Monongahela River

The Monongahela River is 127.8 miles long, it starts in Fairmont West Virginia and flows north to Pittsburgh. It’s made up of the West Fork and Tygert River. The reason this river flows north is due to the fact the mountains south of here in West Virginia are much higher than Pittsburgh and forces the river to flow downhill, which in this case downhill is north. It was named by the native Americans and has been translated to mean «deep sliding banks» or «falling banks.»
The «Mon» has no islands it’s entire length, which is almost as unique as flowing north. Just about every long river in North America has an Island. It’s one of the rivers that feeds into the Ohio River. There are two major rivers that flow into the Mon, and that’s the Cheat River and the Yough. For many years the Monongahela River was so polluted because of the steel mills that lined the river almost it’s entire length, that this river would never freeze, even in the coldest of winters.
Because of it’s navigational importance mile 0.0 is actually located at the Point of Pittsburgh and mile 127.8 is Fairmont. At one time it was referred to as the «biggest little river in the world» due to the fact more cargo traveled up and down the Monongahela River than traveled through the Panama Canal. There are nine locks and dams on the Mon, the first being located near Kennywood Park, it’s called Lock and Dam No. 2. The Last Lock and Dam is Opekiska, near Fairmont. Older Locks and Dams have numbers attached to them, newer ones have names.