Licking, river, c.320 mi (515 km) long, rising in E Ky. and flowing NW to the Ohio River opposite Cincinnati; the North and South Forks are its chief tributaries. The Licking was an important means of travel for Native Americans and pioneers and later a busy trade route. In 1780, at the river's mouth, George Rogers Clark's frontiersmen gathered for their march up the Little Miami; the battle of Blue Licks (1782) occurred in the Licking valley. Covington and Newport are located where the river meets the Ohio.
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