Guyandotte River
From West Virginia (WV) Cyclopedia
The Guyandotte River drains an area of about 1,060 square miles parallel to the Tug Fork and Big Sandy rivers.
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Guyandotte River
The sources of the Guyandotte River are in the southern part of Raleigh County; its mouth, at a junction with Ohio River at Huntington, WV, Cabell County.
Maps
Topo Map (http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=38.4317&lon=-82.3917) (Mouth)
Logging
The lumber trade in West Virginia was among the earliest vocations of the pioneer who settle along navigable or "raftable" streams. The floating of single logs and small rafts of logs was practical from 5-6 miles below the source of many streams, even the smaller ones.
Logging apparently began along the Guyandotte during the 2nd-quarter of the 1800's. Prior to the 1870's, logging operations were bringing down logs in rafts on the Guyandotte, worth about $40,000 to $50,000, at a single rise.
Early Improvements
Improvements to the Guyandotte were in progress before the Civil War, and dams built for some distance up the stream, but were neglected during the war years and destroyed by flooding. The Guyandotte Navigation Company was rechartered after the war to make improvements to the stream, but little work was actually performed.
Name Origin
Some sources claim the Guyandotte River, was called the "Se-co-nee," by an (unidentified) Native American tribe, meaning "the narrow bottom river."
But the origin of the river's name is likely related to the Native American culture group, the Huron/Wyandot, who referred to themselves as the "Wendat," meaning "island people" or "dwellers on a peninsula." Early white explorers and settlers often spelled the Wyandot tribe's name as "Guyandot" in early writings and records.
Variant Names for Guyandotte River
Arbuckles River, Big Laurel Fork, Guiandotte River, Guyan Dot River, Guyan Dott River, Guyan River, Guyandates Creek, Guyandot Creek, Guyandot River, Guyandott River, La-ke-we-ke-ton, Little Guiandot, Se-co-ne, Se-co-nee, Secone, Seconec
