Red River, Cornwall
| Red River (Dowr Koner) | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Region | Cornwall |
| Tributaries | |
| - right | Tehidy Stream |
| Source | |
| - location | Bolenowe |
| - coordinates | 50°11′32″N 5°15′20″W / 50.19222°N 5.25556°W |
| Mouth | |
| - location | Godrevy, St Ives Bay |
| - coordinates | 50°13′42″N 5°22′59″W / 50.22833°N 5.38306°WCoordinates: 50°13′42″N 5°22′59″W / 50.22833°N 5.38306°W |
| Length | 13 km (8 mi) |
 Map of the course of the Red River and the Tehidy Stream
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The Red River (Cornish: Dowr Koner) is a small river in north-west Cornwall, UK which issues into St Ives Bay at Godrevy on Cornwall's Atlantic coast. The Red River is about 8 miles (13 km) long and gets its name from the mineral deposits associated with tin mining which formerly coloured its water red. The river's gradient is relatively steep; the stream falls 170 metres (560 ft) from source to sea.
The Red River rises from springs near Bolenowe on the Carnmenellis granite batholith, an upland plateau. The river flows north, passing through a gorge in the granite ridge west of Carn Brea. Beyond the gorge, the river passes Tuckingmill, and Tuckingmill Valley Park, once a centre of mining and associated industries. At the hamlet of Combe, the Tehidy stream joins the Red River which then turns west towards Godrevy.
The Red River's catchment area includes the major mining areas of Tuckingmill, Pool, and Camborne. Thus:
The Red River catchment has been subjected to mining and mineral working for many centuries, particularly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It has been extensively tin streamed and its water used for mineral processing, both for use in the mineral separation processes and as a source of power. As a result of past mining activities the river has undergone many modifications and for significant parts of its course the river has been diverted, canalised, and, in places, embanked. Very little, if any, of the river can be considered to be in a truly natural condition.
In The Mining Journal (1872), the author, Mr Watson, asked ″if any stream or gully in Australia, Brazil or California had proved to be so continuously rich and productive as the Red River.″ The river was fed by tributary streams that flowed from the dressing-floors and slime pits of the principal mines, and the ″squatters″ could earn £20,000 per year working on the slimy river-bed. Mr Watson remarked on the inefficiency of the mines in allowing so much tin to be lost. By 1879, Captain James of South Frances mine, estmated £30,000s worth of tin was lost by the mines.
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Wikipedia