Santee
Santee is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 33.34°, -79.75°
About Santee
The Santee River is a river in South Carolina in the United States, and is 143 miles (230 km) long. The Santee and its tributaries provide the principal drainage for the coastal areas of southeastern South Carolina and navigation for the central coastal plain of South Carolina, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean about halfway between Myrtle Beach and Charleston near the community of McClellanville. The farthest headwaters are 440 miles (708 km) away on the Catawba River in North Carolina. Besides the Catawba, other principal rivers of the Santee watershed include the Congaree, Broad, Linville, Saluda and the Wateree. The watershed drains a large portion of the Piedmont regions of South and North Carolina. The Santee River is the second largest river on the eastern coast of the United States, second only to the Susquehanna River in drainage area and flow. Much of the upper river is impounded by the expansive, horn-shaped Lake Marion reservoir, formed by the 8-mile (13 km)-long Santee Dam. The dam was built during the Great Depression of the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project to provide a major source of hydroelectric power for the state of South Carolina.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Santee River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Santee in Depth
History
The river was named by early English settlers for the Santee tribe, which inhabited areas on the middle part of the river. The first European contact was by a Spanish party commanded by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526. The early Spaniards may have named the river the Jordan (in honor of the Jordan River).
After suffering a defeat by the English and their allies during the Yamasee War in 1715–1716, the Santee were relocated. Many were shipped as slaves to the West Indies, opening the river for British settlement as part of the Province of Carolina.
During the late 18th century, the upper river was the site of the homestead of Francis Marion, a patriot of the American Revolutionary War.
Description
The Santee is formed in central South Carolina 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Columbia by the confluence of the rivers Wateree and Congaree. It flows southeast for 5 miles (8 km) before entering the northwest corner of Lake Marion, which stretches in a long wide arc to the southeast for approximately 30 miles (48 km) to Santee Dam. A navigable diversion canal first built during the 1970s at the southern end of the lake connects to Lake Moultrie, a reservoir on the nearby Cooper River. The modern canal is operated by the Santee Cooper agency as part of the larger hydroelectric project on both rivers. The dam was finished in 1941.
Downstream from the reservoir it flows east, then southeast, forming the northeast boundary of Francis Marion National Forest.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Santee River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Santee: Key Facts
| Length | 230 km |
|---|---|
| Mouth | Atlantic Ocean |
| Drainage system | Santee River drainage basin |
| Tributaries | Wateree River |
Facts from Wikidata Q2223479 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Santee: Quick Answers
- Where is Santee?
- Santee is located in United States, at 33.3438° N, 79.7531° W.
- Are there dams on the Santee?
- No dam on the Santee is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.