Clinch Mountain is a mountain ridge in the U.S. states of Tennessee and Virginia, lying in the ridge-and-valley section of the Appalachian Mountains. In topography a summit is a point on a surface which is higher in Elevation than all points immediately adjacent to Tennessee ( is a state located in the Southern United States. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A mountain range is a chain of Mountains bordered by highlands or separated from other mountains by passes or valleys The Appalachian Mountains ( often called the Appalachians, are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. A mountain is a Landform that extends above the surrounding Terrain in a limited area with a peak A ridge is a geological feature that features a continuous elevational crest for some distance A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government Tennessee ( is a state located in the Southern United States. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of The Appalachian Mountains ( often called the Appalachians, are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. It runs in a general east-northeasterly direction from near Blaine, Tennessee to Garden Mountain near Burke's Garden, Virginia. Blaine is a city in Grainger County, Tennessee, United States. Burke's Garden is a small community in Tazewell County Virginia, located in the bowl of a large Valley known for its fertile land It separates the Clinch River basin, to the north, and the Holston River basin, to the south. The Clinch River rises in Southwest Virginia and flows southwest through the Great Appalachian Valley, gathering various tributaries including the The Holston River is a major River system of southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee.

Geography

US-25E descending the south slope of Clinch Mountain

Clinch Mountain is a long ridge, about 150 miles (240 km) in length. It runs generally southwest-northeast, with numerous curves. Its north-south extent is 97 miles (156 km), and east-west 172 miles (277 km). Due to its size it is sometimes called a mountain range or complex. According to peakbagger. com, Clinch Mountain Complex includes the sub-range of Knob Mountain, as well as four high point summits above 4,000 feet (Beartown Mountain, Flattop Mountain, Morris Knob, and Chimney Rock Peak).

For its entire length, Clinch Mountain only has two true gaps during which the ridge is completely sliced in half and continues as Clinch Mountain on either side, divided by a creek. One of those is Moccasin Gap at Weber City, Virginia (the Norfolk-Southern Railway and U. S. Highways 23-58-421 utilize that crossing because there is no elevation in the division of the mountain). The second true gap in Clinch Mountain is Little Moccasin Gap, 30 miles northeast of Moccasin Gap, where U. S. Highway 58 Alternate crosses between Hansonville and Abingdon, Virginia.

All other transportation crossings, as noted below, require an elevation climb to the top of the Clinch Mountain ridge.

When U. S. Highway 25-E was realigned into a four-lane highway northwest of Bean Station, Tennessee in the 1980's, it was necessary to cut a new gap into the top of Clinch Mountain, which lowered the original gap elevation by 200 feet. That realignment, along with the lowering of Interstate 26-U. S. Highway 23 at Sams Gap on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, are the only instances of a highway gap in Tennessee actually lowering an original gap where a state or federal highway was built through. (Sams Gap was lowered by 150 feet to accommodate the new Interstate 26 highway).

History

Clinch Mountain is named after after the Clinch River, which was named after an unknown pioneer. The earliest known reference to the name is in the journal of Dr. Walker: "Clinch's River, from one Clinch a hunter" (Stewart, 1967:146). Dr Thomas Walker ( January 15, 1715 – November 9, 1794) was a physician and Explorer from Virginia who

The Wilderness Road to the Cumberland Gap crossed Clinch Mountain at Moccasin Gap, which Moccasin Creek flows through to join the Holston River to the south. The Wilderness Road was the principal route used by settlers to reach Kentucky for more than fifty years "Cumberland Gap" is also the informal name for a section of the A74 in England; the name of a song by Skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan

Music

The Carter Family immortalized the mountain in their 1928 song "My Clinch Mountain Home. The Carter Family was a Country music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956 " A fiddle tune called "Clinch Mountain Backstep" is in the Appalachian folk repertoire.

Transportation crossings

The following crossings of Clinch Mountain can be made, from southwest to northeast:

Tennessee

• Mountain Road connects Joppa and Powder Springs via Powder Spring Gap.
• U.S. Highway 25E (State Route 32) connects Rock Haven and Thorn Hill via Beans Gap. US Route 25 is a north-south US highway in the eastern United States of America that now connects Cincinnati Ohio, at the Ohio River to Brunswick
• State Route 31 connects Spruce Pine and the settlement of Flat Gap via Flat Gap.
• State Route 66 connects Klondike and Lee Valley via Big War Gap. State Route 66 is a state-maintained highway in eastern Tennessee, including a four-lane divided highway segment in Sevier County and a two-lane segment through
• State Route 70 connects Alumwell and Frog Level via Little War Gap.

Virginia

• The CSX Transportation Kingsport Subdivision connects Kermit and Speers Ferry via the Clinch Mountain Tunnel. The Kingsport Subdivision (also KP Subdivision) is a 1332-mile (214
• U.S. Route 23/U.S. Route 58/U.S. Route 421 and the Norfolk Southern Railway Appalachia Division connect Weber City and Gate City via Moccasin Gap. US Route 23 in Virginia runs north-south through the western part of the state US Route 58 is an east-west US Highway that runs for 508 miles (818 km from U US Route 421 in Virginia is signed north-south but runs mainly west as it travels "north" from the Tennessee state line in Bristol This article is about the present railroad formed in 1990 For the former regional railroad in Virginia and North Carolina a small part of the new one see Norfolk Southern Weber City is an Incorporated town in Scott County, Virginia, United States. Gate City is a town in Scott County, Virginia, United States.
• State Route 612 connects Mendota and Collinwood via Fugate Gap. Mendota is an unincorporated community in Washington County in the southwestern part of the U
• U.S. Route 19/U.S. Route 58 Alternate connects Holston and Hansonville via Little Moccasin Gap. US Route 19 in Virginia runs north-south through the southwestern part of the state from the Tennessee state line in Bristol north US Route 58 Alternate is an Alternate route of US Route 58 in the U
• State Route 80 connects the settlement of Hayters Gap and Rockdell via Hayters Gap. State Route 80 is a primary State highway in the southwest part of the U
• State Route 91 connects Tannersville and Maiden Spring via an unnamed crossing. State Route 91 is a primary State highway in the US state of Virginia, continuing Tennessee 's State Route 91 north to U
• State Route 16 connects Asberrys and Benbow via an unnamed crossing. State Route 16 is a primary State highway in the southwest part of the U

See also

• Clinch Mountain Boys
• Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area

References

• USGS GNIS: Clinch Mountain, USGS GNIS
• Clinch Mountain Complex, Peakbagger
• Stewart, George R. (1967). Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area is a Protected area located in Virginia. George Rippey Stewart ( May 31, 1895 – August 22, 1980) was an American Toponymist, a novelist and a professor of English Names on the Land. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.