Tributaries include Belcher, Salt Lick, Brush, Clear Fork, Westbrook, and Rock House creeks.

[2] The name, "Gasper River," is a corruption of "Casper's River," as clearly named on John Filson's map of Kentucky (1784), and bears the namesake of Kasper/Casper Mansker, longhunter and pioneer of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Mansker's Station was located due south near present-day Goodlettsville, Tennessee.

It is named for Sally Beck, a local who delivered news to passing river boats in the 1880s.

The Gasper River was site of the home church of Reverend James McGready, and religious revivals were held on its banks as early as 1797, constituting the first ever open-air tent revival or camp meeting.