85-641: Brandonville is a town in northern Preston County , West Virginia , United States. The population was 136 at the 2020 census . It is part of the Morgantown metropolitan area . Brandonville was laid out in 1827 by Jonathan Brandon, and named for him. The Hagans Homestead was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Brandonville is located at 39°39′59″N 79°37′17″W / 39.66639°N 79.62139°W / 39.66639; -79.62139 (39.666321, -79.621517). According to
170-531: A 500% increase in mercury discharges between 2007 and 2013. For several decades beginning in the 1950s, the Ohio River was polluted with hundreds of thousands of pounds of PFOA , a fluoride-based chemical used in making teflon , among other things, by the DuPont chemical company from an outflow pipe at its Parkersburg, West Virginia , facility. The Ohio was listed among America's Most Endangered Rivers of 2023 on
255-651: A Democrat in the post-Civil War years. Preston County has, by comparison, voted Democratic on at least one occasion, during Lyndon Johnson ’s 1964 landslide election; however, Johnson's win over Barry Goldwater was much more decisive than his narrow victory in analogous Upshur County , and Bill Clinton came within 20 votes in 1996. Preston County is represented by two Senators in the West Virginia Senate . Senate members Jay Taylor (R), and Randy Smith (R) both serve in West Virginia's 14th Senate district . The county
340-744: A French architect and surveyor whose survey was the first mapping of the Ohio River, led an expedition of French troops from Fort Niagara down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers as far as the mouth of the Great Miami River near Big Bone Lick and possibly the Falls of the Ohio (present-day Louisville ). Chaussegros de Lery mapped the Great Lakes in 1725, and engineered the Niagara fortifications in 1726. I am indebted for
425-499: A half-hour’s walk from the old Clarksburg - Winchester Road, dated to the late colonial era . The United States Census indicates that Preston County’s all-time slavery peak occurred in 1830, with 125 slaves accounted for, alongside 27 free colored persons. On June 20, 1863, Preston was one of 50 Virginia counties that were admitted to the Union as the State of West Virginia. Later that year,
510-461: A household in the county was $ 40,753 and the median income for a family was $ 46,622. Males had a median income of $ 38,713 versus $ 25,808 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 19,329. About 10.1% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line , including 19.0% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over. Preston County lies within West Virginia's 2nd congressional district . The current representative of
595-588: A point south of the Ohio River and north of the Falls: "Place where one found the ivory of Elephant in 1729" ( French : endroit ou on à trouvé des os d'Elephant en 1729 ). De Lery's men found teeth weighing ten pounds (4.5 kg) with a diameter of five to seven inches (130 to 180 mm), tusks 11 feet (3.4 m) long and 6–7 inches (150–180 mm) in diameter, and thigh bones 5 feet (1.5 m) long. The bones were collected and shipped to Paris, where they were identified as mastodon remains; they are on display at
680-653: A southern route to his home in Augusta County, Virginia , in May 1745. John Howard was extradited to France to stand trial. His ship was intercepted by the English and, as a free man, he reported his adventures after landing in London; however, his account has been lost. Salling's detailed account of Virginia's adjacent lands was used in Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson's 1751 map. In 1749,
765-481: A statewide record snowfall of 104 inches (2.64 m). State parks As of the 2020 census , there were 34,216 people and 12,510 households residing in the county. There were 15,174 housing units in Preston. The racial makeup of the county was 90.1% White , 6% African American , 0.2% Asian , 0.2% Native American , 0.2% from other races , and 3.3% from two or more races . Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 2% of
850-878: A whole is ranked as the most polluted river in the United States, based on 2009 and 2010 data. The more industrial and regional West Virginia/Pennsylvania tributary, the Monongahela River , ranked 17th for water pollution , behind 16 other American rivers. The Ohio again ranked as the most polluted in 2013, and has been the most polluted river since at least 2001, according to the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO). The Commission found that 92% of toxic discharges were nitrates , including farm runoff and waste water from industrial processes such as steel production. The Commission also noted mercury pollution as an ongoing concern, citing
935-584: Is 1,310 miles (2,110 km) long and carries the largest volume of water of any tributary of the Mississippi. The Indians and early European explorers and settlers of the region often considered the Allegheny to be part of the Ohio. The forks (the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at what is now Pittsburgh) were considered a strategic military location by colonial French and British, and later independent American military authorities. The Ohio River
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#17328801109271020-525: Is also represented in the West Virginia House of Delegates by two Delegates. The Delegates for Preston County are George Street (R) for district 83 and D. Rolland Jennings (R) for district 84. Preston County is governed by a County Commission. The commission is made up of the Commission President and Commissioners whom wield administrative powers of the county's government. Samantha Stone (R)
1105-539: Is credited with being the first European to travel and explore western Pennsylvania and the upper Ohio Valley. Viele made contact with Native American nations as far west as the Wabash River , in present-day Indiana. He and his company left Albany , traveling southbound and crossing portions of present-day New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. They apparently followed the west branch of the Susquehanna River into
1190-484: Is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at what is now Point State Park in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . From there, it flows northwest through Allegheny and Beaver counties, before making an abrupt turn to the south-southwest at the West Virginia –Ohio–Pennsylvania triple-state line (near East Liverpool, Ohio ; Chester, West Virginia ; and Ohioville, Pennsylvania ). From there, it forms
1275-526: Is part of the Morgantown, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area , and is the southernmost county of the Pittsburgh media market . It is the home of The Buckwheat Festival, a county fair known for making buckwheat pancakes . Native Americans lived in (and traveled through) what would one day become Preston County; they crossed-over from the Ohio River watershed, which drains into the Mississippi River , into
1360-630: Is the current President of the County Commission. The Preston County Commission consists of two members. The current members of the County Commission are Don Smith (R) and Hunter Thomas (R). Ohio River The Ohio River is a 981-mile-long (1,579 km) river in the United States . It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States , flowing in a southwesterly direction from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on
1445-455: Is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted." After the French and Indian War , Britain's trans-Appalachian Indian Reserve was divided by the river into colonial lands to the south and Native American lands to the north. In the late 18th century, the river became the southern boundary of
1530-599: The 1763 Treaty of Paris . The 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix with several tribes opened Kentucky to colonial settlement and established the Ohio River as a southern boundary for American Indian territory. In 1774 the Quebec Act restored the land east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River to Quebec , in effect making the Ohio the southern boundary of Canada . This appeased French Canadians in Quebec but angered
1615-505: The 2010 United States census , there were 33,520 people, 12,895 households, and 9,038 families residing in the county. The population density was 51.7 inhabitants per square mile (20.0/km ). There were 15,097 housing units at an average density of 23.3 per square mile (9.0/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 97.6% white, 1.1% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.7% of
1700-459: The American Civil War . One antebellum slave trader reported that they kept slaves chained two-by-two while navigating the Ohio, only when they reached the Mississippi could the slaves be unchained for a time, because "there was slavery on both sides of the boat." The expression "sold down the river" originated as a lament of Upper South slaves, especially from Kentucky, who were shipped via
1785-634: The Batts and Fallam expedition of 1671, and the Needham and Arthur expedition of 1673–74. In early autumn 1692, loyal English-speaking Dutchman Arnout Viele and a party of eleven companions from Esopus —Europeans, Shawnee , and a few loyal Delaware guides—were sent by the governor of New York to trade with the Shawnee and bring them into the English sphere of influence. Viele understood several Native American languages, which made him valuable as an interpreter. He
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#17328801109271870-784: The Chesapeake Bay watershed . From 1736, European traders and explorers lived in the County, and one boundary stone was laid in 1746—the Fairfax Stone marking the limits of the North Branch of the River. Larger numbers of white settlers began arriving in 1766, with even more coming to the region after the American Revolutionary War . Traveling by foot or horseback, settlers built their own log cabins. Further development followed from 1818, when
1955-619: The French National Natural History Museum . Charles III Le Moyne , second Baron de Longueuil (later the governor of Montreal and interim governor of New France ), commanded Fort Niagara from 1726 to 1733. He led an expedition of 442 men, including Native Americans, from Montreal to war against the Chickasaw who occupied territory on the lower part of the Mississippi River in the area claimed as La Louisiane . According to Gaston Pierre de Lévis , Duke de Mirepoix,
2040-700: The Kanawha River , they entered the Ohio River 444 miles (715 km) above the falls. The Virginia pioneers traced the northern boundary of Kentucky for five hundred miles (800 km), reaching the Mississippi River on June 7. They descended just below the mouth of the Arkansas River , where they were ambushed by a large company of Native Americans, Blacks and Frenchmen on July 2, 1742; one or two of Howard's men were killed. The rest were brought to New Orleans and imprisoned as spies. After two years in prison, Salling escaped on October 25, 1744, and returned on
2125-620: The Lenape and Iroquois , considered the Ohio and Allegheny rivers as the same, as is suggested by a New York State road sign on Interstate 86 that refers to the Allegheny River also as Ohi:yo' . Similarly, the Geographic Names Information System lists O-hee-yo and O-hi-o as variant names for the Allegheny. An earlier Miami-Illinois language name was also applied to the Ohio River, Mosopeleacipi ("river of
2210-607: The Midwestern Great Lakes states from the Upper South states, which were historically border states in the Civil War. The Ohio River is a left (east) and the largest tributary by volume of the Mississippi River in the United States . At the confluence , the Ohio is considerably bigger than the Mississippi, measured by long-term mean discharge. The Ohio River at Cairo is 281,500 cu ft/s (7,960 m /s); and
2295-539: The Mississippi River at the city of Cairo, Illinois . Where the Ohio joins the Mississippi is the lowest elevation in the state of Illinois, at 315 feet (96 m). The Mississippi River flows to the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic Ocean . Among rivers wholly or mostly in the United States, the Ohio is the second largest by discharge volume and the tenth longest and has the eighth largest drainage basin. It serves to separate
2380-538: The Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois . It is the third largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River, which divides the eastern from western United States. It is also the sixth oldest river on the North American continent. The river flows through or along the border of six states , and its drainage basin includes parts of 14 states. Through its largest tributary,
2465-536: The Mosopelea " tribe). Shortened in the Shawnee language to pelewa thiipi , spelewathiipi or peleewa thiipiiki , the name evolved through variant forms such as "Polesipi", "Peleson", "Pele Sipi" and "Pere Sipi", and eventually stabilized to the variant spellings "Pelisipi", "Pelisippi" and "Pellissippi". Originally applied just to the Ohio River, the "Pelisipi" name later was variously applied back and forth between
2550-521: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's Ohio River Forecast Center. The water depth predictions are relative to each local flood plain based upon predicted rainfall in the Ohio River basin in five reports as follows: The water levels for the Ohio River from Smithland Lock and Dam to Cairo, Illinois, are predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center. The largest tributaries of
2635-661: The National Road was built slightly to the north. When the earliest railroads came, in 1851, all land passed into private ownership, the population increased 70% in a decade, and industrialization truly began. During the American Civil War , more Preston County men enlisted in Union service than with the Confederacy . There were relatively few slave owners in Preston County, and naturally, few slaves. There were virtually none within
Brandonville, West Virginia - Misplaced Pages Continue
2720-655: The Northwest Territory . The river is sometimes considered as the western extension of the Mason–Dixon line that divided Pennsylvania from Maryland , and thus part of the border between free and slave territory, and between the Northern and Southern United States or Upper South . Where the river was narrow, it was crossed by thousands of slaves escaping to the North for freedom; many were helped by free blacks and whites of
2805-672: The Ohio Company was established in Virginia Colony to settle and trade in the Ohio River region. Exploration of the territory and trade with the Indians in the region near the Forks brought white colonists from both Pennsylvania and Virginia across the mountains, and both colonies claimed the territory. The movement across the Allegheny Mountains of Anglo-American settlers and the claims of
2890-466: The Potomac River to the Ohio River. The Wheeling Suspension Bridge was built over the river at Wheeling from 1847 to 1849, making the trip west easier. For a brief time, until 1851, it was the world's largest suspension bridge. The bridge survived the American Civil War , after having been improved in 1859. It was renovated again in 1872, and remains in use as the oldest vehicular suspension bridge in
2975-588: The Tennessee River , the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for five million people. The river became a primary transportation route for pioneers during the westward expansion of the early U.S. The lower Ohio River just below Louisville was obstructed by rapids known as the Falls of the Ohio where the elevation falls 26 feet (7.9 m) in 2 miles (3.2 km) restricting larger commercial navigation, although in
3060-523: The Underground Railroad resistance movement. The Ohio River is a climatic transition area, as its water runs along the periphery of the humid subtropical and humid continental climate areas. It is inhabited by fauna and flora of both climates. Today, the Ohio River is one of the most polluted rivers in the United States. In winter, it regularly freezes over at Pittsburgh but rarely farther south towards Cincinnati and Louisville . Further down
3145-555: The United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 0.39 square miles (1.01 km), all land. At the 2010 census there were 101 people, 47 households, and 29 families living in the town. The population density was 259.0 inhabitants per square mile (100.0/km). There were 57 housing units at an average density of 146.2 per square mile (56.4/km). The racial makeup of the town was 95.0% White and 5.0% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.0%. Of
3230-503: The keelboats used for commerce in the early days of American settlement. The Ohio River boatmen inspired performer Dan Emmett , who in 1843 wrote the song " The Boatman's Dance ". Trading boats and ships traveled south on the Mississippi to New Orleans , and sometimes beyond to the Gulf of Mexico and other ports in the Americas and Europe. This provided a much-needed export route for goods from
3315-449: The "canalization" of the river in 1929, the Ohio has not been a natural free-flowing river; today, it is divided into 21 discrete pools or reservoirs by 20 locks and dams for navigation and power generation. The name "Ohio" comes from the Seneca , Ohi:yo' , lit. "Good River". In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated: "The Ohio
3400-561: The 18th and early 19th century its three deepest channels could be traversed by a wide variety of craft then in use. In 1830, the Louisville and Portland Canal (now the McAlpine Locks and Dam ) bypassed the rapids, allowing even larger commercial and modern navigation from the Forks of the Ohio at Pittsburgh to the Port of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi on the Gulf of Mexico. Since
3485-425: The 1990s, when they were consolidated into five new magisterial districts: First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth. According to the United States Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 651 square miles (1,690 km ), of which 649 square miles (1,680 km ) is land and 2.6 square miles (6.7 km ) (0.4%) is water. In West Virginia's coldest month of January 1977, Terra Alta in Preston County saw
Brandonville, West Virginia - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-427: The 47 households 23.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% were married couples living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.3% were non-families. 31.9% of households were one person and 17.1% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.62. The median age in
3655-464: The Mississippi River at Thebes, Illinois , which is upstream of the confluence, is 208,200 cu ft/s (5,897 m /s). The Ohio River flow is greater than that of the Mississippi River, so hydrologically the Ohio River is the main stream of the river system. The Ohio River is a naturally shallow river that was artificially deepened by a series of dams . The natural depth of the river varied from about 3 to 20 feet (1 to 6 m). The dams raise
3740-671: The Natural Bridge), crossing Greenbrier River and landing at the New River . At New River, the Virginia explorers built a large bull boat frame and covered it with five buffalo skins. The first Englishmen to explore the region then followed the New River for 250 miles (400 km), until it became too dangerous to navigate. At a large waterfall, they traveled overland to the Coal River . Following
3825-733: The Ohio River and the Clinch River in Virginia and Tennessee . In his original draft of the Land Ordinance of 1784 , Thomas Jefferson proposed a new state called "Pelisipia", to the south of the Ohio River, which would have included parts of present-day Eastern Kentucky , Virginia and West Virginia . The river had great significance in the history of the Native Americans , as numerous prehistoric and historic civilizations formed along its valley. For thousands of years, Native Americans used
3910-564: The Ohio River opened about the same time. Although such boats cruised on the Ohio River in an oval pattern up and down, the state of Kentucky soon protested. Other states had to limit their cruises to going forward, then reversing and going backward on the Indiana shore only. Both Illinois and Indiana have long since changed their laws to allow riverboat casinos to be permanently docked, with Illinois changing in 1999 and Indiana in 2002. The Silver Bridge at Point Pleasant, West Virginia , collapsed into
3995-406: The Ohio River was called the " River Jordan " by slaves crossing it to escape to freedom in the North via the Underground Railroad . More escaping slaves, estimated in the thousands, made their perilous journey north to freedom across the Ohio River than anywhere else across the north-south frontier. Harriet Beecher Stowe 's Uncle Tom's Cabin , the bestselling novel that fueled abolitionist work,
4080-461: The Ohio River's rapids and tributaries in that area. However, the 1783 Treaty of Paris gave the entire Ohio Valley to the United States , and numerous white settlers entered the region. The economic connection of the Ohio Country to the East was significantly increased in 1818 when the National Road being built westward from Cumberland, Maryland , reached Wheeling, Virginia , (now West Virginia ), providing an easier overland connection from
4165-401: The Ohio and Mississippi to cotton and sugar plantations in the Deep South . Changes in crops cultivated in the Upper South resulted in slaves available to be sold to the South, where the expansion of cotton plantations was doing very well. Invention of the cotton gin made cultivation of short-staple cotton profitable throughout the Black Belt of this region. Before and during the Civil War,
4250-429: The U.S. Louisville was founded in 1778 as a military encampment on Corn Island (now submerged) by General George Rogers Clark at the only major natural navigational barrier on the river, the Falls of the Ohio . The Falls were a series of rapids where the river dropped 26 feet (7.9 m) in a stretch of about 2 miles (3.2 km). In this area, the river flowed over hard, fossil-rich beds of limestone . The outpost
4335-460: The Virginia mountains to the Mississippi River. The elder Howard had a promised reward of 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of land for a successful expedition from the Virginia Royal Governor's Council to reinforce British claims in the west. Howard offered equal shares of the 10,000 acres to the four other members of his expedition. The party of five left John Peter Salling's house in August County on March 16, 1742, and traveled west to Cedar Creek (near
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#17328801109274420-407: The area near modern-day Pittsburgh led to conflict with the French, who had forts in the Ohio River Valley . This conflict was called the French and Indian War , and would merge into the global Anglo-French struggle, the Seven Years' War . In 1763, following its defeat in the war, France ceded its area east of the Mississippi River to Britain and its area west of the Mississippi River to Spain in
4505-401: The border between West Virginia and Ohio, upstream of Wheeling, West Virginia . The river follows a roughly southwest and then west-northwest course until Cincinnati, before bending to a west-southwest course for most of the remainder of its length. The course forms the northern borders of West Virginia and Kentucky ; and the southern borders of Ohio , Indiana and Illinois , until it joins
4590-411: The colonists of the Thirteen Colonies . Lord Dunmore's War south of the Ohio river also contributed to cession of land north to Quebec to prevent colonial expansion onto Native American territory. During the Revolutionary War . in 1776 the British military engineer John Montrésor created a map of the river showing the strategic location of Fort Pitt , including specific navigational information about
4675-401: The counties were divided into civil townships , with the intention of encouraging local government . This proved impractical in the heavily rural state of West Virginia, and the townships were converted into magisterial districts in 1872. Preston County was divided into eight districts: Grant, Kingwood, Lyon, Pleasant, Portland, Reno, Union, and Valley. These remained largely unchanged until
4760-457: The district is Alex Mooney (R). Generally speaking, most of the State of West Virginia has become a Republican bastion in the 21st century, after having leaned heavily Democratic between the New Deal and Bill Clinton ). However, Preston County has seemingly always been a Republican stronghold, if not quite as ‘rock-ribbed’ as its neighbor, Grant County , or nearby Garrett County, Maryland , two counties that have historically never voted for
4845-412: The expedition used the Ohio River as a corridor to the Mississippi. Among the officers who accompanied this party were Major de Lignery; Lieutenants, de Vassan, Aubert de Gaspe, Du Vivier, de Verrier, Le Gardeur de St. Pierre, Chevalier de Villiers, de Portneuf, de Sabrevious; Father Vernet, chaplain; Cadets, Joncaire de Closonne , Le Gai de Joncaire, Drouet de Richarville the younger, Chaussegros de Lery
4930-408: The first reported eyewitness accounts of Shannoah , a Shawnee town, was by le Moyne III in July 1739. On their journey down the Ohio River toward the Mississippi, they met with local chiefs in a village on the Scioto River . John Howard, a pioneer from Virginia, led a party of five— John Peter Salling (a Pennsylvania German), Josiah Howard (John's son), Charles Sinclair, and John Poteet (Vizt)—from
5015-541: The fur trade from the Iroquois nations to the northeast, they migrated west of the Mississippi River in the 17th century to the territory now defined as Missouri , Arkansas , and Oklahoma . Several accounts exist of the discovery and traversal of the Ohio River by Europeans in the latter half of the 17th century: Virginian colonist Abraham Wood 's trans-Appalachian expeditions between 1654 and 1664; Frenchman Robert de La Salle 's putative Ohio expedition of 1669; and two expeditions of Virginians sponsored by Colonel Wood:
5100-531: The heels of contamination from a high-profile train derailment , and following years as one of the most polluted watersheds in the United States. The Ohio River is extensively industrialized and populated. Regular barge traffic carries cargoes of oil, steel and other industrial goods produced in the region. Major cities located along the northern and southern banks of the river include Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; Louisville, Kentucky ; Evansville, Indiana ; and Cincinnati, Ohio . The combined Allegheny-Ohio river
5185-417: The increasing size of steamships and barges on the river meant that the outdated locks could serve only the smallest vessels until well after the Civil War when improvements were made. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improvements were expanded again in the 1960s, forming the present-day McAlpine Locks and Dam . During the nineteenth century, emigrants from Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky traveled by
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#17328801109275270-540: The largest inhabited island in the Ohio River, belongs to West Virginia, although it is closer to the Ohio shore than to the West Virginia shore. Kentucky sued the state of Indiana in the early 1980s because of their construction of the never-completed Marble Hill Nuclear Power Plant in Indiana, which would have discharged its waste water into the river. This would have adversely affected Kentucky's water supplies. The U.S. Supreme Court held that Kentucky's jurisdiction (and, implicitly, that of West Virginia) extended only to
5355-407: The low-water mark of 1793 (important because the river has been extensively dammed for navigation so that the present river bank is north of the old low-water mark). Similarly, in the 1990s, Kentucky challenged Illinois's right to collect taxes on a riverboat casino docked in Metropolis , citing its own control of the entire river. A private casino riverboat that docked in Evansville, Indiana , on
5440-506: The mountains, traversing the Tioga River and reaching a tributary of the Allegheny River before floating down to the Shawnee towns along the Ohio River. Viele and his expedition spent most of 1693 exploring the Ohio River and its tributaries in northern Kentucky with their Shawnee hosts. Gerit Luykasse, two of Viele's Dutch traders, and two Shawnee reappeared in Albany in February 1694 "to fetch powder for Arnout [Viele] and his Company"; their party had been gone for fifteen months, but Viele
5525-483: The mouth of the Ohio, settlers would travel north on the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri . There, some continued on up the Missouri River , some up the Mississippi, and some farther west over land routes. In the early 19th century, river pirates such as Samuel Mason , operating out of Cave-In-Rock, Illinois , waylaid travelers on their way down the river. They killed travelers, stealing their goods and scuttling their boats. The folktales about Mike Fink recall
5610-410: The population. Of the 12,510 households, 56.8% were married couples living together, 22.7% had a female householder with no spouse present, 14.4% had a male householder with no spouse present.The average household and family size was 3.04. The median age in the county was 43.5 years with 19% of the population under 18. The median income for a household was $ 55,755 and the poverty rate was 14.4%. As of
5695-420: The population. In terms of ancestry, 29.4% were German , 14.3% were Irish , 9.5% were American , and 8.9% were English . Of the 12,895 households, 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.1% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.9% were non-families, and 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size
5780-493: The river and settled along its northern bank. Known as butternuts , they formed the dominant culture in the southern portions of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois with a society that was primarily Southern in culture. Largely devoted to agricultural pursuits, they shipped much of their produce along the river to ports such as Cincinnati. Because the Ohio River flowed westward, it became a convenient means of westward movement by pioneers traveling from western Pennsylvania. After reaching
5865-434: The river as a major transportation and trading route. In the five centuries before European colonization, the Mississippian culture built numerous regional chiefdoms and major earthwork mounds in the Ohio Valley like the Angel Mounds near Evansville, Indiana as well as in the Mississippi Valley and the Southeast. The historic Osage , Omaha , Ponca , and Kaw peoples lived in the Ohio Valley. Under pressure over
5950-526: The river in places like Paducah and Owensboro , Kentucky, closer to its confluence with the Mississippi, the Ohio is ice-free year-round. The name "Ohio" comes from the Seneca language (an Iroquoian language ), Ohi:yo' (roughly pronounced oh-hee-yoh, with the vowel in "hee" held longer ), a proper name derived from ohiːyoːh ("good river"), therefore literally translating to "Good River". "Great river" and "large creek" have also been given as translations. Native Americans , including
6035-451: The river on December 15, 1967. The collapse killed 46 people who had been crossing when the bridge failed. The bridge had been built in 1929, and by 1967 was carrying too heavy a load for its design. The bridge was rebuilt about one mile downstream and in service as the Silver Memorial Bridge in 1969. In the early 1980s, the Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area was established at Clarksville, Indiana . The Ohio River as
6120-431: The river. The colonial charter for Virginia defined its territory as extending to the north shore of the Ohio, so that the riverbed was "owned" by Virginia. Where the river serves as a boundary between states today, Congress designated the entire river to belong to the states on the east and south, i.e., West Virginia and Kentucky at the time of admission to the Union, that were divided from Virginia. Thus Wheeling Island ,
6205-506: The topographical details of the course of this River to M. de Lery, Engineer, who surveyed it with the compass at the time that he descended it with a detachment of French troops in 1729. A map of the Ohio River valley, drawn by Bellin from observations by de Lery, is in Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix 's History of New France . The 1744 Bellin map, "Map of Louisiana" ( French : Carte de La Louisiane ), has an inscription at
6290-511: The town was $ 22,118. There were 17.6% of families and 24.5% of the population living below the poverty line , including 58.8% of under eighteens and 32.0% of those over 64. Preston County, West Virginia Preston County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia . As of the 2020 Census , the population was 34,216. Its county seat is Kingwood . The county was formed from Monongalia County in 1818 and named for Virginia Governor James Patton Preston . Preston County
6375-531: The town was 41.9 years. 17.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.7% were from 25 to 44; 23.8% were from 45 to 64; and 23.8% were 65 or older. The gender makeup of the town was 47.5% male and 52.5% female. At the 2000 census there were 102 people, 41 households, and 28 families living in the town. The population density was 259.3 inhabitants per square mile (101.0/km). There were 46 housing units at an average density of 116.9 per square mile (45.5/km). The racial makeup of
6460-411: The town was 97.06% White, and 2.94% from two or more races. Of the 41 households 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 17.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were non-families. 29.3% of households were one person and 17.1% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size
6545-459: The water level and have turned the river largely into a series of reservoirs , eliminating shallow stretches and allowing for commercial navigation. From its origin to Cincinnati, the average depth is approximately 15 feet (5 m). The largest immediate drop in water level is below the McAlpine Locks and Dam at the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville, Kentucky , where flood stage is reached when
6630-443: The water reaches 23 feet (7 m) on the lower gauge. However, the river's deepest point is 168 feet (51 m) on the western side of Louisville, Kentucky. From Louisville, the river loses depth very gradually until its confluence with the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois , where it has an approximate depth of 19 feet (6 m). Water levels for the Ohio River from Smithland Lock and Dam upstream to Pittsburgh are predicted daily by
6715-521: The west since the trek east over the Appalachian Mountains was long and arduous. The need for access to the port of New Orleans by settlers in the Ohio Valley is one of the factors that led to the United States' Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Because the river is the southern border of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, it was part of the border between free states and slave states in the years before
6800-566: The younger, de Gannes, Chev. Benoist, de Morville, de Selles, and seventeen others. The rank and file consisted of three sergeants, six corporals, six lance corporals, twenty-four soldiers, forty-five habitants , one hundred and eighty-six Iroquois from the Sault, forty-one from the Lake of Two Mountains , thirty-two Algonquin and Nipissing , fifty Abenaqui from St. Francois and Bécancour, Quebec; Father La Bretonnier, Jesuit; Queret, missionary. One of
6885-411: Was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.84. The median age was 42.0 years. The age distribution was 19.55% under the age of 18, 7.36% from 18 to 24, 27.58% from 25 to 44, 29.83% from 45 to 64, and 15.68% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.63 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.48 males. The median income for
6970-461: Was 3.04. The age distribution was 25.5% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 22.5% 65 or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.4 males. The median household income was $ 28,125 and the median family income was $ 25,000. Males had a median income of $ 61,875 versus $ 17,917 for females. The per capita income for
7055-588: Was away for about two years. He and his companions returned from the Pennsylvania wilderness in August 1694, accompanied by diplomats from "seven Nations of Indians" who sought trade with the English (or peace with the powerful Iroquois nations of New York and Pennsylvania), and hundreds of Shawnee who intended to relocate in the Minisink country on the upper Delaware River . In 1729, Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry ,
7140-478: Was moved that same year to the south shore where Fort-on-Shore was constructed. It proved insufficient within 3 years, and the mighty Fort Nelson was constructed upriver. The town of Louisville was chartered in 1780, in honor of King Louis XVI of France. The first locks on the river – the Louisville and Portland Canal – were built between 1825 and 1830 to circumnavigate the falls. Fears that Louisville's transshipment industry would collapse proved ill-founded: but
7225-480: Was the best known of the anti-slavery novels that portrayed such escapes across the Ohio. The times have been expressed by 20th-century novelists as well, such as the Nobel Prize -winning Toni Morrison , whose novel Beloved was adapted as a film of the same name. She also composed the libretto for the opera Margaret Garner (2005), based on the life and trial of an enslaved woman who escaped with her family across
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