Sweetwater Creek (Tennessee River)
| Sweetwater Creek | |
| River | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Tennessee |
| Source | McMinn County, Tennessee |
| Mouth | Watts Bar Lake near Loudon, Tennessee |
| - coordinates | 35°44′54″N 84°22′08″W / 35.748358°N 84.368956°WCoordinates: 35°44′54″N 84°22′08″W / 35.748358°N 84.368956°W |
| Length | 29.3 mi (47 km) |
| Basin | 60.69 sq mi (157 km2) |
Sweetwater Creek is a tributary stream of the Tennessee River located in McMinn, Monroe, and Loudon counties in eastern Tennessee.
The stream rises in McMinn County and flows toward the northeast, paralleling the trend of the valleys and ridges, for 29.3 miles (47.2 km) through Monroe and Loudon counties, entering Watts Bar Reservoir in Loudon County at a location downstream from the city of Loudon and a short distance upstream from the I-75 bridge. It flows through the city of Sweetwater in Monroe County and provides most of that city's public water supply. The towns of Niota and Philadelphia are also located along Sweetwater Creek. Bacon Creek is a named tributary to Sweetwater Creek.
The name "Sweetwater" is thought to derive from the high quality of the water obtained from springs in the stream's valley. In the 1910s, local historian W.B. Lenoir concocted a different version of the name's origin. In a 1913 newspaper article and 1916 book, he reported that the name came from early white settlers' interpretation of "Soitee Woitee", the Cherokee name for the stream and its associated valley, which name he said meant "happy homes." He later admitted that this was a made-up story with no factual basis.
The stream drains a watershed of 38,844 acres (60.69 square miles or 157 km2). Much of the watershed is underlain by carbonate (dolomite and limestone) bedrock. Sinkholes and other topographic features characteristic of karst hydrology are present. As is typical of carbonate landscapes, there is significant interaction between groundwater and the stream. A large fraction of the stream's flow enters from groundwater, particularly during dry periods.
...
Wikipedia