Black Fork (Cheat River)

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Coordinates: 39°06′39″N 79°40′44″W / 39.11083, -79.67889
Black Fork
River
none The Black Fork at Hendricks, West Virginia looking upstream. The confluence of the Blackwater River (left) and the Dry Fork (right) is visible.
The Black Fork at Hendricks, West Virginia looking upstream. The confluence of the Blackwater River (left) and the Dry Fork (right) is visible.
Country Flag of the United States United States
State Flag of West Virginia West Virginia
County Tucker
Source Dry Fork
 - location Col between Harper and Yokum knobs, Randolph County, West Virginia
 - elevation 3,740 ft (1,140 m)
 - coordinates 38°44′01″N 79°38′52″W / 38.73361, -79.64778
Secondary source Blackwater River
 - location Canaan Valley, Tucker County, West Virginia
 - elevation 3,540 ft (1,079 m)
 - coordinates 39°03′32″N 79°29′04″W / 39.05889, -79.48444
Source confluence
 - location Hendricks, West Virginia
 - elevation 1,700 ft (518 m)
 - coordinates 39°04′20″N 79°37′45″W / 39.07222, -79.62917 [1]
Mouth Cheat River
 - location Parsons, West Virginia
 - elevation 1,621 ft (494 m)
 - coordinates 39°06′39″N 79°40′44″W / 39.11083, -79.67889
Length mi (6 km) [2]
Basin 500 sq mi (1,295 km²) [3]
Map of the Monongahela River basin, with Black Fork highlighted.
Map of the Monongahela River basin, with Black Fork highlighted.

The Black Fork is a principal tributary of the Cheat River in eastern West Virginia in the United States. It is a short stream, about four miles (6 km) in length,[4] formed by the confluence of two other streams not far above its mouth.[5]

Contents

[edit] Geography

Via the Cheat, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 500 square miles (1,295 km²).[3] The Black Fork flows for its entire length in Tucker County. It is formed at the town of Hendricks by the confluence of the Dry Fork and the Blackwater River, and flows generally northwestwardly through Hambleton to Parsons, where it joins the Shavers Fork to form the Cheat River.[5]

[edit] Name

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names settled on "Black Fork" as the stream's name in 1930. According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known historically as "Blackwater Fork" and as the Blackwater River.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Julian, Norman. 2006. "Cheat River." The West Virginia Encyclopedia. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. ISBN 0-9778498-0-5.
  1. ^ a b USGS GNIS: Black Fork
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Watershed Atlas Project: Cheat River watershed. Sum of watershed areas of Dry Fork, Blackwater River, Glady Fork, Laurel Fork, Gandy Creek, and Red Creek. Retrieved on December 11, 2006.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b DeLorme (1997). West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-246-3.


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