The Coal River, a tributary of the Kanawha River in southern West Virginia, is formed near Alum Creek by the meeting of the Big and Little Coal Rivers and flows generally north through western Kanawha County past Tornado to the Kanawha River at St. Albans. Originally called Walhondecepe by the Delaware Indians, the rivers of the Coal River watershed long served as a vital transportation link to the Kanawha and as favored hunting and fishing grounds, and since the arrival of the first settlers they also provided a river trail, fishing, recreation, drinking water, social life, and sites for baptisms. The Big Coal River begins near Whitesville where Clear Fork and Marsh Fork join, with tributaries rising in Raleigh County at elevations above 3,000 feet, and it flows northwest past Sylvester, Seth, Racine, and Ashford. Large seams of cannel coal in the region supported the production of coal oil that eventually replaced whale oil for lighting in urban areas of the U.S. and created the region’s first coal-based economic boom. In the mid 1850s, the Big Coal River, Little Coal River, and Coal River river trail was improved by a 34-mile lock and dam system built with an original investment of $208,000 by the Coal River Navigation Company of Virginia, and at its peak more than 800,000 bushels of coal were shipped each year. Beginning around 1800, flax mills and gristmills operated along the three rivers, producing textiles as well as flour and cornmeal. After the upper locks and dams washed away, lumbering spread through the watershed, with logs moved from the upper reaches by high water and large rafts to sawmills across the region, while finished lumber mills, flour processors, and broom and barrel manufacturers grew in the St. Albans area. Coal mining began throughout the watershed in the early 1800s and continues today, shaping the region’s growth and development, while the rivers’ transportation role changed greatly after rail lines were built and they became more important for processing water, cleaning, drinking water, fishing, recreation, and sanitation. The rivers also remained central to community life, supplying fish, mussels, freshwater clams, crayfish, otter, beaver, muskrat, blue heron, ducks, geese, and other wildlife for food, hosting baptisms by local ministers, and providing hundreds of sandy beaches that long served and still serve as gathering places for social events and swimming, helping inspire the fond local term river rats.