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The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed August 15, 2011
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 ...
on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania. The river flows from the confluence of its west and east forks in north-central West Virginia northeasterly into southwestern Pennsylvania, then northerly to Pittsburgh and its confluence with the Allegheny River to form the Ohio River. The river's entire length is navigable via a series of locks and dams.


Etymology

The Unami word ''Monongahela'' means "falling banks", in reference to the geological instability of the river's banks. Moravian missionary David Zeisberger (1721–1808) gave this account of the naming: "In the Indian tongue the name of this river was ''Mechmenawungihilla'' (alternatively spelled ''Menawngihella''), which signifies a high bank, which is ever washed out and therefore collapses." The Lenape Language Project renders the word as ''Mënaonkihëla'' (pronounced ), translated "where banks cave in or erode", from the verbs ''mënaonkihële'' "the dirt caves off" (such as the bank of a river or creek, or in a landslide) and ''mënaonke'' (pronounced ), "it has a loose bank" (where one might fall in). Monongalia County and the town of Monongah, both in West Virginia, are named for the river, as is the city of Monongahela in Pennsylvania. (The name "Monongalia" is either a Latinized adaptation of "Monongahela" or simply a variant spelling.)


Variant names

The USGS name for the river is the Monongahela River; there have been numerous alternate names, alternate spellings and misspellings in historical texts.


Geography

The Monongahela is formed by the confluence of the
West Fork River The West Fork River is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, long, in north-central West Virginia, United States. Via the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 881 sq ...
and its "east fork"—the Tygart Valley River—at Fairmont in north central West Virginia. From there it flows northeasterly to cross the Pennsylvania border just west of north
Cheat Lake Cheat Lake is a reservoir on the Cheat River in Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States. It was originally named Lake Lynn, but the Board on Geographic Names officially decided upon Cheat Lake as the reservoir's name in 1976. The sur ...
on its Cheat River tributary. Then it flows northerly across southwestern Pennsylvania, taking a bit of a detour northeast 10 miles south of Pittsburgh to approach Pittsburgh from the southeast and its confluence with the Allegheny River to form the Forks of the Ohio at "The Point" of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh.


Geology

Prior to early Pleistocene regional glaciation, more than 780,000 years ago, the ancestral Monongahela River (a.k.a. the Pittsburgh River) flowed northward from present-day north-central West Virginia, across western
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and northwestern Ohio, and into the
Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
watershed. One (or more) extensive ice sheet advance dammed the old north-flowing drainage and created a vast lake—known as
Lake Monongahela Lake Monongahela was a proglacial lake in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. It formed during the Pre-Illinoian ice epoch when the retreat of the ice sheet northwards blocked the drainage of these valleys to the north. The lake form ...
—stretching from an unknown point north of present-day Beaver, Pennsylvania for ~ south to Weston, West Virginia. A river-lake with many narrow bays, its maximum water surface rose to above sea level. Over deep in places, its southwestward overflow gradually incised old drainage divides and contributed to the geological development of the present-day upper Ohio River Valley.


Hydrography

Via the Ohio River, the river is part of the Mississippi watershed which drains to the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic Ocean. The river's length is 130 miles, its drainage basin is 7,340 sq.mi. and the average 30-year discharge at Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, is 9,109 cfs. It falls 3,831 ft. in elevation from its highest source to its mouth on the Ohio River. It falls 280 feet from its forks to its mouth, a stretch made navigable by locks. The mean depth is about 20 ft. In southwestern Pennsylvania, the Monongahela is met by two major
tributaries 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 drain ...
: the Cheat River, which joins at Point Marion, and the Youghiogheny River, which joins at McKeesport. Major tributaries include:
Becks Run Becks Run is a tributary of the Monongahela River. As an urban stream, it is heavily polluted, receiving combined sewer outflow from Carrick (Pittsburgh) and Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania. There is a waterfall on a tributary, just downstream from ...
, Big Sandy Creek, Buffalo Creek, Cheat River, Crooked Run,
Deckers Creek Deckers Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Monongahela River that runs through north-central West Virginia. It begins west of A ...
, Dunkard Creek, Lick Run, Middle Fork River, Paw Paw Creek, Peters Creek, Streets Run, Turtle Creek, Tygart Valley River,
West Fork River The West Fork River is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, long, in north-central West Virginia, United States. Via the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 881 sq ...
, Youghiogheny River.


Locks and dams

The river is navigable its entire length with a series of locks and dams that maintain a minimum depth of to accommodate coal-laden barges. All dams are operated by the Pittsburgh District Army Corps of Engineers. In 2006, the navigation system, operated by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...
, had nine dam-locks along of waterway. The locks overcame a change in elevation of about . *
Braddock Locks & Dam Braddock Locks & Dam (previously named Monongahela Locks and Dam No. 2) is one of nine navigational structures on the Monongahela River between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Fairmont, West Virginia. Built and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps ...
* Locks & Dam 3 * Locks & Dam 4 * Maxwell Lock & Dam * Grays Landing Lock & Dam *
Point Marion Lock and Dam Crossings of the Monongahela River United States Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District Dams in Pennsylvania Transportation buildings and structures in Greene County, Pennsylvania Transportation buildings and structures in Fayette County, Pe ...
* Morgantown Lock and Dam *
Hildebrand Lock and Dam Hildebrand Lock and Dam is a navigational lock and gated dam on the Monongahela River at Hilderbrand, West Virginia. (Hildebrand is a misspelling of Hilderbrand.) It is part of a series of dams that canalizes the Monongahela to a depth of at le ...
* Opekiska Lock and Dam


Ecology

According to the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory for 2010, the Monongahela ranked as the 17th most polluted river in the nation. The primary polluters were Pennsylvania iron and steel mills.


Recreation

The upper drainage area of the river basin is renowned for its water sports/hobbies of whitewater kayaking (and in some cases whitewater rafting) opportunities. The land here is of a very rugged plateau type which allows streams to gather sufficient water volume before they fall off the plateau and create challenging rapids. Some of the best known specific stream locations for this include: * Youghiogheny River at Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania *Youghiogheny River at
Friendsville, Maryland Friendsville is a town in Garrett County, Maryland, United States. The population was 491 at the 2010 census. Geography Friendsville is located at (39.662127, -79.405251). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total are ...
* Cheat River at Albright, West Virginia * Tygart River at Belington, West Virginia


History


18th and 19th centuries

The Monongahela River valley was the site of a famous battle that was one of the first in the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...
—the Braddock Expedition (May–July 1755). It resulted in a sharp defeat for two thousand British and Colonial forces against those of the
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and their Native American allies. In 1817, the Pennsylvania legislature authorized the Monongahela Navigation Company to build 16 dams with bypass locks to create a river transportation system between Pittsburgh and the area that would later become
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 ...
. Originally planned to run as far south as the Cheat River, the system was extended to Fairmont, and bituminous coal from West Virginia was the chief product transported downstream. After a canal tunnel through Grant's Hill in Pittsburgh was completed in 1832, boats could travel between the Monongahela River and the Western Division Canal of Pennsylvania's principal east-west canal and railroad system, the Main Line of Public Works. In 1897, the federal government took possession of the Monongahela Navigation through condemnation proceedings. Later, the dam-lock combinations were increased in size and reduced in number. Briefly linked to the Monongahela Navigation was the Youghiogheny Navigation, a slack water system of between McKeesport and West Newton. It had two dam-locks overcoming a change in elevation of about . Opening in 1850, it was destroyed by a flood in 1865. During the 19th century and well into the twentieth, the Monongahela was heavily used by industry, and several U.S. Steel plants, including the Homestead Works, site of the Homestead Strike of 1892, were built along its banks. Following the killing of several workers in the course of the strike, anarchist Emma Goldman wrote: "Words had lost their meaning in the face of the innocent blood spilled on the banks of the Monongahela." Other mills included the
Edgar Thomson Works The Edgar Thomson Steel Works is a steel mill in the Pittsburgh area communities of Braddock and North Braddock, Pennsylvania, United States. It has been active since 1875. It is currently owned by U.S. Steel and is known as Mon Valley Works – ...
in Braddock, the first steel works in the area, the Duquesne Works and the Jones and Laughlin steel works on the South Side of Pittsburgh. Only the Edgar Thomson works remain producing steel along the river. Despite the closure of many of the mills in the 1980s and 90s, the Monogahela is still an important waterway for industry. The Mon Valley Works of U.S. Steel operates three plants, including the Edgar Thomson plant for basic steel marking, the Irvin plant for steel finishing, and the Clairton plant for coke production. Coal barges are a common sight on the river, and the railways which line either side are heavily used by freight. Other industries include power generation, chemicals, and recycling.


20th century

Three ships in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
have been named ''Monongahela'' after the river. In October 1930, severe drought caused the river flow to drop below , and in some places, it was possible to walk across the river bottom. The river was the site of a famous airplane crash that has become the subject of urban legends and conspiracy theories. Early on the morning of January 31, 1956, a
B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...
bomber en route from Nellis Air Force Base in
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
to Olmsted Air Force Base in Pennsylvania crashed into the river near the Glenwood Bridge in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The six crewmen survived the initial crash, but two of them succumbed in the cold water and drowned. Despite the relatively shallow water, the aircraft was never recovered and became known as the "ghost bomber". The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' published a graphical representation of the flight path and flight details in 1999. As of 2018, the bomber has not been found.


Gallery

Image:Monongahela River Pittsburgh.jpg, The South Tenth Street Bridge over the Monongahela River in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
in 2005 Image:Monongahela River Fairmont.jpg, The Monongahela River in Fairmont, West Virginia, in 2006 Image:Monongahela River Scene Pittsburgh PA 1857.jpg, Monongahela River Scene, 1857''Ballou's Pictorial'', issue of 21 Feb 1857 Image:Opekiska Lock and Dam Monongahela.jpg, Opekiska Lock and Dam on the Monongahela River near Fairmont, West Virginia, at
river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer. They are analogous to vehicle ro ...
115 ()


See also

* List of crossings of the Monongahela River * List of rivers of Pennsylvania * List of rivers of West Virginia * Geography of Pennsylvania


Notes and references


Bibliography

* Bissell, Richard (1952), ''The Monongahela'', Rinehart & Co. *Callahan, James Morton and Bernard Lee Butcher (1912),
Genealogical and Personal History of the Upper Monongahela Valley, West Virginia
', New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. * Core, Earl L. (1984), "The Monongalia River," in: Bartlett, Richard A. (ed), ''Rolling Rivers: An Encyclopedia of America's Rivers.'' New York: McGraw-Hill. . pp 149–52. *Core, Earl L. (1974–84), ''The Monongalia Story: A Bicentennial History'', Parsons, W.Va.: McClain Printing Co., 5 volumes; an extensive, well-documented natural & human history of the Monongahela River basin. **Volume I: ''Prelude'' (1974) **Volume II: ''The Pioneers'' (1976) **Volume III: ''Discord'' (1979) **Volume IV: ''Industrialization'' (1984) **Volume V: ''Sophistication'' (1984)


External links


U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stations
* {{Authority control Tributaries of the Ohio River Rivers of Pennsylvania Rivers of West Virginia Rivers of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Washington County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Fayette County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Greene County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Monongalia County, West Virginia Rivers of Marion County, West Virginia Water transportation in Pennsylvania Water transportation in West Virginia Allegheny Plateau