The Williams River 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 the

Gauley River The Gauley River is a river in West Virginia. It merges with the New River to form the Kanawha River, a tributary of the Ohio River. The river features numerous recreational whitewater areas, including those in Gauley River National Recreation Ar ...

, 33 miles (53 km) long,McNeel, William P. "Williams River." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. 2006. . in east-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 ...

, USA. Via the Gauley, Kanawha 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 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 132 square miles (342 km²) in a sparsely populated region of the southern

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

and the unglaciated 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 ...

. DeLorme (1997). ''West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. .

Name

The river has also been known historically as the South Fork of the Gauley River In Webster County, it collects a short tributary known as the Middle Fork Williams River, which itself collects the North Branch Middle Fork Williams River. The river most likely was named after a landowner named Williams.

Geography

The Williams River rises in southern Pocahontas County, approximately 5 miles (8 km) west of Marlinton, and flows initially northwardly, then westwardly into southern Webster County, where it joins the Gauley River approximately 2 miles (3 km) southeast of Cowen. It flows for much of its length in the

Monongahela National Forest The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over of federally managed land within a proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Regi ...

, including the

Cranberry Wilderness The Cranberry Wilderness is a U.S. wilderness area in the Monongahela National Forest of southeast West Virginia, United States. Its name derives from the nearby Cranberry Glades as well as from the Cranberry River and Cranberry Mountain. In a ...

, in an area that was heavily logged in the early 20th century and has since been reforested. Coal mining activity took place along the river's lower course into the 1970s.

Fishing

The Williams River is regarded as one of the five best

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

fishing streams in West Virginia, due to its cold water temperature, low

turbidity Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids ...

, and frequent stockings of trout (amounting to 27,000 pounds annually) by the

West Virginia Division of Natural Resources The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of West Virginia. While formerly known as the cabinet-level Department of Natural Resources, it is now part of the West Virginia Department of ...

.Monongahela National Forest: Williams River
Retrieved on March 14, 2013. Image:Williams River.jpg, The Williams River as viewed from West Virginia Route 150 in Pocahontas County during a period of high water in 2006. Image:Williams Riv.jpg, Fog on the Williams River during a period of high water in 2006. Image:Williams River WV.jpg, Williams River

References

{{authority control Rivers of West Virginia Allegheny Plateau Monongahela National Forest Rivers of Pocahontas County, West Virginia Rivers of Webster County, West Virginia

Name

Geography

Fishing

See also

References