The Holston
drainage basin, located within the upper Tennessee drainage basin
The
Holston River is a major
river system of
southwestern Virginia and
East Tennessee. The three major forks of the Holston (its
North,
Middle and
South Forks) rise in southwestern Virginia and have their confluence near
Kingsport, Tennessee. From there the river flows roughly southwestward, just north of
Bays Mountain, until it reaches its
confluence with the
French Broad River just east of downtown
Knoxville, Tennessee. This confluence is considered to be the start of the
Tennessee River.
The Holston River valley is greatly developed for
electrical power generation, both with
hydroelectric dams and
coal-fired steam plants. In its upper reaches some of these plants are controlled by private interests; in the downstream portion they are owned by the
United States Government's
Tennessee Valley Authority. Among the dams and associated reservoirs on the South Fork Holston River are
Boone Dam and
Boone Reservoir;
Fort Patrick Henry Dam and
Fort Patrick Henry Reservoir, and
South Holston Dam and
South Holston Reservoir.
Cherokee Dam on the Holston River forms
Cherokee Reservoir.
The river was named after Stephen Holstein, who built a
cabin on the upper reaches of the river in 1746.
Holston Mountain was named after the Holston River.
Although the Holston River is now defined as ending at the French Broad River to form the Tennessee River at its mile post 652 in Knoxville, before 1933 the terminus of the Holston River was defined as the location 51 miles downstream of Knoxville at
Lenoir City where the
Little Tennessee River enters the river. That point, the confluence of the Holston and Little Tennessee Rivers, was considered to be the beginning of the Tennessee River, 601 miles upstream from the
Ohio River at
Paducah, Kentucky. According to Tennessee Valley Authority historians, when the Tennessee Valley Authority was created in 1933,
Congress mandated that the TVA headquarters be located on the banks of the Tennessee River. Since the TVA headquarters were to be located in downtown Knoxville on what was then the Holston River, in order to fulfill the Congressional mandate the official start of the Tennessee River was moved upstream from Lenoir City to the confluence of the Holston and French Broad Rivers.
See also
