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25-547: The Santee River was dammed in the 1940s to supply hydroelectric power , as part of the rural electrification efforts initiated under President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal during the Great Depression . This created Lake Marion, one of the fifty largest lakes in the United States, whether natural or man-made reservoirs. At current capacity it is only about a third of the area of what, if filled to capacity, would be

50-507: A "rediversion" canal to send most of the water back into the Santee, partially mitigating this problem. This is a partial list of crossings of the Santee River. Taxodium Taxodium / t æ k ˈ s oʊ d i ə m / is a genus of one to three species (depending on taxonomic opinion) of extremely flood -tolerant conifers in the cypress family, Cupressaceae . The name

75-517: A multitude of underwater structures. The area was not completely cleared when Lake Marion was created. As a result, there are thousands of stumps, standing dead tree trunks, and live cypress trees. Santee River 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

100-531: A patriot of the American Revolutionary War . The original site of his homestead has been flooded by the reservoir Lake Marion, which is named in his honor. Construction of the 22-mile (35 km)-long Santee Canal , linking the river to the Cooper, was begun in 1793 and finished in 1800. It allowed direct water transportation between the upcountry of central South Carolina and the port city Charleston, at

125-571: Is derived from the Latin word taxus , meaning " yew ", and the Greek word εἶδος ( eidos ), meaning "similar to." Within the family, Taxodium is most closely related to Chinese swamp cypress ( Glyptostrobus pensilis ) and sugi ( Cryptomeria japonica ). Species of Taxodium occur in the southern part of the North American continent and are deciduous in the north and semi-evergreen to evergreen in

150-490: Is named for the American Revolutionary War General Francis Marion , known legendarily as the "Swamp Fox". His former home of Pond Bluff was one of those flooded when the lake was created. The lake is located in five South Carolina counties: Berkeley , Calhoun , Clarendon , Orangeburg , and Sumter . Public access is provided through several public boat ramps, Santee State Park , and

175-624: 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

200-559: The Santee National Wildlife Refuge . Interstate 95 (As well as U.S. Routes 15 and 301 which are Concurrent with I-95) cross the man-made lake near the town of Santee . Lake Marion is home to several communities and camps for youth and students. Religious groups, fraternal organizations, and rowing teams come to Lake Marion each spring and summer due to its sheltered location, calm waters, and temperate climate. The state fishing record for largemouth bass (16.2 lbs)

225-448: 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. 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

250-453: The Santee River was dammed, forming lakes Marion and Moultrie, and diverting the river's flow into the Cooper River through a hydroelectric plant at Pinopolis. The WPA project was completed in 1941. Though the project succeeded in providing cheap electricity to modernize rural South Carolina , unintended consequences were changes to the character of both the Cooper and Santee rivers below

275-641: 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

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300-582: The fifteenth largest lake in the U.S.. Lake Marion was created by the construction of the Santee Dam in November 1941, part of the state-owned electric and water utility Santee Cooper 's Hydroelectric and Navigation Project. The project also included construction of the Pinopolis Dam (Cooper River Dam) to create Lake Moultrie , immediately downstream, and a diversion canal seven and a half miles long to connect

325-485: 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

350-503: The ocean at Santee Point, approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of Georgetown , and not far from the outlet of the Pee Dee River . 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

375-585: The original scheme: it generates about 128 megawatts. In 1985, as part of a large-scale rediversion and redesign, the United States Army Corps of Engineers installed the St. Stephen Dam hydro facility to recapture lost generating capacity of another 84 megawatts. Lake Marion is fed by many tributaries, including Wyboo Creek and the Santee River , and also by numerous springs, including Eutaw Springs. The lake

400-437: The others considered as varieties of the first described. The three are distinct in ecology , growing in different environments, but hybridise where they meet. The trees are especially prized for their wood , of which the heartwood is extremely rot - and termite -resistant. The heartwood contains a sesquiterpene called cypressene, which acts as a natural preservative . It takes decades for cypressene to accumulate in

425-498: The outlet of the Cooper River. The canal operated for 50 years before being made obsolete by the introduction of railroads. During the Great Depression , the state of South Carolina created the power utility Santee Cooper . The main source of electric power for the utility was a hydroelectric system inland from Charleston, built by the federal government during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt . Starting in 1939,

450-477: The project. Deprived of most its water flow, the Santee River became more saline and its ecosystem gradually changed below the dam. The Cooper River received more of the freshwater and sediment loads that used to flow into the Santee and carried them downstream. This has resulted in greatly increasing the dredging costs to keep Charleston Harbor operating as a port. During the 1980s, the Army Corps of Engineers built

475-723: 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 ,

500-404: The seeds. The male ( pollen ) cones are produced in pendulous racemes , and shed their pollen in early spring. Taxodium species grow cypress knees , when growing in or beside water. The function of these knees is currently a subject of ongoing research. The three extant taxa of Taxodium are treated here as distinct species, though some botanists treat them in just one or two species, with

525-556: The south. They are large trees , reaching 100–150 ft (30–46 m) tall and 6.5–10 ft (2–3 m) (exceptionally 36 ft or 11 m) trunk diameter. The needle-like leaves , 0.2–0.8 in (0.5–2 cm) long, are borne spirally on the shoots , twisted at the base so as to appear in two flat rows on either side of the shoot. The cones are globose, 0.8–1.4 in (2–3.5 cm) diameter, with 10–25 scales, each scale with one or two seeds ; they are mature in 7–9 months after pollination , when they disintegrate to release

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550-481: The two. This was one of the infrastructure projects supported by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression to provide jobs and invest in the future. The dam at Wilson's Landing is eight miles long and has 62 Tainter gates . Despite its size, the Santee Dam generates only 1.92 megawatts of hydropower. Hydroelectric facilities at Pinopolis Dam were designed to produce the lion's share of power under

575-438: The wood, so lumber taken from old-growth trees is more rot resistant than that from second-growth trees. However, age also increases susceptibility to Pecky Rot fungus ( Stereum taxodii ), which attacks the heartwood and causes some damaged trees to become hollow and thus useless for timber. Bald Cypress wood was much used in former days in the southeastern United States for roof shingles . The shredded bark of these trees

600-456: Was finished in 1941. Downstream from the reservoir it flows east, then southeast, forming the northeast boundary of Francis Marion National Forest . Approximately 10 miles (16 km) from its mouth it bifurcates into two channels, named the North Santee and South Santee , that flow parallel and separated by approximately 2 miles (3 km), creating Cedar Island . The two channels reach

625-472: Was set at this lake. Other fish that abound are striped bass , white perch , white bass , crappie , channel catfish , Arkansas blue catfish , shellcrackers , bream and chain pickerel (jack). Other wildlife at Lake Marion include deer , fox , squirrel , turtle , dove , wild turkey , alligator , and various species of duck , hawk , eagle , egret , and osprey . Conditions vary from shallow swamps and blackwater ponds to vast open water, with

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