Glady Fork
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Glady Fork | |
|---|---|
 The Glady Fork in Randolph County in 2006
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| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| Length | 30 mi (48 km) [1] |
| Watershed | 64 mi² (166 km²) [2] |
| Source | Confluence of east and west forks |
| - location | Glady, Randolph County |
| - coordinates | [3] |
| - elevation | 2,841 ft (866 m) [4] |
| Mouth | Dry Fork |
| - location | Gladwin, Tucker County |
| - coordinates | [3] |
| - elevation | 1,946 ft (593 m) [3] |
The Glady Fork is a river, approximately 30 miles (48 km) long, in eastern West Virginia in the United States. It is a tributary of the Dry Fork; via the Dry Fork, the Black Fork, and the Cheat, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 64 square miles (166 km²) in the Allegheny Mountains. With the Dry Fork, the Laurel Fork, the Shavers Fork and the Blackwater River, it is considered to be one of the five principal headwaters tributaries of the Cheat River.[5]
It is formed at the community of Glady in Randolph County by the confluence of two short northward-flowing streams known as East Fork Glady Fork[4] and West Fork Glady Fork;[6] the forks flow from a ridge known as Lynn Divide[7] which separates the Cheat River watershed in Randolph County from the Greenbrier River watershed in Pocahontas County. From the confluence the Glady Fork flows north-northeastwardly in a meandering course between Middle Mountain and Shavers Mountain in the Monongahela National Forest, through eastern Randolph County into southern Tucker County, where it joins the Dry Fork at the community of Gladwin.[8]
According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, nearly 94% of the Glady Fork's watershed is forested, mostly deciduous.[2] The lower half of the river's course is characterized by continuous Class 2 rapids, with Class 3 whitewater in the lowermost three-to-four miles (5-6 km).[9]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The American Rivers Outstanding Rivers List, Second Edition, May 1991. Compiled and edited by Matthew H. Huntington and John D. Echeverria. Washington, DC: American Rivers, Inc.
- ^ a b West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Watershed Atlas Project Cheat River. Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
- ^ a b c Geographic Names Information System entry for Glady Fork (Feature ID #1551246). Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
- ^ a b Geographic Names Information System entry for East Fork Glady Fork (Feature ID #1551012). Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
- ^ Julian, Norman. 2006. "Cheat River." The West Virginia Encyclopedia. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. ISBN 0-9778498-0-5.
- ^ Geographic Names Information System entry for West Fork Glady Fork (Feature ID #1553406). Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
- ^ Geographic Names Information System entry for Lynn Divide (Feature ID #1551972). Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
- ^ DeLorme (1997). West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. pp. 37-38, 47. ISBN 0-89933-246-3.
- ^ Davidson, Paul; Ward Eister, Dirk Davidson, Charlie Walbridge (1995). Wildwater West Virginia, 4th ed., Birmingham, Ala.: Menasha Ridge Press, p.85. ISBN 0-89732-156-1.
