Alabama’s Black Warrior River

Alabama is ranked #1 in the United States for freshwater aquatic biodiversity, meaning it has more aquatic species of fish, turtles, crayfish, mussels, and snails than any other state. According to the Alabama Office of Water Resources, Alabama has more species of freshwater turtles than the rest of North America combined (52% of the continent’s species). According to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Alabama is home to 97 species of crayfish, more than any other state. The Black Warrior River is a waterway in westcentral Alabama. The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles to the Tombigbee River, of which the Black Warrior is the primary tributary.

Chief Tuscaloosa River Dams

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 stretching southeast into central Tuscaloosa County and Tuscaloosa, the largest city on the river.

The river is named after the Mississippian paramount chief Tuskaloosa, whose name meant “Black Warrior” in Muskogean. 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. The Black Warrior River is formed about 22 miles 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.

Port of Tuscaloosa

The Port of Tuscaloosa grew out of the system of locks and dams on the Black Warrior River built by

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1890s. Its construction opened up an inexpensive transportation link to the Gulf seaport of Mobile, Alabama that stimulated the mining and metallurgical industries of the region that are still in operation. The Army Corps of Engineers has maintained a system of locks and dams along the Black Warrior River for over a century to allow navigability all the way up to Birmingham. Barge traffic thus routinely runs through Tuscaloosa to the Alabama State Docks at Mobile, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. A series of fourteen locks and dams were built on the river in the late 1800s. In the 1930s, work began to replace those dams with a more modern series of four locks and dams. The river is heavily used by barges for the transport of commercial commodities such as coal, coke, steel, wood, and chemicals.

Boating and Bassin’

In a state known for boating and bassin’, it’s hard to believe any secrets remain. But Alabama’s Black Warrior River has been called one of America’s best kept secrets for boating. It’s also been described as one of northern Alabama’s top secrets for bass fishing. Boating Magazine called the Black Warrior River one of America’s best kept secrets for recreational boating. The big bass and boat-friendly atmosphere are largely the result of a river-wide lock-and-dam system that has made the meandering Black Warrior navigable along its entire course. The chain of reservoirs provides an important path for an inland waterway, and also yields hydroelectric power, drinking water, and industrial water.

University of Alabama Rowing

Home of Alabama Rowing, the Black Warrior River is one of the best practice and competitive courses in the nation. Having the river largely to itself, the Crimson Tide gets to practice and compete on a body of water that features high banks, long, protected straightaways and minimal current, which makes for a rower’s dream.

Alabama, The River State

Alabama, “the River State”, contains more miles of navigable waterways than any other state. Over 200 miles of the Black Warrior River system are navigable by barge – from Demopolis to North of Birmingham up the Mulberry and Locust forks.

The Black Warrior is a busy commercial and industrial waterway for tugboats and their barges, which tow coal, chemicals, steel products, wood products, and more up and down the river for import and export. This is made possible due to 4 large lock and dam structures on the main stem of the river, built and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Bankhead, Holt, Oliver, and Selden. The Black Warrior also runs through the Warrior Coal Field where most of Alabama’s coal reserves are found. The threat of a 1,773-acre coal mine that would discharge polluted wastewater only 800 feet from a major drinking water intake on the river’s primary tributary, the Mulberry Fork, put it on the America’s Most Endangered Rivers® list in 2011 and 2013. Most of Alabama’s coal reserves are found in the Warrior Coal Field, which is the source of so much coal mining in the Black Warrior basin over the past 200 years. There are over 50 currently permitted surface or strip mines, mountaintop removal mines, and underground mines. Strip mines can range up to nearly ten thousand acres in size and some of the deepest vertical shaft underground coal mines in America are in Tuscaloosa County. Most of the coal mined here is exported overseas.