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CUMBERLAND RIVER

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 628 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

CUMBERLAND See also:RIVER , a large See also:southern See also:branch of the See also:Ohio river, U.S.A., rising in the highest See also:part of the Cumberland See also:plateau in See also:south-See also:east See also:Kentucky, and emptying into the Ohio in Kentucky (near Smithland) after a devious course of 688 m. through that See also:state and See also:Tennessee. It drains a See also:basin of somewhat more than 18,000 sq. m., and is navigable for See also:light-See also:draught steamers through about Soo M. under favourable conditions—Burnside, See also:Pulaski See also:county, 518 m. from the mouth, is the See also:head of navigation—and through 193 m.—to Nashville—all the See also:year See also:round; for boats See also:drawing not more than 3 ft. the river is navigable to See also:Nashville for 6 to 8 months. At the See also:Great Falls, in Whitley county, Kentucky, it drops precipitously 63 ft. Above the falls it is a See also:mountain stream, of little See also:volume in the dry months. It descends rapidly at its head to the highland See also:bench below the mountains and traverses this to the falls, then flows in rapids (the Great Shoals) for some ro m. through a" See also:fine See also:gorge with cliffs 300-400 ft. high, and descends between bluffs of decreasing height and beauty into its See also:lower level. See also:Save in the mountains its gradient is slight, and below the falls, except for a number of small rapids, the flow of the stream is equable. Timbered ravines lend See also:charm to much of its shores, and in the mountains the scenery is most beautiful. Below Nashville the stream is some 400 to 500 ft. wide, and its high See also:banks are for the most part of See also:alluvium, with rocky bluffs at intervals. At the mouth of the river lies Cumber-See also:land See also:Island, in the Ohio. During See also:low See also:water of the latter stream the Cumberland discharges around both ends of the island, but in high water of the Ohio the gradient of the Cumberland is so slight that its See also:waters are held back, forming a deep quiet See also:pool that extends some 20 .m. Up the river. A See also:system of locks and dams below Nashville was planned in 1846 by a private See also:company, which accomplished practically nothing.

See also:

Congress appropriated, $155,000 in 1832–1838; in the years immediately after 1888 $305,000 was expended, notably for deepening the shoals at the junction of the Cumberland and the Ohio; in 1892 a project was undertaken for 7 locks and dams 52 ft. wide and 28o ft. See also:long below Nashville. Above Nashville $346,000 was expended on the open channel project (of 1871–1872) from Nashville to Cumberland See also:Ford (at Pineville); in 1886 a canalization project was undertaken and 22 locks and dams below See also:Burnside and 6 above Burnside were planned, but by the See also:act of 1907 the. project was modified—$2,319,000 had been appropriated up to 1908. for the See also:work of canalization. During the See also:Civil See also:War Fort See also:Donelson on the Cumberland, and Fort See also:Henry near by on the Tennessee were erected by the Confederates, and their See also:capture by See also:Flag officer A. H. See also:Foote and See also:General See also:Grant (Feb. 1862) was one of the decisive events of the war, opening the See also:rivers as it did for the advance of the See also:Union forces far into Confederate Territory.

End of Article: CUMBERLAND RIVER

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