Qualla: Saluda River

Saluda River: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Akhenaton06, CC BY-SA 3.0. The river takes its name from the people who lived along it. Near the community of Chappells, in the bend country between Newberry and Saluda counties, the Saluda Indians once made their settlements on the river's banks. By the time European mapmakers began writing names down, they wrote the word seven different ways - Chickawa, Saludy, Saluta, Salutah, Seleuda, and even, confusingly, Santee. Today the Saluda runs about 200 miles from headwaters in the Blue Ridge to a confluence in downtown Columbia, where it meets the Broad and the two rivers together become the Congaree.

Read more: Saluda River on Qualla

Image: Akhenaton06 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Saluda River: Three Forks From the Mountains

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fredlyfish4, CC BY-SA 4.0. About ten miles northwest of Greenville, on the shared border of Greenville and Pickens counties, the North and South Saluda meet to form the main river. Both forks rise near the North Carolina line, near the town of Saluda, North Carolina, high in the Blue Ridge. The Middle Salu...

Read more: Saluda River on Qualla

Image: Fredlyfish4 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Saluda River: Dams and Mill Towns

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit F. M. Kirby & Co., Public domain. The river is a workhorse, and the chain of dams along its length tells the story. The uppermost dam holds back Saluda Lake on the Greenville-Pickens line. Below that, old textile mill dams at Piedmont, Pelzer, and Ware Shoals mark the small mill towns that grew along the falls in...

Read more: Saluda River on Qualla

Image: F. M. Kirby & Co. | Public domain

Saluda River: Confluence in Columbia

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Thomson200, CC0. Below Lake Murray the Saluda runs fast and cold, fed from the bottom of the deep reservoir. By the time it reaches Columbia it is a Class II and III trout river - unusual for South Carolina, possible only because of the dam upstream. Whitewater paddlers run the stretch under Inte...

Read more: Saluda River on Qualla

Image: Thomson200 | CC0

Saluda River: Save Our Saluda

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0. In April 2009, American Rivers placed the Saluda on its list of most endangered American rivers. Sewage discharges threatened the drinking water of more than half a million South Carolinians, the report warned, with excess phosphorus driving algae blooms that depleted oxygen and ...

Read more: Saluda River on Qualla

Image: The ed17 | CC BY-SA 4.0