Source: 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Charleston District
Navigability Study 1977
Great Pee Dee River Basin
Report No. 11 of 18

SECTION 2 - PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Great Pee Dee River basin has its headwaters on the Yadkin River on the
eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina and extends
430 river miles to the mouth of the Great Pee Dee River at Winyah Bay near
Georgetown, South Carolina. The principal tributaries to the Great Pee Dee River
are the Black River, Little Pee Dee River, Lynches River, and Yadkin River.
Physical characteristics of the Black, Lynches, Little Pee Dee, and Yadkin
Rivers are discussed in detail in Reports 06, 10, 12, and 17, respectively.
Plate 11-1 shows the entire drainage basin of the Great Pee Dee River and its
tributaries.

Major urban areas in the basin include Florence and Georgetown, South Carolina.
There are a series of electric power dams and associated lakes on the Great Pee
Dee and Yadkin Rivers. These are the High Rock, Tuckertown, Badin Falls,
Tillery, and Blewett Falls Lakes and Dams. Plates 11-2 through 11-6 indicate
these and other significant features in the basin.

The Great Pee Dee is a large river having a mean flow of about 117,810 cfs at
its mouth. Its channel is generally wide, straight and free of debris. The river
is gently sloped from the Blewett Falls Dam at river mile (R.M.) 188.2 to its
mouth, except for a steep 17 mile stretch downstream of the dam. Upstream of
Blewett Falls Dam a succession of five major dams exist in an area which has
significant change in channel elevation.

The Yadkin River is a high-sloped river which is the primary tributary of the
Great Pee Dee River. From the headwaters of the Yadkin River to the mouth of the
Great Pee Dee River the water surface drops approximately 2,280 feet to mean sea
level.

Thirty-three miles of the Great Pee Dee River are considered to be tidally
influenced.

Table I presents selected physical characteristics of the river basin. Included
are approximate values for drainage areas, mean water flows, and elevation
changes. Detailed slope information may be found in Table 4. Methodology for
determining the numerical values of physical characteristics appearing in Table
I is defined in the Summary Report.

The location of key stream gaging stations on the Great Pee Dee River is
presented in Table 2. Also shown in Table 2 are the mean, minimum, and maximum
flows at the gaging stations.


SECTION 4 - INTERSTATE COMMERCE

Past

The first English settlers in South Carolina moved up from Charles Town (later
named Charleston) using river transportation which was the most effective means
of transportation then available. By the early 1700's, settlements had appeared
at various points along the Great Pee Dee River. By 1750, a settlement at "the
Cheraws" was established (i.e., Cheraw, South Carolina), which was then
considered "at the head of schooner navigation." (8)(9)(10)

As the rice-growing culture spawned the great plantations along the lower
tidewater reaches of the river, the up-river settlers (predominantly
Scotch-Irish) shipped their surplus grains and foodstuffs down the Great Pee Dee
River to feed the plantations' slave-labor forces. "The rice was collected at
Georgetown for shipment to Charles Town and beyond ... to other colonies or to
England itself." The river settlers in turn "received all their salt and heavy
goods by water from Georgetown." (11)(12)

The grain and foodstuffs trade gradually replaced earlier exportation of furs
and pelts to England with arrival of the Scotch-Irish settlers from Pennsylvania
and Virginia in the 1750's. A heavy trade in barrel staves and lumber apparently
continued with British colonies and possessions in the West Indies following an
interruption during the American Revolution (1775-1783). (13)

Until the advent of the steamboat, vessel traffic on the river (1700-1820)
appears to have been of various types and capacities. At first canoes
constructed from cypress logs, and perhaps carrying sails and long oars, seem to
have predominated. Next in size was the perriauger*, which might carry a hundred
barrels of pitch and tar or tobacco. Flats, scows, and various modes or rigs of
sloops, schooners, and yawls were larger vessels that could navigate some
distance up the various tributaries of the river, fetching products which were
difficult to transport over the meager road network. (14)(15)

The development of the cotton gin in 1793 led to upland cotton growing in the
Great Pee Dee River basin which provided a great spur to interstate and
international trade via the Great Pee Dee River. The cotton trade to British and
New England mills flourished until 1860. This significant navigation occurred
even though upland planters customarily disposed of the logs and stumps they had
removed from their new cotton lands in the river, creating innumerable snags and
hazards to navigation. Steamboats plied between Georgetown and Cheraw, and
between Georgetown and Charleston, at which point the cotton was shipped in
ocean-going vessels. This was the pinnacle of interstate and international trade
on the Great Pee Dee River. (16)(17) Later, in 1880, two steamboats navigated
the river carrying 16,000 cotton bales, 25,800 barrels of naval stores, corn,
fertilizer, and lumber, which could then be exported directly to Northern ports.
(18)(19)

River trade never fully recovered from railroad competition. Rail lines had
begun steadily to syphon away much of the river's commerce twenty years before
the Civil War. The Great Pee Dee River's commerce was severely damaged during
this period by railroad competition even with the Corps of Engineers'
improvements of the 1880's.

Interstate commerce continued on the river through the early 1930's. Truck
transportation and a paved highway network constructed during this period joined
with the railroads in carrying products which previously had been moved by
water. Since then, the tendency has been for the river to be used mainly for
moving bulky, low-unit cost products such as pulpwood and lumber. (21)(22)

Present

The Great Pee Dee River between Winyah Bay and the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
bridge (R.M. 67 9) continues to be a significant artery for interstate commerce,
although vastly less important than in colonial and antebellum days. By 1939
numerous landings had appeared along the river for the handling of pulpwood; a
freight traffic of 400 logs (10,572 tons) and 372 vessel trips was reported. In
1973 a total of 493 tons of commerce moved on the river for a total of 1,000
ton-miles. (23)

Future Potential

Comprehensive analysis of the regional economics (income, education, employment,
community facilities, transportation systems, and similar factors), which would
indicate growth patterns and the services needed to sustain various types of
industrial and commercial activities, is beyond the scope of this study. Thus,
the potential use of the Great Pee Dee River and its tributaries for interstate
commerce in future years is difficult to predict. However, some analysis and
judgments have been made concerning future commerce to assist in establishing
navigation classifications.

As discussed later in Section 6, the Great Pee Dee River is recommended as
practically navigable, with reasonable improvements, up to the Blewett Falls Dam
at R.M. 188.2. It is anticipated that this stretch of stream has the potential
to be utilized for shipment of goods into other states since it is connected
with Georgetown Harbor (Winyah Bay) and the Atlantic Ocean. The upstream reaches
of the basin are not currently used for interstate commerce and the future
potential is not anticipated to be significant. This is due in part to limited
industrial and commercial activity and heavy dependence on other forms of
transportation including the interstate highway system, railroads, and air
transport.

-=-=-=-=-

* Perriauger - A vessel used during the early development period of the United
States (1700's 1800's) for the transportation of supplies. The vessel was
sometimes oared, poled, or pulled and was occasionally fitted with mast and
sail.

-=-=-=-=-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cited References

1. Water Resources Data for South Carolina Water Year 1975, Water Data Report
75-1, U. S. Geological Survey, Columbia, South Carolina, 1976.

2. Water Resources Data for North Carolina Water Year 1975, Water Data Report N.
C. 75-1, U. S. Geological Survey, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1976.

3. Summary Report, Navigability Study, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston
District, by Stanley Consultants, 1977.

4. Incomplete List of Navigable Waters, RCS ENGCW-ON (OT), U. S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Charleston, South Carolina, 1965.

5. South Carolina Streamflow Characteristics Low-Flow Frequency and Flow
Duration, U. S. Geological Survey, Columbia, South Carolina, 1967.

6. Thomas, N. 0., Summaries of Streamflow Records, State of North Carolina
Department of Natural and Economic Resources, Office of Water and Air Resources,
Raleigh, North Carolina, 1973.

7. Project Maps Charleston District 1975, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office
of the District Engineer, Charleston, South Carolina, 1975.

8. Meriwether, Robert L., The Expansion of South Carolina 1729-1765, Southern
Publishers, Kingsport, Tennessee, 1940, pp. 114-115.

9. Smith, Alfred G., Economic Readjustment of an Old Cotton State: South
Carolina 1820-1860, USC Press, Columbia, South Carolina, 1958, pp. 1-2.

10. South Carolina: Resources and Population ... 1883, South Carolina State
Board of Agriculture, Reprint Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1971, p.
615.

11. Rogers, George C., The History of Georgetown County, South Carolina, USC
Press, Columbia, South Carolina, 1970, pp. 26-27.

12. Report of the Board of Public Works to the Legislature of South Carolina for
the Year 1820, South Carolina State Legislature, Faust, Columbia, South
Carolina, 1820.

13. Mills, Robert, Statistics of South Carolina 1826, Reprint Company,
Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1972, p. 160.

14. Thomas, J.A.W., A History of Marlborough County, Regional Publishing
Company, Baltimore, Maryland, 1971, P. 52.

15. Kohn, David, ed., Internal Improvement in South Carolina 1817-1828, USGPO,
Washington, D. C., 1938, p. 148, p. 9.

16. Ibid., p. 121.

17. Fulton, Robert, Report on Steam Boat Navigation on Southern Waters of the
United States, Thos. Town, 2nd ed., 1828, PP. 5-6.

18. Rogers, p. 467.

19. Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. War Department, USGPO
Washington, D. C., 1880, pp. 846-848.

20. South Carolina: Resources, pp. 72, 92.

21. The Relation of the Southern Appalachian Mountains to Inland Water
Navigation, Forest Service-Circular 143, U. S. Department of Agriculture, USGPO,
Washington, D. C., 1908, p. 15.

22. Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Department of the Army,
USGPO, Washington, D. C., 1950, p. 677.

23. Waterbourne Commerce of the United States, Corps of Engineers, U. S.
Department of the Army, USGPO, Washington, D. C., 1961.

24. Legal Documentation for Navigability Study, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Charleston District, Charleston, South Carolina, 1977.

Other Background Information

Acts and Statutes of the General Assembly of North Carolina, Chapter XXXIII,
1793, pp. 16 17. 

Ibid., 1796, PP. 32-33.

Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1910, U. S. War Department, USGPO,
Washington, D. C., 1910, pp. 1445-1446.

Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1939, U. S. War Department, USGPO,
Washington, D. C., 1939, p. 617.

Kohn, David, ed., Internal Improvement in South-Carolina 1817-1828, USGPO,
Washington, D. C., 1938, pp. 277-326.

Mills, Robert, Statistics of South Carolina 1826, Reprint Company, Spartanburg,
South Carolina, 1972, p. 158.

Phillips, U . B., A History of Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt to
1860, Columbia U. P., New York, 1908, p. 91, Table and notes.

Powell, William S., The North Carolina Gazetteer, UNC Press, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, 1968, P. 54, p. 270.

The Rivers of South and North Carolina entering Winyah Bay, South Carolina,
Board of Trade of Georgetown, South Carolina, 1896.

Smith, Alfred G., Economic Readjustment of an Old Cotton State: South Carolina
1820-1860 USC Press, Columbia, South Carolina, 1958, p. 142.

U. S. Congress, House, H. Doc. 467, 69th Congress, 1st Sess., 1926.

U. S. Congress, House, H. Doc. 124, 56th Congress, 2nd Sess., 1902.

U. S. Congress, Senate, S. Ex. Doc. 117, 46th Congress, 2nd Sess., 1880.

Water Resources in North Carolina U. S. Geological Survey, 1965, P. 7.

Wilson, John, Report of the Civil and Military Engineer, (1818), in David Kohn
and Bess Glen, eds., Internal Improvement in South Carolina 1817-1828, USGPO,
Washington, D. C., 1938, P. 148.

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