The Black Warrior River is a waterway in west-central Alabama in the southeastern United States. The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles (286 km) to the Tombigbee River, of which the Black Warrior is the primary tributary. The river is named after the Tuskaloosa leader of the Tuskaloosa polity bearing his name, whose name was Muskogean for 'Black Warrior'. The Black Warrior is impounded along nearly its entire course by a series of locks and dams to form a chain of reservoirs that not only provide a path for an inland waterway, but also yield hydroelectric power, drinking water, and industrial water.
The river flows through the Black Warrior Basin, a region historically important for the extraction of coal and methane. The cities of Tuscaloosa and Northport grew at the historical head of navigation at the fall line between the Appalachian Highlands (specifically, the Cumberland Plateau) and the Gulf Coastal Plain. Birmingham, though not directly on the river, became a manufacturing hub and one of the largest cities in the South partly through the use of the Black Warrior River for the transportation of goods. Birmingham grew up around a major junction of north-south and east-west railroads, just as Atlanta, Georgia did.
Overall, the watershed of the Black Warrior has an area of 6,275 square miles (16,250 km2).
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Course
The Black Warrior River is formed about 22 mi (40 km) west of Birmingham by the confluence of the Mulberry Fork and the Locust Fork of the Warrior River, which join as arms of Bankhead Lake, a narrow reservoir on the upper river formed by the Bankhead Lock and Dam. Bankhead Lake drains directly into Holt Lake, formed by the Holt Lock and Dam, which itself then drains into Oliver Lake, formed by the Oliver Lock and Dam. These three reservoirs encompass the entire course of the river for its upper 60 miles (80 km) stretching southeast into central Tuscaloosa County and Tuscaloosa, the largest city on the river. Past Oliver Dam, immediately west of downtown Tuscaloosa, the Black Warrior flows generally south in a highly meandering course, joining the Tombigbee River from the northeast at Demopolis. The lower 30 miles (48 km) of the river are part of the long, narrow Lake Demopolis.