Muskingum River

Catchment area of ​​the Muskingum River.

The Muskingum River is a 179 km long tributary of the Ohio River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi. It flows through the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The river has in the past a major waterway dar.

Source

The Muskingum does not spring source but is being built near the town Coshocton in eastern Ohio from the confluence of its two headwaters, Tuscarawas River and Walhonding River. It drains so that large parts of eastern Ohio.

Course

The Muskingum flows with the formation of numerous meanders of Coshocton from in general southern direction. In Conesville he takes out another important tributary, the Wills Creek. Then Trinway and Dresden happened before the river reaches further south Zanesville.

From Zanesville from the course bends to the southeast. Happened in the course or flow through the Muskingum places South Zanesville, Philo, Malta, McConnelsville, Beverly, Lowell and Stockport and Devola. In the southeast of the state of Iowa, near the city of Marietta, Muskingum flows after 178 km in Ohio.

Historical Significance

The name comes from Muskingum as a term an expression of Delaware Indians, is alleged to he means " eye of the moose ." The Indian name suggests a certain importance of the river for the Native Americans.

At the Muskingum River, the first permanent settlement was established in 1788 in the Northwest Territory: Marietta. Here ends the Muskingum in Ohio. 1791 took place on the shores near place the Big Bottom massacre in which Indians attacked a settlement of colonists and 14 settlers killed and three kidnapped. A decade after Marietta was a few miles upriver Zanesville founded (1799 ). This place was located strategically at the crossroads of the Muskingum and an important, though hardly as a way to be designated trade route called Zane 's Trace, which was regionally significant in colonization and in the Revolutionary War. Middle of the 19th century was the Muskingum an important waterway and an important trade route. For this purpose, the river was increasingly channeled and provided with dams and weirs and sluices, on the well, the water level could be controlled.

By 1920, around the importance of shipping declined significantly since the railway system took over many transports. The locks and dams fell rapidly. Since the 1960s the facilities were renovated and since then for the increasing traffic of recreational vehicles ( canoes, fishing boats, etc.) and excursion boats in use. Most plants are still hand-operated. At times it was allowed boaters themselves, which locks to use when needed.

Between 1812 and 1861 fled from the south, many escaped slaves from the southern states along the Ohio and Muskingum the north towards Canada. This approach has been for many former slaves the way to freedom.

Name Variants

For the Muskingum River existed in the history of regional or other names:

  • Big Muskingum River
  • Elk River
  • Mouskindom River
  • Mushkingum River
  • Muskingham River
  • Riviere Chiagnez
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