Groundwater Resources of Clay County, Kentucky

Topography

Discussion from McGrain and Currens (1978)

Clay County is located in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field. The terrain is hilly to mountainous, elevations generally increasing from north to south. The area is maturely dissected, with mountains and valleys occupying almost equal areas.

The highest elevations are in the southern part of the county along or near the divide between the drainage basins of the Cumberland and Kentucky Rivers. (This divide also approximates the southern boundary of Clay County.) Elevations here are commonly more than 2,000 feet. The highest place in Clay County, 2,235 feet, is a mountain near the junction of the boundaries of Clay, Bell, and Knox Counties. The difference in elevation between this point and Red Bird Creek, less than 3 miles east, is more than 1,100 feet. Local reliefs of 600 feet are common in the southeastern part of the county. Local relief declines gradually northward, and in the northwestern part of the county the local relief is more commonly about 350 feet.

Elevations of some of the named peaks or ridges are Asher Knob, 1,951 feet; Cutoff Mountain, 1,685 feet; Flatwoods, generally about 1,600 feet but with knobs rising as high as 1,680 feet; High Knob, 1,387 feet; Rock Mountain, 1,848 feet; Sand Hills, 1,520 to 1,760 feet; and Town Mountain, a nearly flat-topped ridge, 1,649 feet.

The lowest elevation is the South Fork of the Kentucky River where it leaves northern Clay County at an elevation of approximately 690 feet.

The elevation of Manchester, the county seat, located in the valley of Goose Creek, is 870 feet. Elevations at other communities are Big Creek, 860 feet; Burning Springs, 920 feet; Creekville, 900 feet; Hima, 870 feet; and Oneida, where the Redbird River and Bullskin and Goose Creeks join to form the South Fork of the Kentucky River, 827 feet.

The 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle maps that cover Clay County are shown, by name and by index code (Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet) on the index map.

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