| Floyds Fork | |
|---|---|
 Floyd's Fork in Kentucky | |
 Salt River watershed | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Smithfield, Kentucky |
| • elevation | 886 feet (270 m) |
| Mouth | |
• location | Bullitt County, Kentucky |
| Length | 62-mile-long (100 km) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Shepherdsville, Kentucky |
Floyds Fork[1] is a 62-mile-long (100 km)[2] tributary of the Salt River in Kentucky, directly south and east of Louisville. It begins in Henry County, near Smithfield Kentucky, flows through eastern Jefferson County and flows into the Salt River near Shepherdsville in Bullitt County.
It runs for about 30 miles (48 km) through Jefferson County and drains approximately 122 square miles (320 km2), making it the largest watershed in the county. It is also the least environmentally compromised watershed in the county, according to the Metropolitan Sewer District, as large-scale development in the southeastern portions of Jefferson County is still relatively sparse. To preserve its rural character, much of Floyds Fork south of I-64 was zoned rural residential in 1993.[3]
At Mount Washington, Floyds Fork has a discharge of approximately 387 cubic feet per second.[4]
The proposed City of Parks initiative by Louisville would purchase 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of land along the river and establish three to four parks, as well as hiking and other recreational trails.[5]
Floyds Fork is named for John Floyd, an early surveyor of the area. During the Civil War, Confederate and Union forces skirmished on Floyds Fork and what is now US 60 (Shelbyville Road, locally) on October 1, 1862.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Floyds Fork
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed May 13, 2011
- ^ "Floyds Fork". The Encyclopedia of Louisville (1 ed.). 2001.
- ^ "USGS Surface Water data for Kentucky: USGS Surface-Water Annual Statistics".
- ^ "City of Parks" Vision for Louisville Metro Archived 2006-09-23 at the Wayback Machine