548 LICKING RIVER northwesterly direction through Morgan Co., where it joins Cave Run Lake, an 8,270-acre body of water in Daniel Boone National Forest, impounded by the earth and rock-fi ll dam in Rowan Co. completed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers in 1973. North of the dam, the Middle Fork of the Licking River continues, forming all or part of the boundaries between Rowan and Bath counties, Bath and Fleming counties, Nicholas and Fleming counties, Nicholas and Robertson counties, and Robertson and Harrison counties. Fed by the North Fork of the Licking River, which joins the Middle Fork near the southeastern boundary of Pendleton Co., the Middle Fork continues to Falmouth. At Falmouth the Middle Fork and the South Fork join and continue in one main Licking River, which then travels northward through Pendleton Co. and continues north, serving as the boundary between Kenton Co. on its western banks and Campbell Co. on its eastern banks. The South Fork of the Licking River begins in Bourbon Co., at the juncture of Stoner and Hinkston Creeks, and flows northward through Bourbon and Harrison counties to Pendleton Co., where it joins the Middle Fork at Falmouth. The North Fork has its headwaters in the northeastern section of Fleming Co. and flows northwest, dividing Lewis and Fleming counties, traverses Mason Co., then forms a part of the boundary between Mason and Robertson counties; it proceeds through Bracken Co., constituting a portion of the boundary between Bracken and Robertson counties, and continues through Bracken Co. to the Middle Fork of the Licking near the southeastern line of Pendleton Co. Geologists refer to three stages of the Licking River: the Old Licking, the Deep Stage Licking, and the modern Licking (see Geology). The Old Licking River and the Old Kentucky River, before the Pre-Illinoian Glacier of about a million years ago, flowed north into what is now the state of Ohio, joining near the current city of Hamilton, Ohio (see Glaciers). The Pre-Illinoian Glacier blocked the channels of old rivers and streams, forcing the development of the Deep Stage Ohio River and the Deep Stage Licking River. The Deep Stage Licking River was shifted westward from the Old Licking River, essentially forming the valley that it uses today in Northern Kentucky. Then the Deep Stage Licking River proceeded north through the present-day Mill Creek Valley along I-75 (see Expressways) in Cincinnati, where it flowed into the Deep Stage Ohio at St. Bernard, Ohio. About 200,000–250,000 years ago, the Illinoian Glacier’s ice blocked the Deep Stage Ohio and formed the current Ohio River channel stretching from Lunken Airport on the east side of Cincinnati to Lawrenceburg, Ind. At that time, the modern Licking River began to empty into the modern Ohio River between what later became Covington (the Point) and Newport. American Indians, prehistoric animals, and white settlers all availed themselves of the salt licks along the Licking River, probably giving rise to the river’s eventual name. American Indians followed the buffalo traces, one of which led from the
Point into the interior. The best-known salt licks were Grants Lick, the Upper Blue Licks, and the Lower Blue Licks (see Blue Licks). The latter was the site of the Battle of the Blue Licks (see Blue Licks, Battle of; Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park). The Licking River was known to French explorers and traders of North America. Kentucky geologist Willard Rouse Jillson cited a 1744 Carte de La Louisiane (map of Louisiana) by Jacques Nicolas Bellin and a 1746 map by Jean Baptiste Bourguignon D’Anville, both of which made reference to salt licks, most likely the Blue Licks. Dr. Thomas Walker of the Loyal Land Company (Virginia) explored Kentucky in 1750 through the Cumberland Gap (which he named) and called the Licking River the Frederick’s River. The following year, Christopher Gist of the Ohio Company (Virginia) explored the Ohio Valley, crossing the Point in 1751. Early settlers of the area established posts along the Licking River, such as Leitch’s Station (see David Leitch). In 1802 Campbell Co. officials gave James Taylor Jr., who married Leitch’s widow Keturah, permission to build a two-foot-high dam, with a 17-foot-wide gate for the passage of boats, across the Licking River about five miles south of Newport. The mill dam provided power for a saw and grist mill that Taylor constructed (see Taylor Mill). The development of the cities of Covington and Newport at the Licking River’s mouth brought urbanization, industrialization, and pollution to the lower reaches of the river. The U.S Army’s Newport Barracks, built at the mouth of the Licking in 1803–1804, operated until 1894. Like Newport’s West End, the barracks were subjected to the flood of 1884 and other flooding. Situated higher, the residential areas of Covington’s current LickingRiverside, Riverside Drive, and Ohio Riverside National Historic Districts were less susceptible to flooding. Iron and Steel manufacturing, as well as meatpacking establishments, lined the Licking River’s Covington and Newport shores. Ferries operated along the Licking, and the Newport and Covington Suspension Bridge connected the two cities in 1853 (a suspension bridge opened upriver in the same year at Falmouth; see Falmouth Suspension Bridge); the Shortway Bridge opened between Covington and Newport in 1892. In the 1830s the State of Kentucky proposed the building of 21 locks and dams along the Licking River to enable slack-water navigation to West Liberty, Ky., a distance of 231 miles (see Licking River Navigation). Construction was begun on the first five locks, but not yet the dams, in about 1839; completion of these would have enabled navigation to Falmouth, 51 miles from the mouth. State financial problems resulted in the permanent suspension in 1842 of the construction project, a disappointing expenditure of $372,520. Some of the stonework was later sold and used in building the John A. Roebling Bridge between Covington and Cincinnati. A rockbar, situated in front of the mouth of the Licking River, further impeded navigation. Beginning in 1887, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began underwater blasting of
the Licking rockbar and by 1895 had removed 29,862 cubic yards of material. Removal of the rockbar was continued after 1900. Without locks and dams, the upper reaches of the Licking were navigable only during the rainy seasons of late fall and early spring. At those times, large flatboats carry ing coal from the Kentucky mountains could be floated downstream from West Liberty in Morgan Co. Timber from the Cumberland Mountains was tied together as makeshift rafts and also floated downstream to mills in the cities. The 19th-century locks and dams proposed for the Licking River were designed for navigation purposes only, not for flood control. In 1936 the U.S. Congress authorized construction of a dam about nine miles above Falmouth, designed primarily for controlling flooding. The funds for this project were not forthcoming, although efforts to secure them were pursued again and again. In 1980 the Kentucky legislature passed a resolution opposing the use of state funds for the dam, and in 1981 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shelved the Falmouth Dam project. U.S Representative Gene Snyder made one last-ditch effort to resurrect it, but to no avail. Following the tremendous destruction of the flood of 1937, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built floodwalls in Covington and Newport to protect those cities from the floodwaters of both the Ohio and the Licking rivers. The catastrophic Licking River floods of 1964 and 1997 (see Flood of 1964, Licking River; Flood of 1997, Licking River) did extensive damage to the cities of Falmouth and Butler. The Kentucky Chapter of the Nature Conservancy has designated the Licking River watershed—what it calls the Licking River Buffalo Trace Preserve—as worthy of conservation efforts. Including over 1.8 million acres, the Nature Conservancy’s Licking watershed project area contains 100 fish species and more than 50 species of freshwater mussels, 11 of which are endangered. The Kentucky Chapter and its partners in federal, state, and local government, as well as private organizations, seek to educate the public about the dangers of pollutants to the Licking River ecosystem and to work with landowners in protecting lands in the watershed. Another group, entitled the Licking River Region Team, also promotes monitoring and conservation of the watershed. Finally, the Northern Kentucky Port Authority exemplifies how reclamation and economic development can be complementary. With the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the Port Authority participated in a cleanup of the old Newport Landfi ll in Wilder, along the Licking River. A clay cap was placed over the landfi ll site, and other appropriate reclamation and vegetation actions were taken, so that the site is now safe for humans and the environment and can be marketed for development. Hedeen, Stanley. Natural History of the Cincinnati Region. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Museum Center, 2006. Jillson, Willard Rouse. A Bibliography of the Licking River Valley in Kentucky. Frankfort, Ky.: Roberts, 1968.