mile Meadow River starts near the Greenbrier-Summers county line. It flows northwest to join the Gauley River just below Summersville Lake.The river drops over 2,700 feet from start to finish, making the lower section a rocky, turbulent s...
The Monongahela River ("The Mon") forms at Fairmont, where the West Fork and Tygart Valley rivers merge. It flows 128 miles north to Pittsburgh, where it joins the Allegheny River to form the mighty Ohio River.Long ago, a glacier blocked an ancien...
The 72-mile-long Mud River starts near Madison (Boone County) and flows through Lincoln County before emptying into the Guyandotte River near Barboursville. It's typically more like a large creek, unless there's flooding, which occurs frequently.I...
The New River is one of the world's oldest. It starts in North Carolina and flows northward for 320 miles through Virginia and into West Virginia. At Gauley Bridge, it joins the Gauley River to form the Kanawha River.Just inside West Virginia, the...
The North River begins on South Branch Mountain in Hardy County and flows northeast for 47 miles before joining the Cacapon River at the Forks of Cacapon. It is the Cacapon's largest tributary.The river flows through forested hills and wide farmla...
The Ohio, which begins in Pittsburgh, has been a vital transportation route for over 15,000 years, used by prehistoric people and later by settlers heading west. Its ease of transport has driven industries and helped major cities, like Wheeling an...
The 67.7-mile-long Pocatalico River starts near Looneyville (Roane County) and winds through four counties before joining the Kanawha River in Putnam County.Thought to be an old Indian name, the Pocatalico is often shortened to just the "Poca Rive...
The Potomac River is one of the most historic rivers in the United States. It begins in West Virginia with the North Branch at the Fairfax Stone. The Potomac flows 287 miles and forms the border between West Virginia/Maryland and Maryland/Virginia...
The Shenandoah River flows nearly 150 miles, mostly through the beautiful Shenandoah Valley between the Blue Ridge Mountains and Allegheny Mountains.Its two main forks meet at Front Royal, Virginia. From there, the main river flows 55 more miles, ...
The 25-mile Stony River flows into the North Branch of the Potomac River. In 1746, an early explorer wrote that the area was wild enough "to strike terror into any human creature."The territory remained remote until the late 1800s, when Henry Gass...
The Tygart Valley River is a major tributary of the Monongahela. It starts near the Randolph-Pocahontas county line and flows 118 miles north, eventually joining the West Fork River at Fairmont to form the Monongahela.The Tygart Valley was named f...
The 103-mile West Fork River flows north, passing through Clarksburg and Weston. It meets the Tygart Valley River at Fairmont to form the Monongahela River.People tried to make the river easier for navigation as far back as the 1700s, but floods k...
The Williams River starts in Pocahontas County, nearly 4,000 feet up, and flows 33 miles before it joins the Gauley River.Historically, the area was remote and difficult to settle. The watershed was mainly used for its timber and coal resources.To...
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