The New River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed June 8, 2011 tributary of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Via the Big South Fork and the Cumberland and

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 ...

rivers, it is part 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 f ...

watershed. The New River rises on Frozen Head, a notable mountain of

Morgan County, Tennessee Morgan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,035. Its county seat is Wartburg. Morgan County is part of the Knoxville, TN Combined Statistical Area. History Morgan County was fo ...

. Named for its frequent winter appearance, Frozen Head is the focal point of Frozen Head State Park and Natural Area. Draining an area of Pennsylvanian Period rock that has been subjected to extensive

strip mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

for

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

, the upper reaches of the stream have at times been subject to heavy

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

. The stream initially trends northeast. The upper portion of the course is paralleled by State Route 116. It soon crosses into a remote area of Anderson County, and then into Campbell County. At this juncture, State Route 116 turns to the southeast to follow the Ligias Fork, and the road paralleling the New River becomes a small county road. The stream trends generally north from this point for several miles, and is also paralleled by a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

constructed primarily for the purposes of coal transport. The stream, road, and railroad cross into Scott County. Several miles into Scott County, the stream begins a westerly trend. It drains an area developed by the

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

industry as an oil field, and is crossed by U.S. Highway 27 at the community of New River. Just downstream of this community is the boundary of the Big South Fork National Recreational Area. The New River is joined slightly downstream of this point by the Clear Fork, and the stream downstream from this point is known as the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River.

References

Rivers of Tennessee Tributaries of the Cumberland River Rivers of Morgan County, Tennessee {{Tennessee-river-stub

See also

References