The Meathouse Fork is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or 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 drain the surrounding drai ...

of Middle Island Creek, long, in north-central

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 B ...

in the

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 territori ...

. Via Middle Island Creek and the Ohio River, it is part of the watershed of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

, draining an area of U.S. Geological Survey.

National Hydrography Dataset The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is a digital database of surface water features used to make maps. It contains features such as lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, canals, dams and stream gages for the United States. Description Cartographers ...

, area data for Meathouse Fork watershed, 12-digit

Hydrologic Unit Code A hydrological code or hydrologic unit code is a sequence of numbers or letters (a '' geocode'') that identify a hydrological unit or feature, such as a river, river reach, lake, or area like a drainage basin (also called watershed in North Ameri ...

s 050302010401 and 050302010403
The National Map
, retrieved 2013-07-31 in a rural region on the

unglaciated A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

portion of the

Allegheny Plateau The Allegheny Plateau , in the United States, is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York (state), New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Oh ...

Geography

The Meathouse Fork's entire course and watershed are in southern and central

Doddridge County Doddridge County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,808. Its county seat is West Union. Doddridge County is part of the Clarksburg, West Virginia, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area. ...

. It is formed in southeastern Doddridge County by the confluence of Big Isaac Creek, long, which rises approximately southeast of the community of Miletus and flows southeastward; and Laurel Run, long, which rises approximately northeast of the community of Big Isaac and flows westward, through Big Isaac. From this confluence, approximately west of Big Isaac, the Meathouse Fork flows generally northwestward, through the unincorporated communities of Avon,

New Milton New Milton is a market town in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymington and Christchurch, 6 miles (10 km) away. History Ne ...

, Sugar Camp, and Blandville, to Smithburg, where it joins Buckeye Creek to form Middle Island Creek.The National Map
, accessed 2013-07-31 The Meathouse Fork collects its largest tributary, Toms Fork, at Sugar Camp. In the vicinity of Sugar Camp and Blandville, it is paralleled by

West Virginia Route 18 West Virginia Route 18 is a north–south state highway in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of West Virginia. The southern terminus of the route is at West Virginia Route 47 in Troy, Gilmer County. The northern terminus is at the ...

History

The origin of the name of this watershed and community, given by the earliest white settlers in the 1820s, was detailed by a local historian a century later:

On this spot of ground hunters from other sections who came to this community to hunt deer and bear built a log cabin in which to store their meat until they could move it to their homes in other and, sometimes, remote sections. From this meat house, the branch of Middle Island Creek which extends from near Smithburg to Big Isaac took the name of Meat House Fork.Randolph, Roy F. (1926)
"History Of New Milton Community"
Doddridge County Agricultural Extension Division.

References

{{authority control Rivers of West Virginia Rivers of Doddridge County, West Virginia

Geography

History

See also

References