Scenes Along the Licking River, Newport, Kentucky


The two boats are the Champion #7 and the Champion #8, both of which were owned by the Shinkle family. That's the Shinkle mansion in the background of the pic on the right. It was the original home of Booth Hospital, and was later torn down to erect a newer Booth. Note the Carneal House in the right-hand pic, and the Newport Barracks in the center and left images. All are old stereoview images, c. 1875-1885.

View up the Licking River, Newport, Kentucky, 1908
to Mabel Burnwell, Linden Heights, Ohio,
Have been in Covington since Sunday and am not married yet.
It doesn't effect all people the same. Clara.

What does the Licking River have to do with the naming
of the City of Cincinnati? I'm so glad you asked. Click here.

An early Licking River lithograph, 1851
lithograph by Otto Onken

In July, 1853, the New American Magazine ran a story that went with the above pic. Read it here.

Civil War Soldiers Fording the Licking. Harpers ran two other pictures and an article with the above lithograph. You can read the article, here. The bridge was placed on August 8, 1864, "just below Cole's Garden." Cincinnati Enquirer, August 9, 1864.

This early (c. 1795) map of Kentucky reflects the earlier name of the
Licking - The Salt Spring River, since it flowed at Kentucky's Blue Licks.
Earlier, Dr. Thomas Walker called it Frederick's River.
Still earlier, Native Americans called it the Nepernine.

The 1937 Flood on the Licking, looking northeast toward Newport. This pic is from
January 23, 1937, which is to say, a full week before the crest.

"The Licking River has its source in Floyd County, Ky., 180 miles from its mouth. It empties into the Ohio, between the cities of Newport and Covington, opposite the foot of Broadway, Cincinnati. It is navigable for steamers as far as the falls at Cole's Gardens, four miles from its mouth. At that point, in dry summers, it has but little water; but in winter and spring flat-boats descend it for 70 or 80 miles. An effort was once made to improve the channel by means of dams and locks, but the enterprise was abandoned."
King's Pocket Book of Cincinnati, 1880


On the Picturesque Licking River, 1909	On the Picturesque Licking River, 1909	Licking River at Banklick Creek


Licking River at Banklick Creek	Licking River, at Newport	Licking River, at Newport


The Mouth of the Licking, 1951	A Poem and a Licking River Scene Poem by Henry Sorrell of Covington	Looking from the bridge toward Newport in the 1937 Flood. Whether this is the Licking or the Ohio is what they call "moot."

Wikipedia has a page on the Licking River, here.	The destructive ice gorge on the Licking in 1856, here.
Citizens petitioned to make the Licking navigable in 1899. The government declined it. Details and maps are here.
"A petrified buffalo head was found in the bottom of the Licking River about one hundred yards above the Dead Man Ripple in Kenton County in 1858. The petrification was somewhat worn by the current, but the eyes, ears, teeth, mouth horns, hair and mane were well developed. It was sold to a Cincinnati museum for one dollar." - from a Bill Wall item in the Louisville Courier Journal in the 1930's.
“On Thursday night last, the steamer Enterprise, lying in Licking was destroyed by fire. The fire is supposed to have been work of an incendiary. The boat was insured to its full value.” Covington Journal, May 25,1850
Newport's "Hanging Tree" was on the banks of the Licking. Story here.	The schedule of the Licking River Packet, from 1849, is here.


Licking River Scenes, 1870's		Mouth of Licking -from an 1899 engraving by J. L. Trout