page_title: Ohio River
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Ohio River / Economy
caption_attribution_description: English: A barge heads along the Ohio River eastward with the Louisville skyline and Abraham Lincoln Bridge as well as the George Rogers Clark Bridge in the background.
context_page_description: The Ohio River is a 981-mile long river in the United States. It is located in the Southern and Midwestern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania south of Lake Erie to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. It is the third largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River that divides the eastern from western United States. The river flows through or along the border of six states, and its drainage basin includes parts of 14 states. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for three million people.
  The lower Ohio River just below Louisville is obstructed by rapids known as the Falls of the Ohio where the water level falls 26 ft. in 2 miles and is impassible for navigation. The McAlpine Locks and Dam, a shipping canal bypassing the rapids, now allows commercial navigation from the Forks of the Ohio at Pittsburgh to the Port of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi on the Gulf of Mexico.
context_section_description: The Ohio River is heavily industrialized and populated and sees traffic from large barge cargoes carrying oil, steel and other industrial goods. There are several major cities located along the northern and southern banks of the river including Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Louisville, Kentucky.
caption: A barge heads east on Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky.
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