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Coosawattee River
Coosawattee River
	The Coosawattee River in Ellijay, Georgia, October 2013
Location
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Gilmer, Gordon, & Murray
Physical characteristics
Source	Cartecay River
• location	White Path, Georgia
• coordinates	34°43′44″N 84°20′49″W / 34.729°N 84.347°W
• elevation	3,079 ft (938 m)
2nd source	Ellijay River
• location	Blue Ridge, Georgia
• coordinates	34°51′36″N 84°19′52″W / 34.860°N 84.331°W
• elevation	1,699 ft (518 m)
Mouth	Oostanaula River
• location	at Carters Lake
• coordinates	34°36′18″N 84°38′00″W / 34.6050863°N 84.6332661°W
• elevation	1,073 ft (327 m)
Length	49.3 mi (79.3 km)
Basin size	860 sq mi (2,200 km2)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Coley Creek, Harris Creek, Camp Branch, Lewis Branch, Camp Branch, Talking Rock Creek, Duke Creek, Dry Creek, Salacoa Creek, and Crane Eater Creek
• right	Mountaintown Creek, Tails Creek, Goble Branch, Woodring Branch, Fisher Creek, Willbanks Branch, Mineral Springs Branch, Rock Springs Branch, Sugar Branch, Noblet Creek, Dry Creek, and Vanns Creek

The Coosawattee River is a 49.3-mile-long (79.3 km)^[1] river located in northwestern Georgia, United States.^[2]

Description

Map of the Coosa River headwaters, showing the Coosawattee River

The river is noted as beginning at the confluence of the Ellijay and Cartecay rivers in the city of Ellijay in central Gilmer County. The river flows west through the foothills in the North Georgia mountains region and is a tributary of the Oostanaula River (It in turn is a tributary of the Coosa River). Primary tributaries of the Cooswattee River include Mountaintown Creek, Tails Creek, Cole Creek, Goble Branch, Harris Creek, Camp Branch, Lewis Branch, Woodring Branch, Fisher Creek, Talking Rock Creek, Willbanks Branch, Mineral Springs Branch, Rock Springs Branch, Sugar Branch, Duke Creek, Noblet Creek, Dry Creek, Salacoa Creek, Vanns Creek, and Crane Eater Creek

In Murray County, the river is impounded by Carters Dam, forming Carters Lake behind the dam. (The lake is located mostly in Gilmer County). Completed in 1977, Carters Dam is the tallest earthen dam east of the Mississippi River.^[3] The Coosawattee River leaves the dam flowing west (directly into the Reregulation Reservoir). It serves as the Murray-Gordon County line before entering Gordon County.

Near New Echota, a late capital of the Cherokee Nation (1794-1907) before removal in 1838, the Coosawattee meets the Conasauga River. They form the Oostanaula River, a tributary of the Coosa River.^[4]

This area was the center of Cherokee Nation territory in north Georgia and southeastern Tennessee. In the early 1820s, after having migrated from eastern Tennessee after being forced by the United States to cede their lands there, they made New Echota their capital.

The Coosawattee Foundation was established in 1987 to protect and preserve Native American resources, primarily in the American Southeast. In addition to conducting excavations, it has initiated a variety of educational programs and lobbied for policy and programs to support this mission. It is based in Calhoun, Georgia.^[5]

In popular culture

American writer James Dickey used the Coosawattee River as the basis of his fictional "Cahulawassee River" in his debut novel, Deliverance (1970).^[6]^[7]^[8] It was adapted as a 1972 feature film of the same name, directed by John Boorman.