The Ohio Valley's river network connects the Ohio River to which major river?

• A. Hudson River
• B. Fraser River
• C. Mississippi River
• D. Columbia River

Answer: (C)

The Ohio Valley’s river network sits within the Mississippi River watershed. Water from the Ohio River flows downstream and joins the Mississippi River (at the confluence near Cairo, Illinois), and then travels all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. That connection to the Mississippi is what defines the Ohio River’s place in the larger drainage system. The other rivers—Hudson, Fraser, and Columbia—drain to different basins (the Hudson to the Atlantic; Fraser and Columbia to the Pacific), so they aren’t part of the Ohio’s river network.