From Divide to Ocean

The Rise, Fall, and Recovery of the Potomac Watershed

There was a time when the Potomac River smelled like death.

During the hot summers of the 1970s, stretches of shoreline along the river were often lined with fish that had washed up and died. Hundreds of them. The smell carried through the humid air long before the water came into view—rotting fish, stagnant mud, and sewage baking in the sun.

For those who grew up near the river, the memory remains vivid. The banks were scattered with carcasses and the water seemed lifeless. Then something even stranger happened.

After the great fish kills, the fish largely disappeared.

For years the river felt empty. Occasionally someone might catch a catfish, but compared to what older generations described, the Potomac seemed like a dying ecosystem.

Yet the story of the river begins far upstream, long before it reaches the cities where its decline became most visible.

The Waters Begin at the Divide

The Potomac River begins high in the Appalachian Mountains, where streams in West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania gather into the North Branch and South Branch Potomac Rivers.

Near Frostburg and Locust Grove, just west of Cumberland, lies the Eastern Continental Divide.

Rain falling on one side of this ridge flows east toward the Potomac River, eventually reaching the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Rain falling on the other side flows west toward the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, and eventually the Gulf of Mexico.

It is a subtle ridge in the Appalachian landscape, yet it determines the destiny of entire river systems.

From this divide, the waters that will eventually pass Washington, D.C., begin their journey.

Cumberland: Gateway Through the Mountains

Just east of the divide lies Cumberland, Maryland, long known as the Gateway to the West.

The geography here contains a natural corridor through the Appalachian ridges. As travelers leave Cumberland heading west toward LaVale along the old National Road, they pass through a natural cut carved through the mountains along the Allegheny Front.

This natural passage made Cumberland one of the easiest locations for early travelers to cross the mountains.

Because of that geography, the region became a critical midpoint between Washington and Pittsburgh, two cities deeply tied to the industrial expansion of the eastern United States.

In the early nineteenth century Conestoga wagons carrying settlers and goods followed this corridor westward.

The route later became the National Road, one of the first federally funded highways in the United States.

Railroads soon followed the same pathway. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad transported coal and industrial goods along the corridor, while the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal connected the river system to Washington.

Waterways, railroads, and wagon roads all converged at Cumberland because geography made it the natural crossing point through the mountains.

But the same streams that supported commerce also carried something else downstream.

They carried the waste of an industrial watershed.

Coal Valleys and Mountain Tributaries

One of the most significant environmental pressures on the Upper Potomac came from coal mining.

The Georges Creek Basin, just west of Cumberland, was one of the most productive coal mining regions in the Appalachian Mountains.

Mining exposed sulfide minerals that reacted with air and water, producing sulfuric acid in a process known as acid mine drainage.

This acidic water dissolved metals such as iron, aluminum, and manganese. Streams carrying this runoff often turned orange from iron deposits.

Georges Creek carried these pollutants into the North Branch Potomac River, sending the environmental consequences of mining downstream.

Other tributaries feeding the river system included:

Wills Creek
Evitts Creek
Town Creek
Patterson Creek
Sideling Hill Creek

Each of these waterways drained valleys containing farms, towns, rail yards, mines, and small industries.

Together they formed the arteries of a watershed that carried the impacts of Appalachian industry toward the larger Potomac.

Industry Along the North Branch

Before the Potomac leaves the mountains, it flows past a chain of communities whose histories are closely tied to the river.

Towns such as Keyser, Piedmont, Westernport, Luke, and Cumberland developed along the North Branch Potomac River, where coal fields, railroads, and transportation routes supported local economies.

One of the most prominent industrial operations was the Luke Paper Mill in Luke, Maryland.

For more than a century the mill produced paper products and provided employment for generations of workers throughout the region. Like many pulp and paper facilities of its era, the plant used large volumes of water and discharged industrial wastewater into the river.

When the mill closed in 2019, it marked the end of one of the longest-running industrial operations in the Upper Potomac basin.

Today much of the facility has been dismantled, symbolizing the gradual transition of the river from an industrial waterway to a recreational and ecological resource.

Managing the River: Flood Control and Engineering

The Potomac watershed has also required major efforts to control flooding.

In Cumberland, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a large flood control system designed to protect the city from severe flooding events.

Concrete flood channels, levees, and water management structures were built to control the flow of Wills Creek and protect downtown Cumberland during major storms.

Further upstream, reservoirs such as Jennings Randolph Lake and the Savage River Dam play important roles in flood control, water supply, and water quality management for the Upper Potomac basin.

These engineering systems demonstrate another aspect of humanity’s relationship with the river: not only using it for industry, but learning to manage its power.

Where the Shenandoah Joins the River

Near Harpers Ferry, the Potomac meets one of its largest tributaries: the Shenandoah River.

The Shenandoah drains the fertile agricultural valleys of Virginia. Fertilizers and sediments from farmland entered the watershed, adding another layer of environmental pressure to the river system.

By the time the Potomac passed Harpers Ferry and continued eastward toward Washington, it had already gathered the environmental legacy of mountains, mines, farms, and industry.

Then it encountered the largest population center in the watershed.

Washington and the Tidal River

Below Great Falls, the Potomac widens and slows as it enters the tidal portion of the river near Washington, D.C.

For decades untreated or poorly treated sewage entered the river from the rapidly growing metropolitan region.

Combined with upstream pollution from mining, industry, and agriculture, the result was devastating.

Fish kills became common. The smell of decay hung in the air during the summer heat.

By the late 1960s the Potomac had become a national symbol of environmental neglect.

President Lyndon Johnson famously called it “a national disgrace.”

The River Begins to Heal

In the 1970s environmental reforms such as the Clean Water Act dramatically changed how wastewater and industrial discharge were regulated.

Cities improved sewage treatment systems. Industrial pollution declined.

Then an unexpected ecological ally appeared.

Underwater vegetation—especially hydrilla—spread throughout the Potomac system. Hydrilla beds oxygenated the water and created habitat for fish and aquatic organisms.

Fish populations rebounded rapidly.

Then birds returned.

Osprey began nesting along the river again. Bald eagles returned to the region. Ducks and geese flourished.

Wetlands such as Huntley Meadows filled with amphibians, beavers, and wildlife.

Even predators followed the recovery.

Red fox populations expanded across Northern Virginia, and coyotes—once absent from the region—began appearing in recent decades.

From River to Bay

The Potomac does not end in Washington.

From there it widens into a tidal estuary before emptying into the Chesapeake Bay, one of the largest estuarine ecosystems in the world.

Everything entering the river—from Appalachian coal valleys to suburban runoff—eventually reaches the bay and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean.

The story of the Potomac is therefore the story of an entire watershed.

From the ridge of the Eastern Continental Divide near Cumberland to the open waters of the Atlantic, the river carries the history of the landscapes through which it flows.

And despite the damage it once endured, the Potomac stands today as one of the most remarkable environmental recovery stories in the United States.

Continuing the Story

The Potomac watershed is vast, and its history cannot be told in a single article.

Future companion articles will explore topics such as:

Appalachian coal mining and watershed restoration
the Luke Paper Mill and industrial history of the North Branch
flood control and the Army Corps of Engineers projects
the role of hydrilla in rebuilding the Potomac ecosystem
the relationship between the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay recovery

Readers who would like to suggest topics or contribute local history from communities along the river are encouraged to reach out through the contact information provided below.

The story of the Potomac belongs to everyone who lives along its banks.

And there are many chapters still to be told.

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