The Ashtabula River is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
located northeast of
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. The river flows into
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...
at the city of
Ashtabula, Ohio
Ashtabula ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, and the center of the United States micropolitan area, Ashtabula micropolitan area. It is located at the mouth of the Ashtabula River on Lake Erie, nort ...
. It is in length and drains .
Name
''Ashtabula'' derives from
Lenape language
The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages ( del, Lënapei èlixsuwakàn), are Munsee language, Munsee and Unami language, Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian languages, Eastern Algonquian subgroup of ...
''ashte-pihële'', 'always enough (fish) to go around, to be given away',
a contraction from ''apchi'' 'always' + ''tepi'' 'enough' + ''hële'' (verb of motion).
According to the
Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...
, the Ashtabula River has also been known as:
* Ashtibula River
* Riviere Auscubalu
* Riviere Oscubolu
Watershed
On October 30, 2008 the river was designated a State Scenic River by the Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Pollution
In 1985 the first two miles of the river was named an "Area of Concern" by the
International Joint Commission
The International Joint Commission (french: Commission mixte internationale) is a bi-national organization established by the governments of the United States and Canada under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. Its responsibilities were expa ...
, primarily because of
Fields Brook
Fields may refer to:
Music
*Fields (band), an indie rock band formed in 2006
*Fields (progressive rock band), a progressive rock band formed in 1971
*Fields (album), ''Fields'' (album), an LP by Swedish-based indie rock band Junip (2010)
* "Fiel ...
, a tributary that had received discharges from 19 industries between the 1940s and 1970s. The cleanup was deemed complete in 2014 and the river was delisted in 2021.
Tributaries
* Fields Brook
* Strong Brook
* Hubbard Run
* Ashtabula Creek
* West Branch Ashtabula River
* East Branch Ashtabula River
See also
*
List of rivers of Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. The state takes its name from the Ohio River, whose name in turn originated from the Seneca word '' ohiːyo, meaning "good river", "great river" or "large creek". The Ohio ...
*
Ashtabula River railroad disaster
The Ashtabula River railroad disaster (also called the Ashtabula horror, the Ashtabula Bridge disaster, and the Ashtabula train disaster) was the failure of a bridge over the Ashtabula River near the town of Ashtabula, Ohio, in the United Stat ...
(1876)
*
Smolen–Gulf Bridge
The Smolen–Gulf Bridge is a covered bridge which carries State Road (Ashtabula County Road 25) across the Ashtabula River at the Plymouth and Ashtabula Township line in northern Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. At 613 feet (182.9 mete ...
, a covered bridge across the river (2008–present)
*
USS ''Ashtabula'' (AO-51)
References
{{authority control
Rivers of Ohio
Rivers of Ashtabula County, Ohio
Tributaries of Lake Erie