In the early 19th century, the basin was the scene
of the nation’s first documented gold discovery. All
of this cultural bounty is set in a landscape ripe with aquatic
resources— cold- water and coolwater trout streams, slower- moving
Piedmont streams, and even streams with Coastal Plain characteristics. Much of the Yadkin
River is bound by a series of man- made lakes.
From its headwaters near Blowing Rock, the Yadkin River flows east and then south across
North Carolina’s densely populated midsection. It travels 203 miles— passing farmland;
draining the urban landscapes of Winston- Salem, Statesville, Lexington and Salisbury; and
fanning through seven man- made reservoirs before its name changes to the Pee Dee River
below Lake Tillery. The Pee Dee courses another 230 miles to the Atlantic, leaving North
Carolina near the community of McFarlan and ending its journey at South Carolina’s Winyah
Bay. The Yadkin- Pee Dee River Basin bisects North Carolina, running north to south,
neatly separating counties on its journey.
Total miles of
streams and rivers:
5,862
Total acres of lakes:
22,988
Municipalities
within basin: 93
Counties
within basin: 21
Size: 7,221
square miles
Population:
1,463,535
( 2000 U. S. Census)
profile:
YADKIN- PEEDEE RIVER
BASIN
Bald eagle ( above);
Blewett Falls Lake,
Pee Dee River ( left)
T he Yadkin- Pee Dee River Basin is the cradle of civilization in the Carolinas. Here,
evidence of 12,000 years of activity documents the history of Native Americans in
the Southeast. The basin’s gently contoured Uwharrie Mountains, the oldest mountain
range in North America, played as much
a role in human settlement as the fertile
rivers that slice through them.
SC
BILL LEA
KEN TAYLOR, WILDLIFE IMAGES