17-930: The Dry Fork is a 39.1-mile-long (62.9 km) tributary of the Black Fork of the Cheat River in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia , USA. Via the Black Fork, the Cheat, and the Monongahela and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River . The Dry Fork flows for much of its length in the Monongahela National Forest and drains mostly rural and forested areas. It
34-440: A cataract into another becomes the upper fork, and the one it descends into, the lower ; or by relative volume: 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
51-467: 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 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
68-399: A tree data structure . Inland navigation Inland navigation , inland barge transport or inland waterway transport ( IWT ) is a transport system allowing ships and barges to use inland waterways (such as canals , rivers and lakes ). These waterways have inland ports , marinas , quays, and wharfs. Modern researchers have long recognised that inland navigation
85-406: A West Fork as well (now filled in). Forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here, 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
102-414: A forking of the stream to the right and to the left, which then appear on their charts as such; or 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
119-439: 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 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
136-427: Is a relatively environmentally friendly option for freight transport compared to other modes of transportation such as air carriage and road transport , and similar to rail freight transport . Therefore, policy makers have been aiming to shift the volume of cargo transported by more pollutive means towards inland navigation in order to reduce the overall environmental impact of transport , for example, as part of
153-533: 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 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
170-675: The European Green Deal (2019). To accomplish this, however, various challenges need to be tackled, including making inland navigation itself less pollutive than it has been, building larger barges and tows to increase their efficiency, and constructing or improving inland waterways navigable enough for the projected volume and size of ships (deep and wide enough, with mega-locks for differences in elevation) to avoid bottlenecks. The environmental effects of constructing, operating and maintaining inland navigation also need to be mitigated. This article related to water transport
187-830: The Laurel Fork , which joins it in Randolph County, and the Glady Fork , which joins it in Tucker County. Both of these are also considered principal tributaries of the Cheat River. Red Creek — which enters Dry Fork at the town of Dryfork — drains much of the Dolly Sods Wilderness area. Tributary A tributary , or an affluent , is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ( main stem or "parent" ), river, or
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#1732780560209204-407: The arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third and higher orders, with the first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary. Another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure , stored as
221-723: The midpoint. In the United States, where tributaries sometimes have the same name as 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
238-428: The orientation of the tributary relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from 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
255-523: The towns of Whitmer , Job , and Harman . After it enters Tucker County (at Dryfork ) it turns to the northwest and flows to the town of Hendricks , where it meets the Blackwater River to form the Black Fork . Gandy Creek — which passes through the well-known cave known as the " Sinks of Gandy " — joins Dry Fork at the town of Gandy. In the lower part of its course the Dry Fork collects
272-472: 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 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
289-620: Was traditionally considered one of the five Forks of Cheat . According to the Geographic Names Information System , Dry Fork has also been known historically as Dry Run . The stream's name derives from the occurrence of underground passages through which portions of the stream flow, leaving a dry streambed on the surface at times during the year. (See Sinks of Gandy ) The Dry Fork rises between Rich Mountain and Little Middle Mountain in eastern Randolph County and initially flows north-northeastwardly, past
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