Big Ugly Creek is a major tributary of the
Guyandotte River
The Guyandotte River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 166 mi (267 km) long, in southwestern West Virginia in the United States. It was named after the French term for the Wendat Native Americans. It drains an area of ...
in the Harts Creek District of
Lincoln County,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The naming of this creek was due to 1) an early settler at the mouth of the creek who was unpleasing to the eye; 2) the crooked shape of the creek itself. Big Ugly Creek is a meandering stream stretching nearly 20 miles from
U.S. Route 119
U.S. Route 119 (US 119) is a spur of US 19. It is a north–south route (on a northeast-southwest alignment) that was an original United States highway of 1926. It is Corridor G of the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) east of US ...
northeast of
Chapmanville in Boone County to where it meets the Guyandotte River at
Gill
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...
, an extinct railroad town north of Harts in Lincoln County. Big Ugly Creek is also at the southern end of the state's largest
mountaintop removal mine,
Arch Coal's Hobet 21. The mine stretches nearly 15 miles from near
Julian, north of Madison in Boone County to right above the end of Fawn Hollow, which joins Big Ugly, not far from the Big Ugly Community Center.
Big Ugly Creek has frequently been noted on lists of
unusual place names.
See also
*
List of rivers of West Virginia
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of West Virginia.
List of West Virginia rivers includes streams formally designated as rivers. There are also smaller streams (i.e., branches, creeks, drains, forks, licks, runs, etc.) in the state. Exc ...
References
Rivers of Lincoln County, West Virginia
Charleston, West Virginia metropolitan area
Rivers of West Virginia
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