Jody Victor : Louisville, Kentucky was founded 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 in a stretch of about 2 miles. In this area the river flowed over hard, fossil-rich beds of limestone. The first locks on the river were built at Louisville in 1825 to circumnavigate the falls. Today it is the site of McAlpine Locks and Dam.

Because the Ohio River flowed westwardly, it became the convenient means of westward movement by pioneers traveling from western Pennsylvania. After reaching 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 further west over land routes. In the early 19th century, pirates, such as Samuel Mason, settled at Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, waylaid travelers on their way down the river, killed them, stole their goods, and scuttled their boats. The folktales of Mike Fink recall the keel boats used for commerce in the early days of European settlement. In 1843 the Ohio River boatmen were the inspiration for Dan Emmett's The Boatman's Dance.

Other boats 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 mush needed route for goods from 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 led to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

Because it is the Southern border of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, the Ohio River was a part of the border that divided free states and slave states in the years before the American Civil War. The expression "sold down the river" originated as a lament of Kentucky slaves being split apart from their families and sold in Louisville and other Kentucky locations to be shipped via the Ohio River down to New Orleans to be sold yet again to owners of cotton and sugar field plantations. Before and during the Civil War, the Ohio River was called the "River Jordan" by slaves escaping to freedom in the North via the Underground Railroad. As depicted in several novels by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Toni Morrison. More routes, and more escaping slaves made their perilous journey north to freedom across the Ohio River, than anywhere else across the north-south frontier. Today, the Ohio river generally separates Midwestern Great Lakes states from Southern border states.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Since it was considered by pre-Columbian inhabitants of eastern North America to be part of a single river continuing on through the lower Mississippi, it is perhaps an understatement to characterize the Ohio as a mere tributary of the Mississippi. The river is 981 miles long and carries the largest volume of water of any tributary of the Mississippi. The Indians and early explorers and settlers of the region often considered the Allegheny to be part of the Ohio, and the forks (the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at what is now Pittsburgh) was considered a strategic military location.

Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, led an expedition of French traders who became the first Europeans to find the river in 1669. He traveled from Canada and entered the headwaters of the Ohio, traveling as far as the Falls of Ohio before turning back. He returned to explore the river again in other expeditions and an Italian cartographer traveling with him created the first map of the Ohio River. France claimed ownership of the River until it was ceded to Great Britain.

On May 19, 1749, King George II of Great Britain granted the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks. Exploration of the territory and trade with the Indians in the region near the Forks by British colonials from both Pennsylvania and Virginia - both of whom claimed the territory - led to conflict with French forces that also claimed the region and had built forts along the Allegheny River. This directly led to the French and Indian War in North America. The conflict - the Seven Years' War between England and France. After several initial defeats, the British eventually gained sovereignty over the Ohio Valley.

In 1774, the Quebec Act restored the land east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River to Quebec, appeasing the French-speaking British subjects, but angering the 13 Colonies. They listed it as one of the Intolerable Acts, which precipitated the American Revolution.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : The Ohio River is young from a geologic standpoint. The river formed on a peicemeal basis beginning between 2.5 and 3 million years ago. The earliest Ice Ages occurred at this time and dammed portions of north flowing rivers. The Teays River was the largest of these rivers, and the modern Ohio River flows within segments of the ancient Teays. The ancient rivers were rearranged or consumed by glaciers and lakes.

The upper Ohio River formed when one of the glacial lakes overflowed into a south flowing tributary of the Teays River. Prior to that event, the north flowing Steubenville River (no Longer in existence) ended between New Martinsville and Paden City, West Virginia. Likewise, the south flowing Marietta River (no longer in existence) ended between the cities. The overflowing lake carved through the separating hill and connected the rivers. The resulting floodwaters enlarged the small Marietta valley to a size more typical of a large river. The new large river subsequently drained glacial lakes and melting glaciers at the end of several Ice Ages. The valley grew with each major Ice Age.

Many small river were altered or abandoned after the upper Ohio River formed. Valleys of some abandoned rivers can still be seen on satellite and aerial images of the hills of Ohio and West Virginia between Marietta, Ohio, and Huntington, West Virginia. As testimony to the major changes that occurred, the valleys are actually found on hilltops.

The middle Ohio River formed in a manner similar to formation of the upper Ohio River. A north-flowing river was temporarily dammed southwest of present-day Louisville, Kentucky, creating a large lake until the dam burst. A new route was carved to the Mississippi River, and eventually the upper and middle sections combined to form what is essentially the modern Ohio River.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor: The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela river at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From Pittsburgh, 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 Midland, Pennsylvania), from which point it forms the border between West Virginia and Ohio, upstream of Wheeling, West Virgina.

The river then follows a roughly southwest and then west-northwest course before bending to a west-southwest course for most of its length. It flows along the borders of West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, until it joins the Mississippi near the city of Cairo, Illinois.

Major tributaries of the Ohio River, indicated by the location of their mouth, include:

* Allegheny River - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

* Kinniconick Creek - Vanceburg, Kentucky

* Monongahela River - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

* Chartiers Creek - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

* Beaver River - Rochester, Pennsylvania

* Wheeling Creek - Wheeling, West Virginia

* Little Muskingum River - Ohio

* Duck Creek - Ohio

* Muskingum River - Marietta, Ohio

* Little Kanawha River - Parkersburg, West Virginia

* Hocking River - Hockingport, Ohio

* Kanawha River - Point Pleasant, West Virginia

* Guyandotte River - Huntington, West Virginia

* Big Sandy River - Kentucky-West Virginia border

* Little Sandy River - Greenup, Kentucky

* Scioto River - Portsmouth, Ohio

* Little Miami River - Cincinnati, Ohio

* Licking River - Newport-Covington, Kentucky

* Great Miami River - Ohio-Indiana border

* Salt River - West Point, Kentucky

* Kentucky River - Carrollton, Kentucky

* Green River - Kentucky

* Wabash River - Indiana-Illinois border

* Saline River - Illinois

* Cumberland River - Smithland, Kentucky

* Tennessee River - Paducah, Kentucky

* Cache River - Illinois

Jody Victor