Kanawha River

Coal and natural gas is what drives the industry along the 97 miles long Kanawha River now and then. The Kanawha River joins the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, WV. A lock and dam system was introduces in 1875 and the river today is navigable up to Deep Water, WV.

Kanawha River map

The first steamboat to appear on the Kanawha River was the ROBERT THOMPSON in 1819, ascending the river up to Red House Shoals, but didn’t make to her original destination of Charleston, WV, as she couldn’t make the rapids. In 1820 eventually the ALBERT DONALLY made it all the way up to Charleston.

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