Tygart Valley River

The Tygart Valley River is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, approximately 160 miles long, in east-central West Virginia in the United States. 

Via the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 1,329 square miles.

Course

The Tygart Valley River rises in the Allegheny Mountains in Pocahontas County and flows generally north-northwestwardly through Randolph, Barbour, Taylor and Marion Counties, past the towns of Huttonsville, Mill Creek, Beverly, Elkins, Junior, Belington, Philippi, Arden, and Grafton to Fairmont, where it joins the West Fork River to form the Monongahela River.

Downstream of Elkins, the Tygart Valley River passes through a gap between Rich Mountain and Laurel Mountain. It collects its two largest tributaries, the Buckhannon River and the Middle Fork River, in Barbour County between Belington and Philippi. Upstream of Grafton, the river is impounded by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam to form Tygart Lake (Tygart Lake State Park). Valley Falls State Park lies along the river between Grafton and Fairmont.

History

The Tygart Valley was first settled by Europeans in 1753 when David Tygart (for whom the valley and river are named) and Robert Files (or Foyle) located (separately) with their families in the vicinity of present-day Beverly. Although there had been no recent history of conflicts between whites and Indians in that immediate area, that summer a party of Indians traveling the Shawnee Trail discovered the Files cabin and killed seven members of the family. One son escaped and alerted the Tygart family, allowing all to escape. No other white settlement was attempted in present Randolph County until 1772. (It has been thought that Tygart was among those settling then, but this is not certain).

Variation Names and Spellings

• Muddy River

• Tagret Valley River

• Tigar Valley Fork

• Tigar Valley River

• Tigarts Valley River

• Tigers Valley River

• Tigert Valley River

• Tigris Valley River Tygars Valley

• Tygars Valley River

• Tygart River

• Tygart's River

• Tygart's Valley River

• Tygarts Valley River

• Tygarts-Valley River

• Tyger Valley Fork Tyger Valley River

• Tygers Valley

• Tygers Valley River

• Tygerts River

• Tygerts Valley River

• Tygharts Valley River

• Valley River