Big Coal River

The Big Coal River is a river in southern West Virginia, USA. It rises in Raleigh County at the confluence of its two headwater streams, Clear Fork and Marsh Fork, near the community of Whitesville. From there, it flows generally northwest through Boone County, passing towns such as Sylvester, Seth, and Racine, before joining the Little Coal River near Alum Creek to form the Coal River, which then empties into the Kanawha River. Located in the heart of the historic Appalachian coal mining region, the river is approximately 40 miles (about 64 km) long until the confluence and is popular today for canoeing, kayaking, and recreational water trails.