Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Ohio (river)
OHIO, a river of the United States, called by the French explorers, after its Indian name, la Belle Rivière (The Beautiful River), next to the Missouri the largest affluent of the Mississippi. It is formed by the union of the Allegheny and Monongahela at Pittsburgh, Pa., and flows W. S. W. 950 miles, with a breadth of 400 to 1,400 yards, draining, with its tributaries, an area of 214,000 square miles. In its course it separates the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois from the States of West Virginia and Kentucky. The principal towns on its banks are Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville (where there are rapids of 22 feet in a mile, with a steamboat canal), Evansville, New Albany, Madison, Portsmouth, Covington, and Cairo. The river's principal affluents are the Tennessee, Cumberland, Wabash, Kentucky, Great Kanawha, Green, Muskingum and Scioto. It is usually navigable from Pittsburgh.