- Stream
- Water
- gauge records from 1886
- City of Atlanta
Chattahoochee River
The river on Atlanta's northwest edge and the source of most of its drinking water. Its Muscogee name is usually glossed as 'marked' or 'flowered' stone.
The record
The New Georgia Encyclopedia cites Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins (1799): 'chat-to' meant stone and 'ho-che' marked or flowered. Standing Peachtree, a Muscogee town at the mouth of Peachtree Creek, sat on the river, and around 1820 the west bank was still Cherokee land (marker 060-190B); ferries such as Montgomery's and Pace's carried the roads across. Atlanta has pumped from the river since 1893, and the Atlanta History Center says about 70% of the city's drinking water now comes from it; releases from Buford Dam upstream turned it into a cold-water stream. The USGS gauge at Paces Ferry has peak records back to 1886.
Today: Chattahoochee River; the city still draws most of its water here.
Where on the map: Forms the city's northwest boundary from Paces Ferry south past Bolton and the Peachtree, Proctor and Utoy creek mouths.