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37-707: The remote Cheat Canyon was carved by the Cheat River and extends for about 10.5 miles between the towns of Albright in Preston County and Cheat Lake in Monongalia County, West Virginia . The steep forested slopes rise as much as 1,200 feet from the river bed to the Canyon rim. In 1772, the Dunkards , an Anabaptist religious sect, were the first Europeans to settle on Cheat River, lying within

74-524: A massive flood on the Cheat, essentially wiping out the small town of Albright . The river flow was estimated at 190,000 cubic feet per second, much larger than normal flows ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 cubic feet per second. The massive flood also caused the Cheat River to leave its banks and flood the small town of Rowlesburg . The town lost many businesses, and many families left their homes or

111-400: A new river, to be given its own name, perhaps one already known to the people who live upon its banks. Conversely, explorers approaching a new land from the sea encounter its rivers at their mouths, where they name them on their charts, then, following a river upstream, encounter each tributary as a forking of the stream to the right and to the left, which then appear on their charts as such; or

148-403: A staggered start, this race uses a mass start (in which all participants start at the same time). For the first few miles, paddlers must avoid one another, in addition to the whitewater hazards that the river presents. The race, which often attracts over 150 people, is frequently cited as the largest whitewater race in the world. The Cheat Narrows section of the Cheat River (upstream of Albright)

185-457: Is also utilized by whitewater paddlers, and features Class II and III rapids . Tributary A tributary , or an affluent , is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ( main stem or "parent" ), river, or a lake . A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean . Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they flow, drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater , leading

222-497: Is composed of hard, white, grainy Pottsville sandstone . This forms the outcrops and cliffs along the rim which often break off to form talus fields that gradually slide down the forest slopes and pile up at the river bottom. Numerous caves have been formed by water in the Greenbrier Limestone of the lower strata of the Canyon walls. A timber company planning to log sensitive parts of Cheat Canyon agreed to protect

259-694: Is the most often cited. According to the Geographic Names Information System , the Cheat River has formerly been known as: In 1756, the Eckarly family became the first white settlers to move into the Cheat River Valley when they lodged at Dunkard's Bottom in what is now Preston County, West Virginia . They, and a few in the surrounding region, were soon forced to abandon their homesteads by hostile Indians and no further attempts at settlement were made until after

296-399: Is variously reported to have been named for (1) a French explorer (or an Indian) named Cheat or Chaet, (2) an abundance of cheat grass along its banks (possibly a misidentification of frost-killed wheat), or (3) deceptively deep sections containing whirlpools that presumably "cheated" men of their lives by drowning them. None of these theories have strong documentary support, but the latter

333-769: The United States . Via the Ohio River , the Cheat and Monongahela are part of the Mississippi River watershed . Owing to the ruggedness of the surrounding Allegheny Mountains , the Cheat remains largely remote with few settlements or developments along its banks. Its headwaters are in the Cheat-Potomac Ranger District of the Monongahela National Forest . The Cheat is formed at Parsons, West Virginia , by

370-526: The confluence of Shavers Fork and Black Fork . Black Fork is fed by the Blackwater River and by the Dry , Glady , and Laurel Forks — these are traditionally referred to as the five Forks of Cheat . (The "High Falls of Cheat" [15 feet/4.6 m high] is a few miles upstream of Bemis on Shavers Fork.) From Parsons the Cheat River flows generally northward through Tucker and Preston counties, past

407-416: The 1990s. Friends of the Cheat , the local river advocacy organization, has been instrumental in promoting remediation, cleanup, river stewardship, and education. The Cheat Canyon section of the Cheat River (from Albright to Jenkinsburg, West Virginia ), which features Class IV rapids (and Class V rapids at upper levels), has become a favorite destination for whitewater kayaking and rafting . On

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444-731: The Buffalo, and many other regional and national musicians. A local music festival, Groovin’ With the Grove, is also held annually at the Cheat River Festival grounds. During the Cheat River Festival, a whitewater race called the Cheat River Massacre-ence takes place in the 10-mile (16 km) Cheat River Canyon on the Friday of that weekend. Unlike the overwhelming majority of whitewater races , which employ

481-681: The Cheat in 1806. On January 2, a ferry in Monongalia County was approved on Charles Stuart property to James Stafford property. On January 18, the Assembly authorized the second ferry in Monongalia County from the forge location of Samuel Jackson to Charles Magill property. Another act in 1806 authorized to conduct a lottery to fund the construction of a toll bridge across Cheat River near Dunkard's Bottom. Concerned included Michael Kern, John Steally, Augustus Werninger, Ralph Barkshire, and William N. Jarrett. The Assembly also authorized in 1806

518-511: The Monongahela River at Point Marion, Pennsylvania . Upstream of its dam, the Cheat is one of the largest undammed watersheds in the eastern United States. Cheat Mountain , a high and rugged ridge, runs about 50 miles (80 km) southward from its northernmost tip, just a few miles west of the confluence at Parsons. The Delaware (Lenape) Indian name for Cheat was reportedly Ach-sin-ha-nac , meaning "stony river". "Cheat River"

555-544: The border of their lands with the Lenape , with whom they were engaged in hostilities. ) According to George W. Atkinson (1876), "From 1765 to 1774 there were comparatively few attacks made upon the white colonists by the Indians. The Treaty of Paris [1763] resulted in general peace along the frontiers, had been pretty generally adhered to by all the savage tribes. The peace, however, which had for nine years blessed and fostered

592-490: The canyon. Due to coal mining, poor forest management, and a private dam, fish were severely threatened near the lower end of this river, which was listed as the eighth most endangered river in the United States during the 1990s. In July 2023, a man had to be helicopter lifted out of the canyon after being reported missing. He was sent to Ruby Memorial Hospital for treatment. The Canyon rim with its steep tributaries

629-648: The conclusion of the French and Indian War (1754-1763). In October 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon completed their famous survey of the Maryland–Pennsylvania border shortly after extending it to a crossing of the Cheat River just above its confluence with the Monongahela. (The party was forced to stop a few miles west at Dunkard Creek near present-day Mount Morris, Pennsylvania . Their Iroquois guides had refused to go any further, having reached

666-583: The construction of mill dams across the Monongahela River, Cheat River, Tygart Valley River , or the West Fork of the Monongahela River. Along with the rest of western Virginia, the Cheat River Valley became part of the new state of West Virginia in 1863. A state militia facility, Camp Dawson , was established on the banks of the Cheat in Preston County in 1909 and continues in operation today. 1985 flood In November 1985, heavy rains caused

703-551: The first weekend in May of every year, paddlers gather from many states to attend the Cheat Festival. A whitewater race—The Cheat River Race—takes place in the Canyon on the Friday of that weekend. Unlike the overwhelming majority of whitewater races which employ a staggered start, this race uses a mass start (in which all participants start at the same time). For the first few miles, paddlers must avoid one another, in addition to

740-446: The first weekend in May of every year, paddlers gather from many states to attend the Cheat River Festival, also known as Cheat Fest. Cheat Fest, as of 2024, has been held on the first weekend of May for 30 years, and features local and regional artists, vendors, and musicians/bands over Friday and Saturday. Past artists who have performed at the festival grounds includes The Larry Keel Experience, Vince Herman, Fletcher’s Grove, Donna

777-470: The frontier settlements, was suddenly broken by the murder of several friendly Indians, in 1774, on the Monongahela and Cheat rivers. This unfortunate aggression on the part of these white men gave rise to a general raid by the Indians upon all the settlements of the frontier." The Cheat River Valley was part of a much larger area disputed in the 1770s by the Colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia . (This

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814-707: The habitat of two federally imperiled species, the threatened flat-spired three-toothed snail ( Triodopsis platysayoides ) and the endangered Indiana bat ( Myotis sodalis ). In addition, according to the Association for Biodiversity Information, there are eight other globally uncommon plant and animal species in the canyon: Virginia bladetooth snail , delicate vertigo snail , eastern small-footed bat , green salamander , Allegheny woodrat , Barbara's buttons , an unnamed amphipod , and an unnamed isopod . There are also concerns about flood risk. Environmental activists worry that removal of old-growth trees could increase

851-451: The handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream. For instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. These naming conventions are reflective of the circumstances of a particular river's identification and charting: people living along the banks of a river, with a name known to them, may then float down the river in exploration, and each tributary joining it as they pass by appears as

888-424: The joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary , a river or stream that branches off from and flows away from the main stream. Distributaries are most often found in river deltas . Right tributary , or right-bank tributary , and left tributary , or left-bank tributary , describe the orientation of the tributary relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from

925-474: The land that they owned. The flood also wiped out the school in Rowlesburg, which caused the consolidation of a high school for the county. The devastation was caused not so much by the steady-state flow of water, but rather by the repeated damming of the river by debris under the various road and railroad bridges that crossed the Cheat. Thus as the flood proceeded down the river, the water would rise behind

962-451: The obstructed bridge, break through the inadvertent dam, and pick up more debris that would block the river at the next bridge site, repeating the process. In the vicinity of Albright, the Cheat has been plagued by pollution , notably acid mine drainage . Although the rocks downstream of Albright have been stained a rust brown, and the river has a very low fish population below Albright, water quality has been making slow improvements since

999-406: The opposite bank before approaching the confluence. An early tributary is a tributary that joins the main stem river closer to its source than its mouth, that is, before the river's midpoint ; a late tributary joins the main stem further downstream, closer to its mouth than to its source, that is, after the midpoint. In the United States, where tributaries sometimes have the same name as

1036-476: The perspective of looking downstream, that is, facing the direction the water current of the main stem is going. In a navigational context, if one were floating on a raft or other vessel in the main stream, this would be the side the tributary enters from as one floats past; alternately, if one were floating down the tributary, the main stream meets it on the opposite bank of the tributary. This information may be used to avoid turbulent water by moving towards

1073-479: The resolution of the Virginia-Pennsylvania border dispute in the 1780s, it became established that all but the lowermost 3 miles of the Cheat were within the state of Virginia. The Cheat River country remained part of Monongalia County until 1791 when that county was divided into a smaller Monongalia County and Randolph County . The Virginia General Assembly authorized the first two ferries on

1110-612: The risk of flood. There are several environmental groups opposing the project, including Speak For The Trees Too , the West Virginia Chapter of Sierra Club , Friends of Blackwater , West Virginia Environmental Council and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy . The river in the Canyon features Class IV rapids (and Class V rapids at upper levels), making it a popular destination for whitewater kayaking and rafting . The toughest and most celebrated rapids are known as Big Nasty , High Falls , and Upper Coliseum . On

1147-666: The river into which they feed, they are called forks . These are typically designated by compass direction. For example, the American River in California receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago River 's North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork; the South Branch has its South Fork, and used to have a West Fork as well (now filled in). Forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here,

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1184-418: The smaller stream designated the little fork, the larger either retaining its name unmodified, or receives the designation big . Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river and ending with those nearest to the mouth of the river . The Strahler stream order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third and higher orders, with

1221-432: The streams are seen to diverge by the cardinal direction (north, south, east, or west) in which they proceed upstream, sometimes a third stream entering between two others is designated the middle fork; or the streams are distinguished by the relative height of one to the other, as one stream descending over a cataract into another becomes the upper fork, and the one it descends into, the lower ; or by relative volume:

1258-539: The towns of Rowlesburg and Albright . It then flows through an impressive gorge — Cheat Canyon — northeastwardly from Albright, collecting Big Sandy Creek before entering Monongalia County , where a hydro-electric dam just south of the Pennsylvania border causes it to widen as the Cheat Lake reservoir. It then flows for a short distance through southwestern Fayette County, Pennsylvania , before joining

1295-466: The water out into an ocean. The Irtysh is a chief tributary of the Ob river and is also the longest tributary river in the world with a length of 4,248 km (2,640 mi). The Madeira River is the largest tributary river by volume in the world with an average discharge of 31,200 m /s (1.1 million cu ft/s). A confluence , where two or more bodies of water meet, usually refers to

1332-531: The whitewater hazards that the river presents. The race, which typically attracts about 150 contestants, is often cited as the largest whitewater race in existence. 39°44′33″N 79°54′04″W  /  39.742630°N 79.901198°W  / 39.742630; -79.901198 Cheat River The Cheat River is a 78.3-mile-long (126.0 km) tributary of the Monongahela River in eastern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in

1369-596: Was before the parties agreed to extend the Mason–Dixon line westward from Maryland.) Virginia attempted to administer this vast region as the District of West Augusta between 1774 and 1776, after which it subdivided the District into three counties, the Cheat River becoming part of Monongalia County . Meanwhile, Pennsylvania tried to oversee it as part of the overlapping Westmoreland County . After additional surveys, and

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