Shenandoah River
Shenandoah River | |
---|---|
North Fork | |
• location | Shenandoah Mountain |
2nd source | South Fork |
• location | Port Republic |
Source confluence | |
• location | Front Royal, VA |
Mouth | Potomac River |
• location | Harpers Ferry |
• coordinates | 39°19′21″N 77°43′40″W / 39.3226009°N 77.7277704°W[1] |
• elevation | 246 ft (75 m)[1] |
Length | 56 mi (90 km) |
Basin size | 2,937 sq mi (7,610 km2) |
Discharge | |
• location | Millville, WV[2] |
• average | 2,755 cu ft/s (78.0 m3/s) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | North Fork (Shenandoah River) |
• right | South Fork (Shenandoah River) |
The Shenandoah River .
Course
The Shenandoah River is formed northeast of
Geology
The
On the riverbank, a few miles above Harper's Ferry, is said to be a cave with an opening just large enough for a mounted rider to squeeze through. It widened in the interior to a spacious room where hundreds of Col. John Mosby's raiding troops are said to have hidden from pursuing Union cavalry.[5]
Environmental issues
Mercury contamination
The Shenandoah River was contaminated with mercury which was released by a DuPont rayon manufacturing facility located in Waynesboro, Virginia from 1929 to 1950.[6] This mercury is still present in the fish population of the river today; data collected over the last several decades shows that mercury levels remain stable.[7] The fish in many sections of the Shenandoah River are not safe for human consumption. For example, the Virginia Department of Health (VDOH) states that it is not safe to consume any species except trout which are caught between Waynesboro and Grottoes, Virginia due to elevated mercury levels. In general, the VDOH states that it is not safe to consume more than two fish per month which are caught on the Shenandoah River in Page, Warren, Augusta, or Rockingham counties.[8]
In 2017 DuPont agreed to pay $42,069,916.78 to address natural resource damages and to implement restoration projects related to the impacted resources in the South Fork Shenandoah River watershed.[6]
Fish kills
Since 2005, the Shenandoah River has experienced several springtime fish kills that have affected several of its native fish species. In 2005, redbreast sunfish and smallmouth bass along a 100-mile (160 km) stretch of the South Fork Shenandoah River began dying of lesions caused by bacteria and fungi. Although the fish kill eventually wiped out 80% of the adult redbreast sunfish and smallmouth bass, juvenile populations appeared to be unaffected.[9] The following year more-localized fish kills in Clarke County spread to two of the Shenandoah's three species of sucker: the shorthead redhorse and the northern hogsucker – the former suffering from similar lesions witnessed in the previous year's fish kill.[10] Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality received reports of fish kills near Elkton and between Bentonville and Front Royal in late April 2007 and observed fish exhibiting lesions and strange behavior.[11]
Etymology
Various accounts tell the origin of the name. According to one, General George Washington named the valley (and river) in honor of Skenandoa (or Shenandoah), an Oneida "pine tree chief" based in New York, who led hundreds of Oneida and Tuscarora warriors in support of the American rebels on the frontier during the Revolutionary War.
He also sent much needed corn to Washington and his troops during their hard winter at
Recreation
The Shenandoah River is a very popular river for
(class I-III in season, II-III+ during the spring run-off), and several commercial outfitters offer a variety of guided trips and rentals.South Fork Shenandoah River
The South Fork is formed at
South Fork tributaries
- North River
- South River
- Naked Creek
- Mudhole Run
- Deep Run
- Crooked Run
- Fultz Run
- Hickory Run
- Cub Run
- Roaring Run
- Pitt Spring Run
- Foltz Creek
- Honey Run
- Line Run
- Stony Run
- Hawksclaw Creek
- Big Run
- Georges Run
- Browns Run
- Mill Creek
- Hawksbill Creek
- Pass Run
- Dry Run
- Hollow Run
- Chub Run
- Beaver Run
- Rocky Branch
- Jeremys Run
- Moody Creek
- Nelson Run
- Dry Mine Run
- Overall Run
- Gooney Creek
Bridges over the South Fork
- N Shenandoah Avenue (US 340/ US 522/ Va 55)
- Rivermont Drive (SR 619)
- Indian Hollow Road (SR 613)
- Bixlers Ferry Road (SR 675)
- Lee Highway (US 211/ US 340)
- US 340 BUS
- US 340
- Maryland Avenue (SR 602)
- Old Spotswood Trail (US 33 BUS)
- Spotswood Trail (US 33)
- Island Ford Road (SR 649)
- Lynnwood Road (SR 708)
North Fork Shenandoah River
The North Fork is 105 miles (169 km) long
The North Fork flows initially southeast, down from the mountains, then northeast through a valley across Shenandoah County, along the western side of Massanutten Mountain. It flows past Woodstock and Strasburg. On the north end of the ridge it turns briefly southeast to join the South Fork from the northwest to form the Shenandoah.
North Fork tributaries
- German River
- Cedar Creek
- Smith Creek
- Toms Brook
- Passage Creek
- Linville Creek
- Shoemaker River
- Little Dry River
- Turley Creek
- Runions Creek
Bridges over the North Fork
- Winchester Road (US 340)
- Strasburg Road (Va 55)
- Deer Rapids Road (SR 744)
- Colby Lane (low-water, on private property)
- Bear Paw Road
- Headly Road (SR 600)
- Hesley Bridge Lane
- Artz Road (SR 663)
- Woodstock Tower Road (SR 758)
- South Hollingsworth Road (SR 609)
- Laurel Hill Lane
- Edinburg Gap Road (SR 675)
- Palmyra Church Road (SR 698)
- Red Banks Road (SR T-698)
- Old Valley Pike (US 11)
- Wissler Road (SR 720)
- Caverns Road (SR 730)
- Interstate 81
- Quicksburg Road (SR 767)
- River Road (SR 728)
- Va 42
- Shenandoah Avenue (SR 1411)
- Spar Mine Road (SR 617)
- Brocks Gap Road (Va 259)
- Hopkins Gap Road (SR 612)
- Little Dry River Road (SR 818)
- Yankeetown Road
- Lairs Run Road
- Bergton Road (SR 820)
- Bergton Road (SR 820)
Shenandoah tributaries
West Virginia
- Hog Run
- Long Marsh Run
- Bullskin Run
- Evitts Run
- Forge Run
- Cattail Run
- Flowing Springs Run
- Stikeys Run
- Double Run
Virginia
- Happy Creek
- Manassas Run
- Venus Branch
- Long Branch
- Spout Run
- Morgan Mill Stream
- Chapel Run
- Lewis Run
- Craig Run
- Dog Run
- Spout Run
- Wheat Spring Run
- Passage Creek
In culture
The American
The 1971 hit and
An episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, continuing the tradition of naming their shuttles after rivers, has a shuttle named Shenandoah.
See also
- List of Virginia rivers
- List of West Virginia rivers
References
- ^ a b c "Shenandoah River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "USGS 01636500 Shenandoah at Millville, WV" (PDF). National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1895–2013. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
- ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed August 15, 2011
- ^ Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1996
- ^ Virgil Carrington Jones, Mosby's Rangers (Chapel Hill & University of North Carolina Press, 1944), p. 240 (The Union discovered Mosby's cave only by accident late in the war when a wandering horse fell through a trap door hidden in a burnt-out house on the bluff above the river. A curious Union soldier noticed stairs leading downward, which proved to be the second entrance to the cave. There were stalls, hay, and room enough for 100 to 300 horses).
- ^ a b U.S. Department of the Interior. "DuPont Waynesboro Case Details". Natural Resrouce Damage Assessment and Restoration Program. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ Stewart, Caleb (December 15, 2016). "DuPont to pay $50 million over mercury dumped in South River". Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ Virginia Department of Health. "Fish Consumption Advisory". Environmental Health. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ Michael Alison Chandler (July 20, 2005). "Troubled Waters in the Shenandoah". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
- ^ Trice, Calvin R. (June 7, 2006). "Shenandoah fish kill has afflicted more species". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Richmond, VA. p. B-1.
- ^ Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. "Virginia Seeks Public's Help in Fish Kill Investigation". Deq.virginia.gov. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
- ^ Woodward engraving reproduced from The Aldine Magazine, Vol. VI No. 7, July 1873
- ^ ""Cultural Heritage: American Revolution", 5 July 2010, Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin". oneidanation.org.
- ^ ""The Revolutionary War", 5 July 2010, Oneida Indian Nation". oneidaindiannation.com.
- ^ Image virginia.gov[dead link]
External links
- Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries - South Fork
- Friends of the North Fork Shenandoah River
- Shenandoah Riverkeeper