Kiskiminetas River

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View across the Kiskiminetas River, looking down stream. From the shoreline along Leechburg, PA

The Kiskiminetas River (called the Kiski for short) is a tributary of the Allegheny River, approximately 27 mi (43 km) long, in western Pennsylvania in the United States.

1 Description
2 Origin of name
3 Images
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Description

It is formed at Saltsburg, on the border between Westmoreland and Indiana counties, by the confluence of the Conemaugh River and Loyalhanna Creek. It flows northwest in a meandering course, past Avonmore, Apollo, and Leechburg. It joins the Allegheny near Freeport at Schenley, approximately 25 mi (40 km) northeast of Pittsburgh.

The Kiski-Conemaugh watershed includes much of the historic coal-producing region of western Pennsylvania. The water quality is considered degraded by numerous abandoned mine drainages in its upper reaches and tributaries, leading to on-going efforts by federal, state, and private agencies to improve the water quality of the river. The Kittanning Path, a major trail in the region used by Native Americans and early European settlers, crossed the river at a ford near present-day Leechburg.

[edit] Origin of name

There is no definite interpretation of the origin of the name. It may come from a Native American phrase Kithanne, meaning "Place of the largest stream." According to regional historians in the area, the name has historically had several other possible meanings, including: "river of the big fish" and "plenty of walnuts." Robert Walker Smith in his "History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania" (Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883) reported that John Heckewelder (a Moravian writer, explorer, and historian who wrote about the Lenape and other tribes in Western Pennsylvania in the 1700s) claimed that the name is "corrupted from Gieschgumanito, signifying, make daylight. In this case, the etymology is: Gisch-gu---day; gisch-que---today; gieschapen---it is daybreak; manitoon---to make. It was probably the word of command, given by a warrior to his comrades at night to break up camp and resume the journey, or war-path." Smith also described another possible meaning from another source: "It is said in McCullough's Narrative, that the Indians called this river Kee-ak-ksheman-nit-toos, signifying 'cut spirit'." Smith noted that he preferred Heckewelder's definition. It is also possible that "Kiskiminetas" means "clear, clean stream of many bends."