Little Pigeon River (Tennessee)

Little Pigeon River
River
The mill dam of the Pigeon Forge Mill along the West Fork of the Little Pigeon River in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Country United States
State Tennessee
Part of Tennessee → Ohio → Mississippi
Primary source Middle Prong Little Pigeon River
 - location below Mount Guyot in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
 - elevation 3,028 ft (923 m)
 - coordinates 35°41′35″N 83°19′12″W / 35.69306°N 83.32000°W / 35.69306; -83.32000 [1]
Secondary source Porters Creek
 - location near Charlies Bunion in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
 - elevation 4,680 ft (1,426 m)
 - coordinates 35°38′50″N 83°21′47″W / 35.64722°N 83.36306°W / 35.64722; -83.36306 [2]
Source confluence
 - location Greenbrier Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
 - elevation 1,654 ft (504 m)
 - coordinates 35°42′32″N 83°22′57″W / 35.70889°N 83.38250°W / 35.70889; -83.38250 [3]
Mouth French Broad River
 - location near Sevierville, Tennessee
 - elevation 860 ft (262 m) [3]
 - coordinates 35°55′51″N 83°35′43″W / 35.93083°N 83.59528°W / 35.93083; -83.59528Coordinates: 35°55′51″N 83°35′43″W / 35.93083°N 83.59528°W / 35.93083; -83.59528 [3]
Length 30 mi (48 km) [4]
Basin 373 sq mi (966 km2) [4]
Discharge for Sevierville, downstream from confluence with West Prong, 4.4 miles (7.1 km) above the mouth
 - average 570 cu ft/s (16 m3/s) (mean for water years 1921–1981)[5]
 - max 55,000 cu ft/s (1,557 m3/s) February 1875[5]
 - min 2.8 cu ft/s (0.1 m3/s) September 1925[5]

The Little Pigeon River is a river located entirely within Sevier County, Tennessee. It rises from a series of streams which flow together on the dividing ridge between the states of Tennessee and North Carolina inside the boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The river is subdivided with three separate tributaries: East, Middle, and West.

The East and Middle prongs are less notable divisions of the river, with the East Prong paralleled for most of its length by State Route 416, and the Middle Prong emerging from the Greenbrier area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The West Prong is far better known because it drains the major tourist towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The confluence of the two forks is at Sevierville. From there the stream continues to flow northward, paralleled by State Route 66, until its confluence with the French Broad River just downstream from Douglas Dam.

Despite its name, it is not a tributary of the nearby Pigeon River, which flows into the French Broad well above Douglas Dam and the resultant reservoir.

See also

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Middle Prong Little Pigeon River
  2. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Porters Creek
  3. 1 2 3 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Little Pigeon River
  4. 1 2 J.A. Switzer, "The Water Powers of Tennessee," Tennessee State Geological Survey Bulletin 17 (1914), p. 51.
  5. 1 2 3 United States Geological Survey, Water Resources Data Tennessee: Water Year 1982, Water Data Report TN-82-1, p. 135.


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