The Big Sandy River is a tributary of the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed June 13, 2011 in western West Virginia and northeastern Kentucky in the United States. The river forms part of the boundary between the two states along its entire course. Via the Ohio River, it is part of the Mississippi River

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

. It is formed between Louisa, Kentucky, and Fort Gay, West Virginia, by the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of the Tug Fork and

Levisa Fork The Levisa Fork (also known as the Levisa Fork River or the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River) is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Nati ...

. It flows generally northwardly in a highly meandering course, between Lawrence and Boyd counties in Kentucky and Wayne County in West Virginia. It joins the Ohio between Catlettsburg, Kentucky and Kenova, West Virginia, west of

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

, at the common boundary between West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. The river is navigable and carries commercial shipping, primarily coal mined in the immediate region. The name of the river comes from the presence of extensive sand bars. The Native American names for the river included ''Tatteroa'', ''Chatteroi'', and ''Chatterwha''. The name "Big Sandy" was in use no later than February, 1789. The tombstone of David White, an early settler along the river in Kentucky, marks his passing in 1817 with the note that he lived many years near the Mouth of the Big Sandy. hebookplace.org/genealogy/databases/ Retrieved 2013-7-19 Two well-known

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

tunes take their name from the Big Sandy River: "Sandy River Belle" and the "Big Sandy River". Loretta Lynn's "Van Lear Rose" and Dwight Yoakam's "Bury Me" also mention the river. The river also plays a major role in the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Some Native American Tribes have links to the area and region, like the Tutelo, Issa, Cherokee and others.

Martin County sludge spill

On October 11, 2000, the

Martin County sludge spill The Martin County coal slurry spill was a mining accident that occurred after midnight on October 11, 2000, when the bottom of a coal slurry impoundment owned by Massey Energy in Martin County, Kentucky, broke into an abandoned underground mi ...

polluted hundreds of miles of the Ohio River, the Big Sandy River and its tributaries. The accident was caused when a coal sludge impoundment owned by

Massey Energy Massey Energy Company was a coal extractor in the United States with substantial operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. By revenue, it was the fourth largest producer of coal in the United States and the largest coal producer in Centr ...

in Kentucky broke into an abandoned underground mine below. Toxic pollutants including heavy metals such as mercury, lead, arsenic, copper and chromium were found in the sludge that spilled into these waterways. ews.google.com/newspapers?id=cboeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-M8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6918,1660633&dq=martin+county+sludge+spill&hl=en Spartanburg Herald-Journal Retrieved 2011-1-29. The spill was 30 times larger than the '' Exxon Valdez'' oil spill () and one of the worst environmental disasters ever in the southeastern United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

References

External links

University of Kentucky: Big Sandy Basin assessment
{{authority control Rivers of Kentucky Rivers of West Virginia Tributaries of the Ohio River Borders of Kentucky Borders of West Virginia Rivers of Wayne County, West Virginia Rivers of Boyd County, Kentucky Rivers of Lawrence County, Kentucky

Martin County sludge spill

See also

References

External links