The Ohio River is the largest tributary by volume of the
Mississippi River. It is approximately 981 miles (1,579 km) long
and is located in the eastern United States.
The river is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and
Monongahela rivers at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
From Pittsburgh, it flows northwest through Allegheny and Beaver
Counties, before making an abrupt turn to the south-southwest at
the West Virginia—Ohio—Pennsylvania triple state line,
from which point it forms the border between West Virginia and
Ohio, upstream of Wheeling, West Virginia.
The river then follows a roughly southwest and then
west-northwest course before bending to a west-southwest course for
most of its length. It flows along the borders of West Virginia,
Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, until it joins the
Mississippi near the city of Cairo, Illinois.
The Ohio's drainage basin covers 189,422 square miles (490,603
km²), including the eastern-most regions of the Mississippi Basin.
States drained by the Ohio include:
Illinois (the southeast quarter of the state),
Indiana (all but the northern area of the state),
Ohio (the southern half of the state),
New York (a small area of the southern border along the headwaters
of the Allegheny River),
Pennsylvania (a corridor from the southwestern corner to north
central border),
Maryland (a small corridor along the Youghiogheny River on the
state's western border),
West Virginia (all but the eastern panhandle of the state),
Kentucky (all but a small part in the extreme west of the state
drained directly by the Mississippi River),
Tennessee (all but a small part in the extreme west of the state
drained directly by the Mississippi River and a small area in the
southeastern corner of the state which is drained by the Conasauga
River),
Virginia (most of Southwest Virginia),
North Carolina (the western quarter of the state),
Georgia (the northwest corner of the state),
Alabama (the northern portion of the state), and
Mississippi (the northeast corner of the state).
The river had great significance in the history of the Native
Americans. It was a primary transportation route during the
westward expansion of the early U.S. It flows through or along the
border of six states, and its drainage basin encompasses 14 states,
including many of the states of the southeastern U.S. through its
largest tributary, the Tennessee River. During the nineteenth
century, it was the southern boundary of the Northwest Territory,
thus serving as the border between free and slave territory. It is
sometimes referred to as the "Mason-Dixon line" as it is commonly
acknowledged as the western natural extension of the original
Mason-Dixon line that divided Pennsylvania and Delaware from
Maryland and West Virginia (then a part of Virginia) thus being the
unofficial, and at times disputed, border between the Northern
United States and the American South or upland South.
The Ohio River is young from a geologic standpoint. The river
formed on a piecemeal basis beginning between 2.5 and 3 million
years ago. The earliest Ice Ages occurred at this time and dammed
portions of north flowing rivers. The Teays River was the largest
of these rivers, and the modern Ohio River flows within segments of
the ancient Teays. The ancient rivers were rearranged or consumed
by glaciers and lakes.
The upper Ohio River formed when one of the glacial lakes
overflowed into a south flowing tributary of the Teays River. The
overflowing lake carved through the separating hill and connected
the rivers. The resulting floodwaters enlarged the small Marietta
valley to a size more typical of a large river. The new large river
subsequently drained glacial lakes and melting glaciers at the end
of several Ice Ages. The valley grew with each major Ice Age.
The middle Ohio River formed in a manner similar to formation of
the upper Ohio River. A north-flowing river was
temporarily dammed southwest of present-day Louisville, Kentucky,
creating a large lake until the dam burst. A new route was carved
to the Mississippi River, and eventually the upper and middle
sections combined to form what is essentially the modern Ohio
River.
Because the Ohio River flowed westwardly, it became the convenient
means of westward movement by pioneers traveling from western
Pennsylvania. After reaching the mouth of the Ohio, settlers would
travel north on the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri.
There, some continued on up the Missouri River, some up the
Mississippi, and some further west over land routes. In the early
19th century, pirates, such as Samuel Mason, settled at
Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, waylaid travelers on their way down the
river, killed them, stole their goods, and scuttled their boats.
The folktales of Mike Fink recall the keelboats used for commerce
in the early days of European settlement. In 1843 the Ohio river
boatmen were the inspiration for Dan Emmett's The Boatman's
Dance.
Because it is the Southern border of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,
the Ohio River was a part of the border that divided free states
and slave states in the years before the American Civil War. The
expression "sold down the river" originated as a lament of Kentucky
slaves being split apart from their families and sold in Louisville
and other Kentucky locations to be shipped via the Ohio River down
to New Orleans to be sold yet again to owners of cotton and sugar
field plantations.
The charter for Virginia went not to the middle of the Ohio
River but to its far shore, so that the entire river was included
in the lands owned by Virginia. Therefore, where the river serves
as a boundary between states, the entire river belongs to the
states on the east and then the south, i.e., West Virginia and
Kentucky, that were divided from Virginia. It is for that reason
that Wheeling Island, the largest inhabited island in the Ohio
River, belongs to West Virginia, even though it is much closer to
the Ohio shore than to the West Virginia shore. Kentucky brought
suit against Indiana in the early 1980s because of the building of
the Marble Hill nuclear power plant in Indiana, which would have
discharged its waste water into the river. The U.S. Supreme Court
held that Kentucky's jurisdiction (and, implicitly, that of West
Virginia) extended only to the low water mark of 1793 (important
because the river has been extensively dammed for navigation, so
that the present river bank is north of the old low water mark.)
Similarly in the 1990s, Kentucky disputed Illinois' right to
collect taxes on a riverboat casino docked in Metropolis, citing
their control of the entire river. Aztar opened their own casino
riverboat that docked in Evansville, Indiana at about the same
time. Although cruises on the Ohio river were at first done in an
oval pattern up and down the Ohio, the state of Kentucky soon
protested and cruises were limited to going forwards then reversing
and going backwards on the Indiana shore only. The riverboat casino
never leaves the shore now.
Water levels for the Ohio River are predicted daily by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The water
depth predictions are relative to each local flood plain based upon
predicted rainfall in the Ohio River basin in five reports as
follows:
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Hannibal Dam, Ohio (including the
Allegheny and Monongahela rivers),
Willow Island Dam, Ohio, to Greenup Dam, Kentucky (including the
Kanawha River),
Portsmouth, Ohio, to Markland Locks and Dam, Kentucky,
McAlpine Locks and Dam, Kentucky, to Cannelton Locks and Dam,
Indiana,
Newburgh Dam, Indiana, to Golconda, Illinois.
So what does all of this have to do with this gaging stations?
As mentioned earlier, the Ohio River drains over 189,422 square
miles (121,230,080 acres) and therefore is a major waterway for the
Ohio River basin. Since it flows almost 1,000 miles, rain in one
area can drastically affect this area. With more and more houses
and roads being built, the rainwater does not have a chance to soak
into the ground. This area has suffered many flooding events from
snow melts upstream when Paducah had no snow all winter.
Below is a link to this gaging station:
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=pah&gage=pahk2&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1%22
Here are the historic crests for the area.
(1) 60.60 ft on 02/02/1937
(2) 55.03 ft on 05/05/2011
(3) 54.30 ft on 04/07/1913
(3) 54.30 ft on 02/23/1884
(5) 53.30 ft on 02/13/1950
(6) 52.00 ft on 03/21/1867
(7) 51.79 ft on 03/11/1997
(8) 51.40 ft on 04/03/1975
(9) 50.90 ft on 03/25/1897
(10) 50.70 ft on 02/25/1883
60.6 This flood will exceed the highest stage on record. Large
amounts of property damage can be expected. Evacuation of many
homes and businesses becomes necessary.
56.0 Many of the industrial plants upstream in Calvert City are
affected at this stage and higher and may begin to shut down.
52.0 Major flooding occurs and is widespread on both sides of the
river.
49.5 The first gate is closed in the floodwall in Paducah.
47.0 Property damage begins on the the Illinois and Kentucky sides
of the river.
43.0 Moderate flooding occurs affecting several small unprotected
towns.
39.0 Minor flooding occurs affecting mainly bottomland and
surrounding low lying areas.
To log this earthcache, you must do the following (TWO SEPARATE
PICTURES REQUIRED):
1. Take picture #1 of yourself (face and GPS in the picture)
with the gage house visible in the background. This is to be a
picture as close to the gage house as possible. Do not get on
steps.
2. Post in your log what the heights of the River is and what
the flow in thousand cubic feet per second is (found on the
website).
3. Email me with the following information:
At what river height would water start running in your shoes at
ground zero?
4. You are standing near the levee system that protects the
town. The most current, high level recorded was in 2011. Estimate
the river's depth by pointing to the staff gage if the river were
at that record flood level and take a picture (#2) and post it in
your log.