Ohio River misnamed?

[sportsjock]

In 1792, the federal government determined that Kentucky owned the Ohio River along its border with Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. ... The Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky had legal ownership to the Ohio River.

Given this fact, shouldn't the Ohio River actually be named the Kentucky River?
What would stop Kentucky authorities from taking legal steps to proclaim the waterway in their name?

I can only wonder on the extent of legal approvals for bridge constructions, dock constructions, businesses over the waterway, or all business conducted on the waterway.  I would imagine all licensing, certifications and approvals would be have to come from the State of Kentucky.  Wouldn't all boat licenses have to have the Kentucky nameplate?

Anyone have any insight on this?

[BellevueBuckeye]

Rivers are not named after states...states are named after rivers.

There already is a Kentucky River, which the state of Kentucky was named after.

Also, the reason KY and WV own the river all starts with Virginia, whose colonial charter originally granted it land from "sea to sea." When the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio was established, Virginia lost a lot of claimed land, and the new northwestern border of the state was set as the low water mark on the far bank of the Ohio River. Kentucky and West Virginia merely inhereted this precedent from their parent state (KY redrawn to the 1792 low water mark, WV directly inheriting the original 1787 low water mark.)

Ohio did appeal to the Suppreme Court for more control of the river upon gaining statehood in 1803, but was shot down.

[sportsjock]

Aug 17, 2021 20:47:25 GMT -5 BellevueBuckeye said:

Rivers are not named after states...states are named after rivers.

There already is a Kentucky River, which the state of Kentucky was named after.

Also, the reason KY and WV own the river all starts with Virginia, whose colonial charter originally granted it land from "sea to sea." When the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio was established, Virginia lost a lot of claimed land, and the new northwestern border of the state was set as the low water mark on the far bank of the Ohio River. Kentucky and West Virginia merely inhereted this precedent from their parent state (KY redrawn to the 1792 low water mark, WV directly inheriting the original 1787 low water mark.)

Ohio did appeal to the Suppreme Court for more control of the river upon gaining statehood in 1803, but was shot down.

Thank you for the history lesson and explanation!
My questions still remain on the right of way, licensing, certification legalities etc.
Always thought life was much simpler, in the form of centerline of the river dictating and resolving those questions.

[sportsjock]

I found a partial answer to my lingering questions. Obviously, there has been points of contention between bordering states and one of them was resolved by a 1985 Supreme Court decision:

Ohio’s 451-mile southern border along the Ohio River is divided into a western management unit and an eastern management unit for the purposes of managing fisheries. When fishing the Ohio River, it is important to know which management unit you are fishing and to check regulations in that unit. The western unit is along the Kentucky-Ohio border. Kentucky and Ohio have had shared jurisdiction of the Ohio River since 1985, when the United States Supreme Court made that decision (Ohio v. Kentucky, 471 U.S. 153). However, in the eastern unit along the West Virginia-Ohio border, West Virginia owns the river and jurisdiction is not shared. Agreements between Kentucky and Ohio and West Virginia and Ohio allow each state to honor the fishing licenses of the adjacent state along their common borders on the mainstem of the Ohio River, but access allowed in embayments and tributaries differs in the western and eastern units.