MIDDLE SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY
Part Two: Rivers

A barge on the Tennessee River, near Chattanooga
Rivers are really important. Most of the water we drink comes straight out of a river before it gets cleaned at a water treatment plant and piped to our house. Many things that we use are still transported by barges that operate on rivers. Some of us fish in rivers and have fun riding boats in rivers.
A steamboat in Memphis
But in truth, rivers used to be much more important to our lives than they are today. Rivers used to be the main way to get from one place to another and move goods from one place to another. Most Tennesseans live in a community that was originally located there because of a river.

The three most important river systems in Tennessee are the Mississippi, the Tennessee and the Cumberland. Keep in mind that both the Tennessee and the Cumberland rivers eventually flow north into the Ohio, which in turn flows into the Mississippi. So in one sense all three rivers are part of the same body.
The Mississippi River as seen in Lake County. That's Missouri on the other bank.
The Mississippi River runs north to south, generally following Tennessee's western boundary. Contrary to popular opinion, however, the river is NOT Tennessee's western boundary. You see, the Mississippi River used to be Tennessee's western boundary. But rivers change course sometimes, and when the Mississippi River changes course there is nothing that human beings can do to stop it.

Today there are more than a dozen places where the Mississippi River has changed course, moving parts of Tennessee to the west side of the river and parts of Arkansas to the east side of the river. (Click here to read about parts of Tipton County on the west side of the river.)
The Hatchie River
Within Tennessee there are several small rivers that pour directly into the Mississippi River. Among them are the Obion, the Forked Deer, the Hatchie, the Loosahatchie and the Wolf rivers. These rivers are generally slower moving and muddier than small rivers in other parts of the state.
A flatboat similar to the one the Donelson Party took down the Tennessee
The Tennessee River might have the most interesting history of any river in America. It was vital to the culture of several Native American tribes (most notably the Cherokee). It led the first American settlers into the heart of the frontier (click here to read the incredible story of the Donelson Party). It saw, on its shores, the bloody battle of Shiloh (click here for a virtual tour of that battlefield). And in the 20th century it led to the great government experiment known as the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Within the Volunteer State, the more important tributaries of the Tennessee River are the Holston, Watauga, French Broad, Little Tennessee, Clinch, Hiwassee, Ocoee, Sequatchie, Duck, Buffalo and Big Sandy rivers.
A TVA sign next to Nickajack Dam
Here are two important things to know about the Tennessee River that most adults don't, but should, know:

First of all, the river flows north to south on the east side of Tennessee, but south to north on the west side of Tennessee. This may seem confusing, but remember that the river does a "U" shape in North Alabama and flows back into Tennessee.

Second of all, the Muscle Shoals of the Tennessee River (in northwest Alabama) used to be so hazardous that boats couldn't get through, especially in the summer and fall. Because of this, river traffic "above" the shoals, to places such as Huntsville, Alabama, and Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee, was severely hampered. Finally, during World War I, the federal government built a dam (now known as Wilson Dam) that raised the water level through the Muscle Shoals. That project eventually led to the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Here you see the Cumberland and Obey rivers merging, in Celina
Nashville exists today because of the Cumberland River; for years steamboats carrying goods and passengers were a regular site along the riverbank there. Meanwhile, towns upriver such as Carthage and Celina also developed industries that traded goods along the Cumberland River. Perhaps the most important was the lumber business. There was a time when people chopped down trees, tied them together into log rafts and floated them downstream along the Cumberland River to Nashville. There, the rafts were disassembled and the logs cut into lumber.
The Harpeth River -- which is fun to canoe, by the way
Within Tennessee's boundaries, well-known tributaries of the Cumberland include the Obey, Caney Fork, Harpeth, Stones and Red rivers. Of these, the Stones River, which flows through Murfreesboro, is the most well known because a huge Civil War battle took place along its banks. Meanwhile the Harpeth River has so much history along its banks that it is the centerpiece of a state park that contains the remains of a mill, Native American mounds and one of the world's oldest man-made tunnels. Click here to take a virtual tour of it.

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