Login
Login

Chestatee River

{{Short description|River in Georgia, United States}}

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}

The Chestatee River (variant spellings Chestatie, Chestetee, Chostatee, Chosteta, Chestotee;{{Cite book|url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=XG8wAQAAMAAJ|title = Laws of the Cherokee Nation: Adopted by the Council at Various Periods : Printed for the Benefit of the Nation|year = 1852|publisher = Cherokee Advocate Office}} none in modern use) is a {{convert|32.76|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}}{{cite web |url=http://nhd.usgs.gov/data.html |title=National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=2015-12-22 }} file geodatabase (GDB) at ftp://rockyftp.cr.usgs.gov/vdelivery/Datasets/Staged/Hydro/FileGDB101/{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} river in the Appalachian Mountains of northern Georgia, US.

The word "Chestatee" is a Cherokee word meaning roughly "pine torch place" or "place of lights", because they would use bonfires along the riverbanks to light their torches.{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/c.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=42 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}} They would then use these torches for hunting deer and other wild game in the forest. The Chestatee Regional Library System takes its name from the river, as do Chestatee High School and Middle School in Gainesville. In a nod to the origins of the name, CHS strives to be "a place of light" to their students.

Course

File:HUC 0313000105 to 07 topographic map - Chestatee River area.tiff

File:HUC 0313000105 to 07 - Chestatee River watersheds.tiff

It begins at the confluence of Dicks Creek and Frogtown Creek (near the junction of U.S. 19 and U.S. 129) in northeastern Lumpkin County, flowing down by the county seat and former Georgia Gold Rush town of Dahlonega, and then under the northern terminus of the Georgia 400 expressway from Atlanta. It originally continued past the southern corner of the county, forming the entire eastern border of southern Dawson County with northwestern Hall County, and the far northern part of Forsyth's border with Hall. The river was used as a defining line in the Cherokee Treaty of Washington 1819{{cite news | url=http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/washing5.htm | title=History & Archaeology | newspaper=New Georgia Encyclopedia }} and the eastern border of the Hickory Log District of the Cherokee Nation before removal

It is a major tributary of the Chattahoochee River, into which it ended at a point now under the waters of Lake Lanier, since Buford Dam was finished in 1956. The northwestern arm of the lake, which flooded the lower {{convert|18|mi}} of the river, is called Chestatee Bay, which destroyed the town of Chestatee (called Atsunsta Ti Yi by the native Cherokee people) when it was submerged. The county boundaries still follow the original thalwegs of the river, with the lake coming as far up the river as Lumpkin's southernmost tip. At this point, the river forms an extremely small portion of the Lumpkin/Hall county line for about {{convert|1|mi}}.

=Watershed and sub-watershed details=

The Chestatee River basin area consists of three HUC-10 watersheds, namely 0313000105, 0313000106, and 0313000107, and 14 sub-watersheds, listed below.

HUC-10 0313000105

class="wikitable" border="1" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto;"
valign="top"

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed HUC

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed Name{{cite web |url=https://watersgeo.epa.gov/mwm/?layer=LEGACY_WBD&feature=03130001&extraLayers=null%3Flayer%3DLEGACY_WBD&feature=03130001&extraLayers=null |title=EPA MyWaters Mapper |publisher=Environmental Protection Agency |access-date=2015-12-15 |archive-date=2017-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927112226/https://watersgeo.epa.gov/mwm/?layer=LEGACY_WBD&feature=03130001&extraLayers=null%3Flayer%3DLEGACY_WBD&feature=03130001&extraLayers=null |url-status=live }}

!scope="col" | Sub-Basin Description

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed Location

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed Size (mi2)

! scope="col" | Sub-Basin Map

valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010501

| align="center" | Dicks Creek

align="left" | Dicks Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely Frogtown Creek, Boggs Creek, Cowrock Creek, Columbia Creek, Pigeon Roost Creek, Miller Creek, Lance Creek, and Blood Mountain Creek.Located entirely in Lumpkin County.align="center" | 32align="right" | File:HUC 031300010501 - Dicks Creek.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010502

| align="center" | Upper Tesnatee Creek

align="left" | Upper Tesnatee Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely Cathey Creek, Tom White Branch, Ledford Branch, Turner Creek, Thurmond Creek, and Cox Creek.Located entirely in White County.align="center" | 28align="right" | File:HUC 031300010502 and 504 - Tesnatee Creek.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010503

| align="center" | Town Creek

align="left" | Town Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely White Creek, Jenny Creek, and Glade Branch.Located entirely in White County.align="center" | 26align="right" | File:HUC 031300010503 - Town Creek.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010504

| align="center" | Lower Tesnatee Creek

align="left" | Lower Tesnatee Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely Chateen Creek and Shoal Creek.Located in White County and Lumpkin County.align="center" | 18align="right" | File:HUC 031300010502 and 504 - Tesnatee Creek.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010505

| align="center" | Tate Creek-Chestatee River

align="left" | Tate Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely Moose Creek, Pruitt Creek, and Mill Creek.Located entirely in Lumpkin County.align="center" | 31align="right" | File:HUC 031300010505 - Tate Creek-Chestatee River.tiff

HUC-10 0313000106

class="wikitable" border="1" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto;"
valign="top"

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed HUC

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed Name

!scope="col" | Sub-Basin Description

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed Location

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed Size (mi2)

! scope="col" | Sub-Basin Map

valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010601

| align="center" | Cavenders Creek

align="left" | Cavenders Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely Pecks Mill Creek.Located entirely in Lumpkin County.align="center" | 21align="right" | File:HUC 031300010601 - Cavenders Creek-Chestatee River.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010602

| align="center" | Yahoola Creek

align="left" | Yahoola Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely Bryant Creek, Lee Creek, Walden Creek, Robison Creek, Woody Creek, Walker Creek, Jarrard Creek, Ward Creek, and Tanyard Branch.Located entirely in Lumpkin County.align="center" | 34align="right" | File:HUC 031300010602 - Yahoola Creek.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010603

| align="center" | Cane Creek

align="left" | Cane Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely Crooked Creek, Clay Creek, Scott Branch, Little Cane Creek, and Turninglathe Branch.Located entirely in Lumpkin County.align="center" | 27align="right" | File:HUC 031300010603 - Cane Creek.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010604

| align="center" | Long Branch

align="left" | Long Branch and its tributaries and branches, namely Ralston Branch, Town Creek, and Bells Branch.Located entirely in Lumpkin County.align="center" | 15align="right" | File:HUC 031300010604 - Long Branch-Chestatee River.tiff

HUC-10 0313000107

class="wikitable" border="1" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto;"
valign="top"

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed HUC

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed Name

!scope="col" | Sub-Basin Description

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed Location

! scope="col" | Sub-watershed Size (mi2)

! scope="col" | Sub-Basin Map

valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010701

| align="center" | Yellow Creek

align="left" | Yellow Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely Little Yellow Creek, Split Oak Creek, and Cane Branch.Located in Lumpkin County and Hall County.align="center" | 21align="right" | File:HUC 031300010701 - Yellow Creek-Chestatee River.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010702

| align="center" | Thompson Creek

align="left" | Thompson Creek and its tributaries and branches, namely Toto Creek.Located in Dawson County and Hall County.align="center" | 23align="right" | File:HUC 031300010702 - Thompson Creek-Chestatee River.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010703

| align="center" | Latham Creek

align="left" | Latham Creek and its tributaries and branches.Located entirely in Hall County.align="center" | 11align="right" | File:HUC 031300010703 - Latham Creek-Chestatee River.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010704

| align="center" | Taylor Creek

align="left" | Taylor Creek and its tributaries and branches.Located in Dawson County and Forsyth County.align="center" | 10align="right" | File:HUC 031300010704 - Taylor Creek-Chestatee River.tiff
valign="top"

! scope="row" | 031300010705

| align="center" | Martin Creek

align="left" | Martin Creek and its tributaries and branches.Located in Hall County and Forsyth County.align="center" | 8align="right" | File:HUC 031300010705 - Martin Creek-Chestatee River.tiff

Hydrology

There is one stream gauge (NWS location identifier DGAG) along the river, installed in 1907 at State Route 52 near Dahlonega. It is at latitude 34°31'41"N, longitude 83°56'23"W, at {{convert|1128.6|ft|m}} above mean sea level. The watershed area above this point is {{convert|153|sqmi|km2}}. The National Weather Service has set a flood stage for this gauge of {{convert|19|ft|m|1}}. The highest level ever recorded was in 1967, at {{convert|25.17|ft|m}} on August 23. This is about ten times its average height or depth.

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=02333500 USGS real-time gauge at Dahlonega]

{{Rivers of Georgia (U.S. state)}}

{{coord|34|31|41|N|83|56|23|W|display=title|name=Chestatee River, USGS stream gauge DGAG1 at Georgia 52}}

{{authority control}}

2Chestatee

Category:Chattahoochee River

Category:Rivers of Dawson County, Georgia

Category:Rivers of Forsyth County, Georgia

Category:Rivers of Hall County, Georgia

Category:Rivers of Lumpkin County, Georgia

Category:Rivers of Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Georgia (U.S. state) placenames of Native American origin