Pocatalico River



The Pocatalico River is a tributary of the Kanawha River, approximately 75 mi long, in west-central West Virginia in the United States. Via the Kanawha and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River.

The Pocatalico begins in Roane County near the community of Walton and flows generally southwestwardly through southern Roane, northern Kanawha and southeastern Putnam counties, through the community of Sissonville. It flows into the Kanawha River at the town of Poca.

The Pocatalico River and its watershed experienced severe flooding in March 1997, June 1998, and February 2001. The floods in 1997 and 1998 resulted in National Disaster declarations. The communities of Walton, Cicerone, Sissonville, and Millertown were most seriously impacted.

Variant names and spellings
Pocatalico is a name derived from a Native American language meaning "river of fat doe".

The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "Pocatalico River" as the stream's name in 1907. According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known historically as: