About the New River

Prior to the rise of the Appalachian Mountains, the New River cut its bed at a time when the land sloped to the northwest.Amazingly so, as the Appalachians gradually rose around the river, the New River wore away the bedrock at the same rate the mountains formed, leaving behind towering cliffs and prominences that hover hundreds of feet about the water level.

At Narrows, the river cuts a gap fifteen hundred feet deep that separates the East River Mountain from Peters Mountain. Similar cutting action takes the river through three mountains in Giles and a number of smaller ridges.

At its beginning in North Carolina, the New River has a south fork and a north fork. Just before entering Virginia, those forks join to form the main body that flows into the Gauley River in West Virginia. From this point the two rivers merge to become the Kanwha River at the Gauley Bridge. The body of water then joins the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The mountains of West Virginia restrict the river waters as they become steeper as well as closer together. The New River also cuts a thousand foot gorge at its end and becomes a fierce stream just before flowing into the Kanwha River.

Giles contains 37 miles of the New River where it is somewhat large contrasted with the two upper ends in North Carolina that do not usually carry enough water to float a canoe. Here in Giles, the river’s depth ranges from a very few inches to a maximum of one hundred feet at its base of the Eggleston cliffs.

The New River has changed its course throughout its long lifetime. At one time it probably followed Spruce Run to Newport in eastern Giles County. In Pembroke it flowed around the so-called “knob” and through the town. At Rich Creek it left its present bed and flowed into Peterstown. Different stories exist telling about the origin of the ancient New River’s name. One story claims that the name comes from a translation from Indian dialect meaning “new waters.”

Another tells of Captain Byrd who had been employed to open a road from the James River to Abingdon in 1764. Byrd used a map written by Thomas Jefferson in 1755; this map did not show the river, so Byrd noted it as the “New River.”

The third and final story tells of a man named Colonel Abraham Wood who historians consider to be the first white man to travel in the New River Valley area. Wood came across the river flowing in the opposite direction of the New River prior to finding it and assuming it was new, christened it as “Wood’s River.” Some old maps even have it labeled as such.

Indians used the New River as they traveled west years before the pioneers arrived. In the 1600s explorers navigating the New River thought they were close to the Pacific Ocean because of its westerly flow. They named themselves the “men of the western waters.” In 1671 the Batts-Fallam expedition by way of the New River came through to the Lurich area and ended there because the Indian guides refused to take them any farther. They carved their initials in a tree and claimed the territory for King Charles II of England. This was the first proclamation of English territory west of the Alleghenies making the New River the first gateway into the west in the New River Valley. Nobody should miss fishing in the New River.

The New is considered to be a rival of the James and the Rappahannock as one of the best fishing rivers in Virginia. Many populations of about every major freshwater game fish in the state thrive in the New River. These game fish include smallmouth bass, spotted bass, largemouth bass, rock bass, striped bass, white bass, hybrid striped bass, muskellunge, walleye, black crappie, channel catfish, flathead catfish, yellow perch, redbreast sunfish, and bluegill. Nightcrawlers and hellgrammites are common bait used for fishing. Popular artificial lures are top-water crank-baits, spinner baits, minnows, or crawfish.

Fast water and big rocks are features of the New River, making it a perfect home for big smallmouth bass and flathead catfish. Anybody can pull their canoe up on an island and fish with jigs or spinner baits to hook some fine trophies. The New River also has several lazy, slow stretches where fisherman can view the spectacular scenery and still have luck fishing for rock bass near grass beds. The slow waters near dams along the river house big flathead and channel catfish as well as walleye and smallmouth bass when fished with live bate. All sections of the river have populations of flathead and channel catfish. Good areas to fish for catfish include Narrows, Pearisburg, and Eggleston in Giles County along with other surrounding areas.