Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Episode 422 (5-28-18): Virginia and the Ohio River Valley Connect Through Watersheds, Wars, and Western Migration


CLICK HERE to listen to episode audio (5:09).

Transcript of audio, notes on the audio, images, and additional information follow below.

All Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 5-25-18.


TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of May 28, 2018.  This is the fourth of a series of four revisits this month to previous episodes on the watershed connections of western Virginia rivers.

MUSIC – ~ 24 sec
This week, that excerpt of “Samuel Mason,” by Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand on the 2010 album, “All the Good Summers,” sets the stage for reversing this show’s eastbound opening line, because this episode looks west, away from Virginia’s Atlantic coastline, back to the Cumberland Gap, to the Ohio River Valley, in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico watersheds.  You’ll hear a series of sounds that represent past or present connections between the Ohio Valley, or basin, and Virginia’s land, waters, and people; then I’ll follow each sound with a short description of the connection.  Here goes!

SOUND - ~ 3 sec

That cannon sound, from the James River Batteau Festival, represents the Ohio Valley’s role in the French and Indian War, between England and France over control of North America.  Virginia’s colonial charter gave it a claim to the area of the upper Ohio River, and George Washington was involved in the conflicts near modern-day Pittsburgh that touched off the war in 1754.  England’s victory in 1763 gave it control over the Ohio valley and validated Virginia’s legal claim, which would become even more important after the Revolution.

SOUND - ~ 5 sec

This batteau horn sound, again from the James River Festival, recalls the river boats that were one of the ways hundreds of thousands of Virginians traveled into and through the Ohio Valley, during waves of migration from the late 1700s to the mid-1800s.  At that time, much of the area was Virginia’s northwest frontier—for example, Fort Henry, in the Samuel Mason song you heard, was at the site of today’s Wheeling, West Va., which until the Civil War was part of Virginia.  Unlike Samuel Mason, however, most of those leaving Virginia for fortune and fame did not become river pirates, but instead found new places to work and settle.

SOUND - ~3 sec

Rapids in the Virginia’s New River represent the river corridors and watershed connections that influence the Ohio Valley’s human settlement, navigation, fish, other aquatic organisms, and water quality.  Besides the New, Virginia rivers whose water ultimately flows to the Ohio include the Big Sandy, Clinch/ Powell, and Holston.

SOUND - ~ 5 sec

The sound of an Ohio River barge in Pittsburgh, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers converge to form the Ohio, underscores the commercial and industrial role of the Ohio and its tributaries, which comprise over 2800 miles of navigable waterways.  According to the Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission, as of 2018 over 180 million tons of cargo were being moved annually on the Ohio River, with coal being the most commonly transported product.

MUSIC - ~ 5 sec

Finally, a saxophone player on the Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh, on a windy and rainy baseball-game day, seems a good symbol for the human spirit, independence, and enterprise that—combined with rivers and other defining geographic features—have helped make the Ohio River Valley a key part of the United States ever since it was Virginia’s northwest frontier.

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This episode revises and replaces Episode 274, 7-13-15.

“Samuel Mason,” from the 2010 album “All the Good Summers,” is copyright by Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand and Great Bear Records, used with permission.  More information about Andrew and Noah is available online at https://andrewandnoah.bandcamp.com/.  This music is also featured in Virginia Water Radio Episode 491 (9-23-19).

The riverboat horn and cannon sounds were recorded at the James River Batteaux Festival in Lynchburg, Va., on June 15, 2013.

The river barge sound was recorded in Pittsburgh, Penn., on June 28, 2015.

The saxophone player was recorded on Pittsburgh’s Roberto Clemente Bridge on June 28, 2015.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  Information on Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

IMAGES


Map of Virginia’s major river basins (or watersheds).  The Virginia portions of the Ohio River basin are shown at the lower left: blue for the New River watershed, purple for the Holston watershed, yellow for the Clinch-Powell watershed, and green for the Big Sandy watershed.  Map from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, “Virginia’s Major Watersheds,” online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil-and-water/wsheds.


Basin (or watershed) of the Ohio River. Map from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ‘Planning Center of Expertise for Inland Navigation/Ohio River Basin Profile,” online at http://outreach.lrh.usace.army.mil/Basin/OhioRiver/default.asp.


Coal barge on the Ohio River at Huntington, W. Va., Nov. 6, 2011.

June 28, 2015, view of Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Penn., marking the convergence of the Allegheny River (left foreground) with the Monongahela River (left background, behind the point) to form the Ohio River (right background).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT VIRGINIA AND THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY

(Please see the Sources section below for full citations of sources mentioned in this section.)

On Fort Henry

(From the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, “Story of Fort Henry,” online at http://www.wvculture.org/history/journal_wvh/wvh1-2.html.)

Fort Henry was an active fort from 1774-1784 at the place where Wheeling, West Virginia, now is located.  (The state of West Virginia established as a state on June 20, 1863, by the U.S. Congress, which at the time had military control of that part of the then-Confederate state of Virginia.)  First called Fort Fincastle for one of the titles held by Lord Dunmore, a Virginia colonial governor, the fort was later renamed to honor Patrick Henry.

On Samuel Mason

(From Wagner and McCorvie, “Going to See the Varmint: Piracy in Myth and Reality on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, 1785-1830,” 2006.)

Born in Norfolk in 1739, Samuel Mason was a Revolutionary War soldier and a farmer on the western Virginia frontier, but in the 1790s he became one of the most notorious pirates targeting riverside dwellers and boat traffic, particularly in the area around Hurricane Island and Cave-in-Rock on the Ohio River in Illinois.  Mason’s killing in 1803 helped lead to the end of well-organized piracy on the Ohio and other waterways on the early U.S. frontier. Samuel Mason is the focus of Virginia Water Radio Episode 232 - 9/22/14.

On Virginians’ Migration into the Ohio River Valley

(From Fischer and Kelly, Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement, 2000.)

In 1754, George Washington led a military expedition to the Forks of the Ohio (now Pittsburgh) to drive out the French from Virginia’s northwest frontier.  This expedition helped lead to the French and Indian War over control of the Ohio Valley—the North American part of a global, long-running war between England and France.

In 1784, Virginia gave up claims to lands north of the Ohio River, the present-day Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (but kept the future West Virginia).  In the southern part of this territory, just north of the Ohio River, an area known as the Virginia Military District was established to offer settlement areas for Revolutionary War veterans.

In 1790, Virginia was the largest state (by population), and it produced the state the largest number of migrants in the Ohio River valley and beyond from the 1700s to the 1800s. P erhaps as many as a million Virginians migrated out of the state.  In the early to mid-1800s, much of this migration used the river valleys of western Virginia and eastern Tennessee to reach the Ohio Valley and beyond.

Before the Civil War, the Ohio River and Valley were also key areas for slaves seeking to escape along the Underground Railroad.

On Virginia Fisheries Connected to the Ohio River

(From Jenkins and Burkhead, Freshwater Fishes of Virginia, 1994)

Virginia’s watersheds are divided most broadly into those on the Atlantic slope (including watersheds within the Chesapeake Bay watershed) and those in the Ohio River basin (see map above in the Images section).  The Ohio River basin, particularly the particularly the upper Tennessee River system, has a notably larger number of native fish species than does the Atlantic slope.

SOURCES USED FOR AUDIO AND OFFERING MORE INFORMATION

Encyclopedia Britannica, “French and Indian War,” online at http://www.britannica.com/event/French-and-Indian-War.

David Hackett Fischer and James C. Kelly, Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement, University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 2000.

Robert E. Jenkins and Noel M. Burkhead, Freshwater Fishes of Virginia, American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Md., 1994.

Filson Historical Society (Louisville, Ky.), “The First American West: The Ohio River Valley 1750-1820,” online at https://filsonhistorical.org/?s=The+First+American+West.

Minnie Lee McGehee, ed., River Boat Echoes: Batteaux in Virginia, Virginia Canals and Navigations Society, McLean, Va., 1995.

National Park Service/New River Gorge National River, “Batteaux on the New,” available online at http://www.nps.gov/neri/learn/historyculture/batteaux-on-the-new.htm.

New World Encyclopedia, “Ohio River,” online at http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ohio_River.

Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORANSCO), “River Facts,” online at http://www.orsanco.org/river-facts/.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ‘Planning Center of Expertise for Inland Navigation/Ohio River Basin Profile,” online at http://outreach.lrh.usace.army.mil/Basin/OhioRiver/default.asp.

U.S. EPA, “EPA’s Work in the Gulf of Mexico,” online at http://www.epa.gov/gmpo/index.html.

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, “Virginia’s Major Watersheds,” online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil_and_water/wsheds.shtml.

Virginia Tech Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, “EFish—The Virtual Aquarium,” online at https://efish.fishwild.vt.edu/.

Mark J. Wagner and Mary R. McCorvie, “Going to See the Varmint: Piracy in Myth and Reality on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, 1785-1830,” in X Marks the Spot: The Archeology of Piracy, Russell K. Skowronek and Charles R. Ewen, eds., University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 2006.

Waterways Council, Inc., “Waterways System,” online at http://waterwayscouncil.org/waterways-system/.

West Virginia Division of Culture and History, “Story of Fort Henry,” online at http://www.wvculture.org/history/journal_wvh/wvh1-2.html.

West Virginia Division of Culture and History, “West Virginia Statehood,” by A.B. Brooks, online at http://www.wvculture.org/history/statehoo.html.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Rivers, Streams, and Other Surface Water” subject category.

Following are links to some other episodes on waters in the Ohio River watershed.
Episode 109, 5/7/12 – “Banks of New River” by Whitetop Mountain Band.
Episode 177, 9/2/13 – “Sandy Boys,” by Sara Grey, for Labor Day.
Episode 179, 9/16/13 – Twenty-two Miles Along the New River Trail.
Episode 232, 9/22/14 – “Samuel Mason” by Andrew and Noah vanNorstrand Recalls a Notorious, Virginia-born River Pirate (on piracy on the Ohio River in the 1800s by Virginian Samuel Mason).
Episode 264, 5/4/15 – A Bird Day on the New River.
Episode 419, 5/7/18 – Meet the Big Sandy Watershed with “Three Forks of Sandy” by Bobby Taylor.
Episode 420, 5/14/18 – Exploring Virginia’s Tennessee River Tributaries Through “Clinch Mountain Quickstep” by Timothy Seaman.
Episode 421, 5/21/18 – Connecting Southwestern Virginia Waters to the Ohio River Through “Ohio Valley Rain” by Cornerstone.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episode may help with Virginia 2013 Music SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

This episode may also help with the following Virginia 2010 Science SOLs:

Grades K-6 Earth Resources Theme
4.9 – Va. natural resources, including watersheds, water resources, and organisms.

Grades K-6 Living Systems Theme
6.7 – natural processes and human interactions that affect watershed systems; Va. watersheds, water bodies, and wetlands; health and safety issues; and water monitoring.

Life Science Course
LS.11 - relationships between ecosystem dynamics and human activity.

Earth Science Course
ES.8 – influences by geologic processes and the activities of humans on freshwater resources, including identification of groundwater and major watershed systems in Virginia.

Biology Course
BIO.8 - dynamic equilibria and interactions within populations, communities, and ecosystems; including analysis of the flora, fauna, and microorganisms of Virginia ecosystems.

The episode may also help with the following Virginia 2015 Social Studies SOLs:

Virginia Studies Course
VS.10 – knowledge of government, geography, and economics in present-day Virginia.

United States History to 1865 Course
USI.2 – major land and water features of North America, including their importance in history.

World Geography Course
WG.3 – how regional landscapes reflect the physical environment and the cultural characteristics of their inhabitants.
WG.5 – regions of United States and Canada.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to previous Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.
Episode 250 (1-26-15) – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255 (3-2-15) – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282 (9-21-15) – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309 (3-28-16) – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 332 (9-12-16) – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403 (1-15-18) – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404 (1-22-18) – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406 (2-5-18) – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407 (2-12-19) – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Episode 421 (5-21-18): Connecting Southwestern Virginia Waters to the Ohio River Through “Ohio Valley Rain” by Cornerstone


CLICK HERE to listen to episode audio (3:47).

Transcript of audio, notes on the audio, images, and additional information follow below.

All Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 5-18-18.


TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of May 21, 2018.  This is the third of a series of four revisits this month to previous episodes on the watershed connections of western Virginia rivers.

MUSIC – ~ 7 sec

This week, we feature a song and a watershed mystery.  Have a listen for about 40 seconds, and see if you know the Virginia water connection to the theme of this song.

MUSIC - ~43 sec

You’ve been listening to part of “Ohio Valley Rain,” by the Ithaca, New York, band Cornerstone on their 1994 album, “Out of the Valley” from Folk Era Records.  The song mentions Wheeling, West Virginia and the Ohio Valley, so what’s the Virginia water connection?

Southwestern Virginia, starting with the New River watershed, is within the larger watershed or basin of the Ohio River.  About 17 percent of Virginia’s land mass—or about 7200 square miles—lies within the Ohio basin, compared to about 83 percent in watersheds whose waters flow to the Atlantic Ocean, either directly or via the Chesapeake Bay or North Carolina’s Albemarle Sound.  Southwestern Virginia watersheds within the Ohio basin include those of the Big Sandy, Clinch/Powell, Holston, and New rivers, with their waters eventually reaching the Gulf of Mexico.  So when Cornerstone sings of “the [Ohio] river miles below, drinking rain from far away,” that rain could have fallen on Virginia!

Thanks to Cornerstone and songwriters Chris Stuart and Dave Adams for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with a few more seconds of “Ohio Valley Rain.”
MUSIC - ~17 sec

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This episode revises and replaces Episode 108, 4-30-12.

“Ohio Valley Rain” and “Out of the Valley” are copyright Cornerstone and Folk Era Records, used with permission. More information about Cornerstone is available at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cornerstone/200573266649741.  This music was previously used in Virginia Water Radio Episode 58, 3-21-11.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (1 min./11 sec.) of the “Cripple Creek” arrangement/performance by Stewart Scales that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Scales and the group New Standard, with which Mr. Scales plays, is available online at http://newstandardbluegrass.com.

IMAGES

South Fork Holston River near Chilhowie, Va. (Smyth County), October 14, 2013.


New River near Eggleston, Va. (Giles County), August 13, 2016.


Ohio River at Huntington, West Va., Nov. 6, 2011.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON VIRGINIA’S MAJOR RIVER BASINS (WATERSHEDS)

The map and information below are from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil-and-water/wsheds.


Virginia’s major river basins (watersheds).  The Virginia portions of the Ohio River basin are shown at the lower left: blue for the New River watershed, purple for the Holston watershed, yellow for the Clinch-Powell watershed, and green for the Big Sandy watershed.

Areas of Virginia’s Major River Basins (Watersheds)

Chesapeake Bay/Atlantic Ocean Basins
Potomac-Shenandoah - 5,702 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Potomac River, Shenandoah River.
Chesapeake Bay Coastal - 2,577 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Chesapeake Bay, Piankatank River.
Atlantic Ocean Coastal – 580 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Chincoteague Bay, Hog Island Bay.
Rappahannock - 2,714 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Rappahannock River, Rapidan River, Hazel River.
York - 2,669 sq. miles – Main water bodies: York River, Pamunkey River, Mattaponi River.
James - 10,236 sq. miles – Main water bodies: James River, Appomattox River, Maury River, Jackson River, Rivanna River.

Albemarle Sound, N.C./Atlantic Ocean Basins
Chowan - 3,675 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Nottaway River, Meherrin River, Blackwater River.
Albemarle Sound Coastal – 577 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Dismal Swamp, North Landing River, Back Bay.
Roanoke - 6,274 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Roanoke River, Dan River, Banister River, Kerr Reservoir.
Yadkin – 118 sq. miles – Main water body: Ararat River.

Ohio River/Gulf of Mexico Basins
New - 3,068 sq. miles – Main water bodies: New River, Little River, Walker Creek.
Holston (Upper Tennessee) - 1,322 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Holston River (three forks).
Clinch – Powell (Upper Tennessee) - 1,811 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Clinch River, Powell River, Guest River.
Big Sandy – 999 sq. miles – Main water bodies: Levisa Fork, Russel Fork, Tug Fork.

SOURCES USED FOR AUDIO AND OFFERING MORE INFORMATION

State Farm Road Atlas, Rand McNally and Company, Skokie, Ill., 1998.

Virginia Atlas and Gazetteer, DeLorme, Yarmouth, Me., 2000.

Virginia Department of Conservation, “Virginia’s Major Watersheds,” online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil-and-water/wsheds.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “New River,” online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/waterbody/new-river/.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Rivers, Streams, and Other Surface Water” subject category.

Following are links to some other episodes on waters in the Ohio River watershed.
Episode 109, 5/7/12 – “Banks of New River” by Whitetop Mountain Band.
Episode 177, 9/2/13 – “Sandy Boys,” by Sara Grey, for Labor Day.
Episode 179, 9/16/13 – Twenty-two Miles Along the New River Trail.
Episode 232, 9/22/14 – “Samuel Mason” by Andrew and Noah vanNorstrand Recalls a Notorious, Virginia-born River Pirate (on piracy on the Ohio River in the 1800s by Virginian Samuel Mason).
Episode 264, 5/4/15 – A Bird Day on the New River.
Episode 419, 5/7/18 – Meet the Big Sandy Watershed with “Three Forks of Sandy” by Bobby Taylor.
Episode 420, 5/14/18 – Exploring Virginia’s Tennessee River Tributaries Through “Clinch Mountain Quickstep” by Timothy Seaman.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episode may help with Virginia 2013 Music SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

This episode may also help with the following Virginia 2010 Science SOLs:

Grades K-6 Earth Resources Theme
4.9 – Va. natural resources, including watersheds, water resources, and organisms.

Grades K-6 Living Systems Theme
6.7 – natural processes and human interactions that affect watershed systems; Va. watersheds, water bodies, and wetlands; health and safety issues; and water monitoring.

Earth Science Course
ES.8 – influences by geologic processes and the activities of humans on freshwater resources, including identification of groundwater and major watershed systems in Virginia.

The episode may also help with the following Virginia 2015 Social Studies SOLs:

Virginia Studies Course
VS.10 – knowledge of government, geography, and economics in present-day Virginia.

United States History to 1865 Course
USI.2 – major land and water features of North America, including their importance in history.

World Geography Course
WG.3 – how regional landscapes reflect the physical environment and the cultural characteristics of their inhabitants.
WG.5 – regions of United States and Canada.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to previous Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.
Episode 250 (1-26-15) – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255 (3-2-15) – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282 (9-21-15) – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309 (3-28-16) – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 332 (9-12-16) – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403 (1-15-18) – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404 (1-22-18) – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406 (2-5-18) – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407 (2-12-19) – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.

Friday, May 4, 2018

Episode 420 (5-14-18): Exploring Virginia’s Tennessee River Tributaries Through “Clinch Mountain Quickstep” by Timothy Seaman


CLICK HERE to listen to episode audio (3:43).

Transcript of audio, notes on the audio, images, and additional information follow below.

All Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 5-4-18.


TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of May 14, 2018.  This is the second of a series of four revisits to previous episodes on the watershed connections of western Virginia rivers.

MUSIC – ~7 sec

This week, we feature a music selection honoring a southwestern Virginia mountain and a nearby water-carved landmark, both within a major river basin located, in turn, within the watersheds of the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico.  Have a listen for about 30 more seconds.

MUSIC - ~30 sec

You’ve been listening to part of “Clinch Mountain Quickstep,” performed by Timothy Seaman and Phillip Skeens on the 2002 album, “Sycamore Rapids,” from Pine Wind Music.   Clinch Mountain is a prominent ridge stretching across five southwestern Virginia counties and into Tennessee.   It forms the divide between the watersheds of the Clinch River to the north and the Holston River to the south, two of Virginia’s major tributaries to the Upper Tennessee River.  The Tennessee River eventually flows into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky, and the Ohio continues on to the Mississippi.

Back on the Clinch River, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation has described that area as “one of the greatest hotspots for biodiversity in North America,” containing over 120 fish species and “more species of endangered and rare freshwater mussels than anywhere else in the world.”  This week’s “Clinch Mountain Quickstep” was recorded to honor one of the area’s landmarks: Natural Tunnel State Park.  The park is named after an 800-foot long, 100-foot high tunnel carved over hundreds of thousands of years by groundwater and by Stock Creek, a Clinch River tributary.

Thanks to Timothy Seaman for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with a few more seconds of “Clinch Mountain Quickstep.”

MUSIC - ~18 sec

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This episode revises and replaces Episode 184, 10-21-13.

“Clinch Mountain Quickstep” and “Sycamore Rapids” are copyright 2002 by Timothy Seaman and Pine Wind Music, used with permission.  Information on Mr. Seaman is available online at http://www.timothyseaman.com/.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  Information on Mr. Cosgrove i s available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

IMAGES


Virginia’s major river basins. The Virginia portions of the upper Tennessee watershed are shown at the lower left: light yellow for the Clinch-Powell watershed, and purple for the Holtson watershed. Map from Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil-and-water/wsheds.


View from inside Natural Tunnel in Scott County, Virginia. Photo courtesy of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, accessed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/vadcr/sets/72157603427187845/detail/?page=2.


The North Fork Holston River, shown here in Washington County, Virginia, in April 2010, flows along the southern side of Clinch Mountain in Smyth and Washington counties.


The Clinch River near Sneedville (Hancock County), Tennessee, just below the Virginia-Tennessee state line, 2006. Photo courtesy of Jess Jones, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (provided May 2013).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE CLINCH RIVER

Source: Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Clinch River,” undated, accessed online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/waterbody/clinch-river/ on 5/4/18.

“The Clinch River is the crown of the mountain empire flowing southwestward from its origin near the town of Tazewell, the Clinch travels some 135 miles, reaching portions of Tazewell, Russell, Wise, and Scott counties on its way to the Tennessee state line.  In a cast of Virginia rivers that portray history and natural wealth, the Clinch has a story and a character all its own.

“The Clinch River, which was named after on otherwise forgotten explorer, played a major role in the exploration and settlement of Southwest Virginia.  Many early settlers made their homes along its eastern shore, while other crossed the formidable flow and explored the wilderness beyond its banks. Probably the most famous explorer to pace the banks of the Clinch and challenge its currents was Daniel Boone.  Boone resided for some time near Castlewood, and negotiated the river during his many trips through Southwest Virginia.  Today, towns and settlements along its course bear names which are evidence of their historical roles.  Places like Blackford, Nash’s Ford, Fort Blackmore, and Speer’s Ferry are a few examples.

“Although the landscapes have changed along the Clinch, the rugged and unique river still remains.  The river does show signs of human alteration, however.  To prevent flooding in the town of Saint Paul, the river was re-routed around the town.  Observant floaters will note that the present river channel around the south side of Saint Paul was blasted out of solid rock.  Two major fish kills have occurred in the last 30 years.  These fish kills were the result of toxic spills that originated near Carbo.  The river has recovered admirably from the fish kills of the past, and an incredible diversity of life is now present in and around the river.

“The Clinch supports a unique assemblage of aquatic life.  The river is home to about 50 species of mussels, which is more than any other river in the world and over 100 species are non-game fish – minnows and darters that sport brilliant colors and play a vital role in the survival of other fish and mussel species.  But, the variety of sport fish is what makes the Clinch a great destination for anglers.”

SOURCES USED FOR AUDIO AND OFFERING MORE INFORMATION

State Farm Road Atlas, Rand McNally and Company, Skokie, Ill., 1998.

Virginia Atlas and Gazetteer, DeLorme, Yarmouth, Me., 2000.

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, “Clinch River: Global Hotspot for Biodiversity and Endangered Species,” starting at page 22 in “Healthy Waters” (undated), online (as a PDF) at www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/healthywatersbook.pdf.

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, “Natural Tunnel State Park,” online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/nat.shtml.

Virginia Department of Conservation, “Virginia’s Major Watersheds,” online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil-and-water/wsheds.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Clinch River,” online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/waterbody/clinch-river/.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Clinch Mountain WMA,” online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wma/clinch-mountain/.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Rivers, Streams, and Other Surface Water” subject category.

Following are links to some other episodes on waters in the Ohio River watershed.
Episode 109, 5/7/12
– “Banks of New River” by Whitetop Mountain Band.
Episode 177, 9/2/13 – “Sandy Boys,” by Sara Grey, for Labor Day.
Episode 179, 9/16/13 – Twenty-two Miles Along the New River Trail.
Episode 232, 9/22/14 – “Samuel Mason” by Andrew and Noah vanNorstrand Recalls a Notorious, Virginia-born River Pirate (on piracy on the Ohio River in the 1800s by Virginian Samuel Mason).
Episode 264, 5/4/15 – A Bird Day on the New River.
Episode 419, 5/7/18 – Meet the Big Sandy Watershed with “Three Forks of Sandy” by Bobby Taylor

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episode may help with Virginia 2013 Music SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

This episode may also help with the following Virginia 2010 Science SOLs:

Grades K-6 Earth Resources Theme
4.9 – Va. natural resources, including watersheds, water resources, and organisms.

Grades K-6 Interrelationships in Earth/Space Systems Theme
5.7 – constant change of Earth’s surface (including weathering and erosion).

Grades K-6 Living Systems Theme
2.5 – living things as part of a system, including habitats.
6.7 – natural processes and human interactions that affect watershed systems; Va. watersheds, water bodies, and wetlands; health and safety issues; and water monitoring.

Life Science Course
LS.9 - adaptations for particular ecosystems’ biotic and abiotic factors, including characteristics of land, marine, and freshwater environments.
LS.10 - changes over time in ecosystems, communities, and populations, and factors affecting those changes, including climate changes and catastrophic disturbances.

Earth Science Course
ES.8 – influences by geologic processes and the activities of humans on freshwater resources, including identification of groundwater and major watershed systems in Virginia.

Biology Course
BIO.1 – current applications to reinforce science concepts.
BIO.8 - dynamic equilibria and interactions within populations, communities, and ecosystems; including nutrient cycling, succession, effects of natural events and human activities, and analysis of the flora, fauna, and microorganisms of Virginia ecosystems.

The episode may also help with the following Virginia 2015 Social Studies SOLs:

Virginia Studies Course
VS.10 – knowledge of government, geography, and economics in present-day Virginia.

United States History to 1865 Course
USI.2 – major land and water features of North America, including their importance in history.

World Geography Course
WG.3 – how regional landscapes reflect the physical environment and the cultural characteristics of their inhabitants.
WG.5 – regions of United States and Canada.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to previous Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.
Episode 250 (1-26-15) – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255 (3-2-15) – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282 (9-21-15) – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309 (3-28-16) – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 332 (9-12-16) – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403 (1-15-18) – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404 (1-22-18) – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406 (2-5-18) – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407 (2-12-19) – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.

Episode 419 (5-7-18): Meet the Big Sandy Watershed with “Three Forks of Sandy,” by Bobby Taylor


CLICK HERE to listen to episode audio (3:06).

Transcript of audio, notes on the audio, images, and additional information follow below.

All Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 5-4-18.


TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of May 7, 2018.  This is the first of a series of four revisits to previous episodes on the watershed connections of western Virginia rivers.

MUSIC – ~7 sec

This week, we feature an old-time fiddle tune named for a trio of rivers that connect Virginia to the waters of neighboring Appalachian states, the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, and—far downstream—the Gulf of Mexico.  Have a listen for about 25 seconds.

MUSIC - ~25 sec

You’ve been listening to part of “Three Forks of Sandy,” on the 2009 album “Bobby Taylor Plays Ragged Shirt and Other Favorite Fiddle Tunes from West Virginia,” on Vigortone Records.  The tune is attributed to Ed Haley, a West Virginia native who settled in Kentucky and became a well-known traditional fiddler in the early-to-mid 1900s, despite having lost his eyesight at age three.

The tune’s name refers to the three forks of the Big Sandy River: Levisa, Russell, and Tug, all of which have headwaters in southwestern Virginia.  Near Pikeville, Kentucky, the Russell flows into the Levisa, which in turn joins the Tug to form the Big Sandy River along the Kentucky-West Virginia border.  Near Catlettsburg, Kentucky, where Ed Haley settled, the Big Sandy joins the Ohio River, one of the major tributaries of the Mississippi and eventually the Gulf of Mexico.

Thanks to Bobby Taylor for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with a few more seconds of “Three Forks of Sandy.”

MUSIC - ~12 sec

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


This episode revises and replaces Episode 162, 5-20-13.

“Three Forks of Sandy” and “Bobby Taylor Plays Ragged Shirt and Other Favorite Fiddle Tunes from West Virginia” are copyright by Bobby Taylor and Vigortone Records, used with permission.  Information about Bobby Taylor is available online at his Facebook site, https://www.facebook.com/bobby.taylor.12.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (1 min./11 sec.) of the “Cripple Creek” arrangement/performance by Stewart Scales that opens and closes this episode.  Information about Mr. Scales and the group New Standard, with which Mr. Scales plays, is available online at http://newstandardbluegrass.com.

IMAGES


Virginia’s major river basins.  The Virginia portion of the Big Sandy River watershed is shown in green at the lower left.  Map from Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil-and-water/wsheds.



Big Sandy River watershed, showing its three main forks, the Levisa, Russell, and Tug. Map by Kmusser via Wikimedia Commons, accessed
at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sandy_River_(Ohio_River_tributary)#/media/File:Bigsandyrivermap.png. Made available for public use according to Creative Commons License 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0).

SOURCES USED FOR AUDIO AND OFFERING MORE INFORMATION

John Hartford, “Big Sandy River,” in the West Virginia Humanities Council’s “West Virginia Encyclopedia,” online at http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/484.  This article includes information of “Three Forks of Sandy.”

Andrew Kuntz, “The Traditional Tune Archive/Three Forks of Sandy,” online at http://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Forks_of_Sandy_%281%29.

David Lynch, “Old-Time Music Home Page/Ed Haley,” online at http://www.oldtimemusic.com/FHOFHaley.html.

State Farm Road Atlas, Rand McNally and Company, Skokie, Ill., 1998.

Virginia Atlas and Gazetteer, DeLorme, Yarmouth, Me., 2000.

Virginia Department of Conservation, “Virginia’s Major Watersheds,” online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil-and-water/wsheds.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Rivers, Streams, and Other Surface Water” subject category.

Following are links to some other episodes on waters in the Ohio River watershed.
Episode 109 – 5/7/12 – “Banks of New River” by Whitetop Mountain Band.
Episode 177 – 9/2/13 – “Sandy Boys,” by Sara Grey, for Labor Day.
Episode 179 – 9/16/13 – Twenty-two Miles Along the New River Trail.
Episode 232 - 9/22/14 – “Samuel Mason” by Andrew and Noah vanNorstrand Recalls a Notorious, Virginia-born River Pirate (on piracy on the Ohio River in the 1800s by Virginian Samuel Mason).
Episode 264 – 5/4/15 – A Bird Day on the New River.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episode may help with Virginia 2013 Music SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

This episode may also help with the following Virginia 2010 Science SOLs.

Grades K-6 Earth Resources Theme
4.9 - Va. natural resources, including watersheds, water resources, and organisms.

Grades K-6 Living Systems Theme
6.7 - natural processes and human interactions that affect watershed systems; Va. watersheds, water bodies, and wetlands; health and safety issues; and water monitoring.

Earth Science Course
ES.8 - influences by geologic processes and the activities of humans on freshwater resources, including identification of groundwater and major watershed systems in Virginia.

The episode may also help with the following Virginia 2015 Social Studies SOLs.

Virginia Studies Course
VS.10 – knowledge of government, geography, and economics in present-day Virginia.

United States History to 1865 Course
USI.2 – major land and water features of North America, including their importance in history.

World Geography Course
WG.3 - how regional landscapes reflect the physical environment and the cultural characteristics of their inhabitants.
WG.5 – regions of United States and Canada.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to previous Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.
Episode 250 (1-26-15) – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255 (3-2-15) – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282 (9-21-15) – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309 (3-28-16) – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 332 (9-12-16) – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403 (1-15-18) – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404 (1-22-18) – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406 (2-5-18) – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407 (2-12-19) – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.