James River (Virginia)

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A map of the James River watershed.
A map of the James River watershed.

The James River in the U.S. state of Virginia is 660 km (410 miles) long including its Jackson River source and drains a catchment comprising 27,019 km² (10,432 square miles). The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million people (2000). It is the 12th longest river in the United States that remains entirely within a single state.

Contents

[edit] Geography, watershed

The James River forms in the Allegheny Mountains, near Iron Gate on the border between Alleghany and Botetourt counties from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers, and flows into the Chesapeake Bay at Hampton Roads. Tidal waters extend west to Richmond, the capital of Virginia, at its fall line, (the head of navigation). Larger tributaries draining to the tidal portion include the Appomattox River, Chickahominy River, Warwick River, Pagan River, and the Nansemond River.

At its mouth near Newport News Point, the Elizabeth River joins the James River to form the harbor area known as Hampton Roads. Between the tip of the Virginia Peninsula near Old Point Comfort and the Willoughby Spit area of Norfolk in South Hampton Roads, a channel lead from Hampton Roads into the southern portion of the Chesapeake Bay and out to the Atlantic Ocean a few miles further east.

[edit] History

The Native Americans who populated the area east of the fall line in the late 16th and early 17th centuries called the James River the Powhatan River, named for the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy which extended over most of the Tidewater region of Virginia. The English colonists named it "James" after King James I of England, as they also constructed the first permanent English settlement in the Americas in 1607 at Jamestown along the banks of the James River about 35 miles upstream from the Chesapeake Bay.

The navigable portion of the river was the major highway of the Colony of Virginia during its first 15 years, facilitating supply ships delivering supplies and more people from England. However, for the first five years, despite many hopes of gold and riches, these ships sent little of monetary value back to the sponsors. In 1612, businessman John Rolfe successfully cultivated a non-native strain of tobacco which proved popular in England. Soon, the river became the primary means of exporting the large hogsheads of this cash crop from an ever-growing number of plantations with wharfs along its banks. This development and made the proprietary effort of the Virginia Company of London successful financially, spurring even more development, investments and immigration. Below the falls at Richmond, many James River plantations had their own wharfs, and additional ports and/or early railheads were located at Warwick, Bermuda Hundred, City Point, Claremont, Scotland, and Smithfield, and, during the 17th century, the capital of the Colony at Jamestown.

Navigation of the James River played an important role in early Virginia commerce and the settlement of the interior, although growth of the colony was primarily in the Tidewater regions during the first 75 years. The upper reaches of the river above the head of navigation at the fall line were explored by fur trading parties sent by Abraham Wood during the late 17th century.

Although ocean-going ships could not navigate past present-day Richmond, portage of products and navigation with smaller craft to transport crops other than tobacco was feasible. Produce from the Piedmont and Great Valley regions traveled down the river to seaports at Richmond and Manchester through such port towns as Lynchburg, Scottsville, Columbia and Buchanan.

[edit] James River and Kanawha Canal

The James River was also considered as a route for transport of produce from the Ohio Valley. The James River and Kanawha Canal was built for this purpose, to provide a link between the James and the navigable portion of the Kanawha River, a tributary of the Ohio River. For the most mountainous section between the two points, the James River and Kanawha Turnpike was built to provide a portage link via wagons and stagecoaches. However, before the canal could be fully completed, in the mid-19th century, railroads emerged as a more practical technology and eclipsed canals for economical transportation. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was completed between Richmond and the Ohio River at the new city of Huntington, West Virginia by 1873, dooming the canal's economic prospects. In the 1880s, the Richmond and Allegheny Railroad was laid along the eastern portion of the canal's towpath, and became part of the C&O within 10 years. In modern times, this rail line serves as a water-level route of CSX Transportation, used primarily in transporting West Virginia coal to export coal piers at Newport News.

[edit] Recreation

The James River also contains numerous parks and other recreational attractions. Canoeing, fishing, kayaking, hiking, and swimming are some of the activities that people enjoy along the river during the summer. From the river's start in the Blue Ridge mountains to Richmond, Virginia, numerous rapids and pools offer fishing and whitewater rafting. The most intense whitewater stretch is a two mile segment that ends in downtown Richmond where the river goes over the fall line. This is the only place in the country where extensive class III (class IV with above average river levels) whitewater conditions exist within sight of skyscrapers. Below the Fall Line east of Richmond, the river is better suited for water skiing and other large boat recreation. Here the river is known for its blue catfish, reaching average sizes of 20 to 30 pounds, with frequent catches exceeding 50 pounds. In the Chesapeake watershed, the James River is the last confirmed holdout for the nearly extirpated Atlantic sturgeon. In May 2007 a survey identified 175 sturgeon remaining in the entire river, with 15 specimens exceeding five feet. [1]

[edit] Bridges

Main article: List of crossings of the James River (Virginia)

[edit] Highway bridges below Richmond

In the Hampton Roads area, the river is as much as five miles (8 km) wide at points. Due to ocean-going shipping upriver as far as the Port of Richmond, a combination of ferryboats, high bridges and bridge-tunnels are used for highway traffic. Crossings east to west include:

The SR 895 high level crossing is the last bridge east of the Deepwater Port of Richmond and head of ocean-going navigation at the fall line of the James River. West of this point, potential flooding is more of an engineering concern than clearance for watercraft.

[edit] Highway bridges at Richmond

The following is a list of extant highway bridges across the James River with one or both ends within the City of Richmond.

[edit] Highway bridges west of Richmond

The following is a partial, incomplete list of extant highway bridges across the James River west of Richmond.

[edit] Bicycles

The Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel prohibit bicycles, but bicyclists may take the Jamestown Ferry. [1] After a fatal accident on the Boulevard Bridge, the City of Richmond requires bicycles to travel on the sidewalk for the length of the bridge.

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[edit] Gallery

James River at Huntington Park Beach

The James River at Cartersville

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Karl Blankenship, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, "Bay Journal", Sept. 2007, p. 7

[edit] Further reading