Holston River

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Template other The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and northwestern North Carolina. The Holston's confluence with the French Broad River at Knoxville marks the beginning of the Tennessee River.

History

Maps by early French explorers in this area identified what is now known as the Holston River as the "Cherokee River", after the tribe they encountered. The United States settlers and army fought with the Cherokee over land in Tennessee, North Carolina, and further South into Georgia and Alabama. In the 1830s the government forced the Cherokee out on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), under the authority of the Indian Removal Act passed by Congress in 1830.

Early Tennessee historian and Tennessee Supreme Court Justice John Haywood cites in his 1823 book "The civil and political history of the state of Tennessee from its earliest settlement up to the year 1796, including the boundaries of the state" that the Holston River was identified and named on earlier produced French maps as the "Cherokee River". British colonists later named the Holston River after pioneer Stephen Holstein, a European-American settler who built a cabin in 1746 on the upper reaches of the river. Similarly, Holston Mountain was named after the Holston River.

The North Fork of the river was polluted by the "Muck Dam" break in Saltville, Virginia on December 24, 1924, which allowed the release of a huge volume of liquid chemical waste stored there by the Mathieson Alkali Company, taking the lives of nineteen people who lived along the river. The river remained polluted and virtually dead for several decades afterward.

Course

The North Fork flows southwest from Sharon Springs in Bland County, Virginia. The Middle Fork flows from near the western border of Wythe County, Virginia, joining the South Fork in Washington County, Virginia, southeast of Abingdon. The South Fork rises near Sugar Grove in Smyth County and flows southwest to join the North Fork at Kingsport. The Watauga River, a tributary of the South Fork Holston, flows westward from Watauga County, North Carolina.

River modifications

The Holston River valley has been greatly developed for electrical power generation, both with hydroelectric dams and coal-fired steam plants. In the upper reaches, some of these plants are controlled by private interests; in the downstream portion, they are owned by the United States Government's Tennessee Valley Authority.

The main stem of the Holston is impounded by the Tennessee Valley Authority's Cherokee Dam near Jefferson City, Tennessee, forming Cherokee Lake. Five other dams, also managed by TVA, impound the Holston's headwater streams: Watauga Dam and Wilbur Dam on the Watauga River, and Boone Dam, Fort Patrick Henry Dam, and South Holston Dam on the South Fork Holston River.

Among the dams and associated reservoirs on the South Fork Holston River are Boone Dam and Boone Lake, named for the explorer Daniel Boone; Fort Patrick Henry Dam and Fort Patrick Henry Lake, named for the Founding Father Patrick Henry; and South Holston Dam and South Holston Lake.

Recreation

All three forks in Virginia, South Holston Lake, and the Holston River in Tennessee below the South Holston Dam offer relatively easy-to-reach recreation opportunities. The North Fork in Virginia is known as an excellent smallmouth bass river (because of mercury contamination, fish caught in the North Fork of the Holston below Saltville, Virginia, must not be consumed). Both the South Fork in Virginia and the first of the Holston in Tennessee below South Holston Dam are quality brown trout and rainbow trout fisheries. The Holston River is wide and open enough to allow extensive fly fishing. South Holston Lake offers a variety of fishing opportunity as well, as it contains smallmouth bass, common carp, walleye, pike, sunfish, crappie and a few trout.

Crossings

Holston River

The following is a list of major road crossings on the Holston River:

Bridge Name	Crossing/Road	Location	Notes
Boyds Bridge	Boyds Bridge Pike/Strawberry Plains Pike	Knoxville, Tennessee	First road crossing over the Holston
Holston River Bridge		Knoxville
J.W. Will Taylor Memorial Bridge		Knoxville, Tennessee
Mascot Bridge	Mascot Road	Mascot/Strawberry Plains, Tennessee	Concrete arch bridge
John K. Shields Bridge		Near Jefferson City, Tennessee
Olen R. Marshall Bridge		Morristown/Bean Station, Tennessee	The Olen R. Marshall Bridge is one of two bridges to cross Cherokee Lake
Melinda Ferry Bridge		near Rogersville, Tennessee
Hugh B. Day Bridge		near Rogersville and Persia, Tennessee
William L. Jenkins Bridge		near Rogersville
Longs Bend Bridge	Longs Bend Pike	Surgoinsville, Tennessee	Original bridge was demolished in 2014.
	Goshen Valley Road	Church Hill, Tennessee	Bridge does not have a name; final crossing over the main Holston River

South Fork Holston River

The following is a list of major road crossings on the South Fork Holston River:

Bridge Name	Crossing/Road	Location	Notes
C.P. Edwards Bridge	Ridgefields Road	Kingsport, Tennessee
		Kingsport, Tennessee	Two sets of bridges over the River, connected by the Long Island of the Holston
		Kingsport, Tennessee	Two bridges over the river, connected by the Long Island of the Holston
	2nd Street	Kingsport, Tennessee	Connects Long Island of the Holston to the mainland
	S Eastman Road / Ivory Street	Kingsport, Tennessee	Closed Bridge at Long Island of the Holston
	Jared Drive	Kingsport, Tennessee	Connects Long Island of the Holston to the mainland
	13th Street	Kingsport, Tennessee	Connects Long Island of the Holston to the mainland
Sgt. 1st Class O.B. Hickman Memorial Bridge		Kingsport, Tennessee
J Mack Ray Bridge		Kingsport, Tennessee	Directly beside of Fort Patrick Henry Dam; Concrete arch on southbound span
	Fall Creek Road	Warriors' Path State Park	No name bridge
		Colonial Heights, Tennessee
Orville Depew "Dick" Kitzmiller and Riley Lee Milhorn Memorial Bridge		Spurgeon, Tennessee	Just a half mile west of Boone Dam
Devault Bridge	Devault Bridge Road	Halfway between Blountville and Piney Flats, Tennessee
Marine PFC Charles Howard Duty Memorial Bridge	Enterprise Road / Beaver Creek Road	Near Bluff City, Tennessee
Charlie Worley Bridge		Bluff City, Tennessee
Reed H. Thomas Memorial Bridge		Bluff City, Tennessee
		Near Hickory Tree, Tennessee	No name bridge
Webb Bridge	Old Weaver Pike	Near Hickory Tree, Tennessee
PVT. Lawrence E. Carrier Memorial Bridge		Hickory Tree, Tennessee
SSGTs. James B. White, Robert S. Shoaf, and Marvin H. Helbert Memorial Bridge	Holston View Dam Road	Emmett, Tennessee	Last crossing before South Holston Dam
421 Bridge		Holston Valley, Tennessee
		Green Spring, Virginia	No name bridge
		Alvarado, Virginia	No name bridge
		Halfway between Osceola and Damascus, Virginia	No name bridge
		Near Damascus, Virginia	No name bridge
		Near Damascus, Virginia	No name bridge
		near Lodi, Virginia	No name bridge
Bucks Bridge		Between Lodi and Widener Valley, Virginia
		Friendship, Virginia	No name bridge
		Wilkinson's Mill, Virginia	No name bridge
Elswick Bridge		Wilkinson's Mill, Virginia
		Near Chilhowie, Virginia	No name bridge
Edward "Bud" Ashby Memorial Bridge		Near Chilhowie, Virginia
Hiler Bridge		near Adwolfe, Virginia
		Adwolfe, Virginia	No name bridge
Tilleys Bridge		Adwolfe, Virginia
Thomas Bridge		Stony Battery, Virginia
		Stony Battery, Virginia	No name bridge
		near Sugar Grove, Virginia	3 different bridges
		Sugar Grove, Virginia	No name bridge
		Sugar Grove, Virginia	No name bridge

Middle Fork Holston River

The following is a list of major road crossings on the Middle Fork Holston River:

Bridge Name	Crossing/Road	Location	Notes
		Between Ashleys and Osceola, Virginia	No name bridge
		Near Lodi, Virginia	No name bridge
		Between Lodi and Glade Spring, Virginia	No name bridge
Prices Bridge		Price Hill, Virginia
		Chilhowie, Virginia	No name bridge
		Chilhowie, Virginia	No name bridge
		Chilhowie, Virginia	No name bridge
Pioneer Memorial Bridge		Seven Mile Ford, Virginia
		Seven Mile Ford, Virginia	No name bridge
		McMullin, Virginia	No name bridge
	Country Club Road	Marion, Virginia	No name bridge
L.W. Kelly Bridge	Baughman Avenue	Marion, Virginia
	N Church Street	Marion, Virginia	No name bridge
W.E. Francis Bridge	Chatham Hill Road	Marion, Virginia
	E Church Street	Marion, Virginia	No name bridge
		Marion, Virginia	No name bridge
		Marion, Virginia	No name bridge
		Marion, Virginia	No name bridge
		Near Atkins, Virginia	No name bridge
		Atkins, Virginia	No name bridge
		Atkins, Virginia	No name bridge

See also

• List of Tennessee rivers
• List of Virginia rivers

External links

• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: