The Levisa Fork (also known as the Levisa Fork River or the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River ) is a tributary of the Big Sandy River , approximately 164 miles (264 km) long, in southwestern Virginia and eastern Kentucky in the United States .
6-578: The Russell Fork is a 51.9-mile-long (83.5 km) tributary of the Levisa Fork in southwestern Virginia and southeastern Kentucky in the United States . Known for its whitewater, it rises in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia , in southern Buchanan County at the base of Big A Mountain , and flows northwest into Dickenson County . The Russell Fork continues to flow through
12-492: The Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia , in eastern Buchanan County , near Grundy . It flows west into Pike County, Kentucky , where it is impounded to form Fishtrap Lake reservoir. After collecting the Russell Fork , it flows northwest through Pikeville and Prestonsburg . The natural course of the river formed a loop surrounding downtown Pikeville, but a massive earthmoving project completed in 1987 rerouted
18-592: The early 1900s the river was navigable as far as Pikeville. Variant names, according to the USGS, include Louisa River, Louisa Fork, Lavisa Fork, and West Fork, in addition to Levisa Fork River and Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. The official name according to the USGS is Levisa Fork. According to Robert F. Collins of the United States Forest Service , 18th-century explorer Dr. Thomas Walker had named
24-515: The nearby Kentucky River the Louisa River, after Princess Louisa , sister of Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (Walker had just named the Cumberland River a month or two earlier). According to George R. Stewart , frontiersmen "forgot" who it was named for and it changed over time to Levisa. An alternate story is that one of Ephraim Vause ' daughters, Levicee, was carried away by
30-560: The river to bypass the city. At Paintsville it turns to the north-northeast, flowing through Johnson and Lawrence counties. It joins the Tug Fork from the southwest at Louisa on the West Virginia state line to form the Big Sandy. The Levisa Fork was historically an important river for log driving . The river is partly navigable for commercial purposes through a series of locks . In
36-639: The town of Haysi, Virginia , the Breaks Interstate Park , and the town of Elkhorn City, Kentucky , in Pike County , to the community of Millard, Kentucky where it flows into the Levisa Fork which, together with the Tug Fork , form the Big Sandy River . 37°24′24″N 82°26′25″W / 37.40677°N 82.44015°W / 37.40677; -82.44015 Levisa Fork It rises in
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