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Cumberland River
| Cumberland River | |
|---|---|
 Canoers on the Cumberland River upstream from Cumberland Falls | |
 Cumberland River watershed (Interactive map) | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Kentucky, Tennessee |
| Cities | Barbourville, KY Williamsburg, KY Burkesville, KY Carthage, TN Nashville, TN Clarksville, TN Dover, TN |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Confluence of the Poor Fork, Clover Fork and Martins Fork |
| • location | Harlan, Kentucky |
| • coordinates | 36°50′42″N 83°19′26″W / 36.84500°N 83.32389°W[1] |
| • elevation | 1,158 ft (353 m) |
| Mouth | Ohio River |
• location | Livingston County, Kentucky |
• coordinates | 37°08′36″N 88°24′27″W / 37.14333°N 88.40750°W[1] |
• elevation | 302 ft (92 m) |
| Length | 688 mi (1,107 km)[2] |
| Basin size | 17,728 sq mi (45,920 km2)[3] |
| Discharge | |
| • location | below Barkley Dam, about 31 mi (50 km) from the mouth[4] |
| • average | 37,250 cu ft/s (1,055 m3/s)[4] |
| • minimum | 6,085 cu ft/s (172.3 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 209,000 cu ft/s (5,900 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Martins Fork, Clear Fork, Big South Fork, Obey River, Caney Fork River, Stones River, Harpeth River |
| • right | Clover Fork, Poor Fork, Laurel River, Rockcastle River, Red River, Little River |
The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The 688-mile-long (1,107 km)[2] river drains almost 18,000 square miles (47,000 km2) of southern Kentucky and north-central Tennessee. The river flows generally west from a source in the Appalachian Mountains to its confluence with the Ohio River near Paducah, Kentucky, and the mouth of the Tennessee River. Major tributaries include the Obey, Caney Fork, Stones, and Red Rivers.
Although the Cumberland River basin is predominantly rural, there are also some large cities on the river, including Nashville and Clarksville, both in Tennessee.
The river system has been extensively altered for flood control. Major dams impound areas of both the main stem and many of its important tributaries.
- ^ a b "Cumberland River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. September 20, 1979. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 8, 2011
- ^ "Boundary Descriptions and Names of Regions, Subregions, Accounting Units and Cataloging Units". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^ a b "USGS Gage #03438220 on the Cumberland River near Grand Rivers, KY". National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1965–1997. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
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