JAMES RIVER, a river of the United States of America, rising in the Alleghany Mountains, and flowing through the state of Virginia to the Atlantic Ocean. It first flows in a south-easterly direction, then changes to the N.E., after passing Lynchburg, and returns to its former direction a few miles above Columbia, in which course it continues to Chesapeake Bay. It is 450 miles in length,
1 Clem. Hist. Eccl. i. 9.
and is navigable for vessels of 130 tons to the port of Richmond, 150 miles from the sea, where the river meets the tide. At this point the James River and Kanawha Canal begins. The trade of the James River is considerable and increasing, forming, as it does, a great outlet for the tobacco, cotton, and other produce of Virginia.