Clinch River

For the nuclear reactor proposed in the 1970s, seeClinch River Breeder Reactor Project.

TheClinch Riveris a river that flows southwest for more than 300 miles (480 km) through theGreat Appalachian Valleyin the U.S. states ofVirginiaandTennessee,gathering varioustributaries,including thePowell River,before joining theTennessee RiverinKingston, Tennessee.

Clinch River
The Clinch River at Speers Ferry inScott County, Virginia
Map of the Clinch River
Location
Country	United States
State	Virginia, Tennessee
Physical characteristics
Source	Buckhorn Mountain nearTazewell, Virginia
• coordinates	37°08′29″N81°27′41″W
• elevation	2,760 ft (840 m)
Mouth	Tennessee RiveratKingston, Tennessee
• coordinates	35°51′48″N84°31′54″W
• elevation	741 ft (226 m)
Length	337 mi (542 km)
Basin size	4,413 sq mi (11,430 km2)
Discharge
• location	Grissom Island nearTazewell, Tennessee,159.8 miles (257.2 km) above the mouth(mean for water years 1918-1983)
• average	2,100 cu ft/s (59 m3/s)(mean for water years 1918-1983)
• minimum	108 cu ft/s (3.1 m3/s) September 1925
• maximum	98,100 cu ft/s (2,780 m3/s) April 1977
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Little River,Beaver Creek
• right	Guest River,North Fork Clinch River,Powell River,Coal Creek,Poplar Creek,Emory River

Course

The Clinch River is dammed twice: byNorris Dam,the first dam built by theTennessee Valley Authority(TVA); and by theMelton Hill Dam,the only TVA dam with anavigation lockthat is not located on the main channel of theTennessee River.

An importanttributaryof the Clinch River is thePowell River.The Clinch and Powelldrainage basinsare separated byPowell Mountain.Tributaries entering the Clinch River below Norris Dam but above Melton Hill Dam includeCoal Creek,Hinds Creek, Bull Run Creek, andBeaver Creek.Poplar Creekenters the river below the Melton Hill Dam.

History

A peninsula located at the mouth of the Clinch River, later called Southwest Point, was important to generations ofNative Americans.In the early colonial period, it was the site of afrontier fort.This structure has recently been reconstructed.

TheCherokeeand European settlers signed a treaty at Southwest Point to allow the capital of Tennessee to be moved there. TheTennessee General Assemblyfulfilled this requirement technically by meeting in Kingston for one day and then voting to move thecapital cityelsewhere. It later was moved toNashville.

Clinch was the name of an 18th-century explorer of the area.Former variations of the name included "Clinch's River", "Clench River", "Clinches River" and "FiumeClinchs ".Folk etymology,however, provides a more colorful account: the river received its name after a pioneer fell into it, and shouted "Clinch me! Clinch me!", supposedly meaning "clench me" or "grab me".

An older name for the river, which appears on some early maps, was the "Pelisipi River", with such variant spellings as "Pelisippi" and "Pellissippi", and the variant form "Fiume Pelissipi".TheMitchell Map(1755–1757) labels a tributary of the "Pelisipi River" as "Clinch's River". The word "Pellissippi" was long said to have been theCherokee languagename for the river and was purported to mean "winding waters".

Research completed in 2017 concluded that theMiami-IllinoisnameMosopeleacipi( "river of theMosopelea"tribe) was first applied to what later European settlers called theOhio River.Shortened in theShawnee languagetopelewa thiipi,spelewathiipiorpeleewa thiipiiki,the name evolved through other variant forms such as "Polesipi", "Peleson", "Pele Sipi" and "Pere Sipi". It was eventually stabilized to the "Pelisipi/Pelisippi/Pellissippi" form. These names were variously applied back and forth between the Ohio and Clinch rivers.The name Pellissippi has been used inproper namesthroughout East Tennessee, for example inPellissippi ParkwayandPellissippi State Community College.

Power industry

A power plant is located along the Clinch River at Carbo inRussell County, Virginia.It was completed in 1957 and is owned by Appalachian Power, a part ofAmerican Electric Power.The coal-fired plant was converted to natural gas in 2016.TheVirginia City Hybrid Energy Center,another coal-fired power plant that began operations in 2012, is a few miles away outsideSt. PaulinWise County, Virginia.It is owned byDominion Virginia Power.

Ecology

The Clinch River aboveClinton, Tennessee(tailwaters of Norris Dam) is stocked withrainbow troutandbrown troutby theTennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Before being dammed, the Clinch River was a major producer of freshwatermusselsandpearls.The rivers of the southernAppalachiansare still notable for their unusually rich mussel biodiversity. The mussels were an important food source for Native Americans. Scots-Irish and later British settlers used mussels asbaitandhogfeed.

The freshwater pearl industry thrived throughout the southern Appalachians in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The Clinch River and the Emory River were considered the economic heart of the pearl industry, and Tennessee was one of the top six states in the United States for pearl production. The mussel-based industries began to decline in the early 20th century and were effectively eliminated by the dams built by the TVA in the mid-20th century. The first major Tennessee River dam wasWilson Dam,built at a site known asMuscle Shoals, Alabama.The name may have referred to the freshwater mussels of the region (the shoals could also be named for the exertion necessary to move river traffic across them). Norris Dam and Norris Lake on the Clinch River flooded one of the other areas of mussel near Young's Island.

Pollution of the river from mining in the region has caused great concern among environmentalists because several rare species inhabit the river. Somemusselswere reintroduced to theCleveland, Virginia,area from outside the state in the early 2000s. Pollution of the 20th century had destroyed much of the historic mussels species.

In 2008,a large releaseoffly ashfrom the TVA'sKingston Fossil Plantdeposited 2.6 million pounds of fly ash in the lower section of the river below the confluence of theEmory River.Although at first the TVA began cleaning the ash out of the river, in 2009 theEPAtook over; they finished removing coal ash in 2010.The release of coal ash in rivers has been shown to result in increased sedimentation and the exposure of trace elements to aquatic organisms.

A study done several months after the spill revealed that the river had increased amounts of trace metals such as mercury and arsenic, which are dangerous throughout the food chain.A study done a year after the spill showed that there was a possibility of food web accumulation ofmethylmercury,but this had not yet been shown.

Recreation

There are several state and local parks along the Clinch River in both Tennessee and Virginia. including:

• Big Ridge State Park
• Norris Dam State Park
• Chuck Swan State Forest
• Clinch River State Park

See also

• List of rivers of Tennessee
• List of rivers of Virginia

External links

• Columbia Gazetteer of North America
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Clinch River
• Pellissippi Blueway
• "Clinch River".New International Encyclopedia.1905.