Lake Jocassee (, ) is a , deep
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
in northwest
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. It was created in 1973 by the state in partnership with
Duke Power
Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Overview
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...
.
The lake is known for the clean and cold
Appalachian mountain rivers that flow into it, keeping its waters cool and clear year-round. The
Jocassee Dam, which forms the lake, is high and long. The lake is within
Devils Fork State Park
Devils Fork State Park is in northwestern South Carolina on the eastern edge of the Sumter National Forest at the edge of 7,500-acre (3,035 ha) Lake Jocassee. It is located three miles (5 km) off SC 11, the Cherokee Scenic Highway, n ...
.
Although most manmade structures were demolished before the lake was flooded, divers recently discovered the remains of a lodge that was left intact; it is now below of water. Mount Carmel Baptist Church Cemetery was a setting for a scene in the film ''
Deliverance
''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapt ...
'' (1972), starring
Burt Reynolds and
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Academy Award–nominated performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in ''Midnight Cowboy'' (1969). During the 1970s, h ...
, produced before the lake was flooded. The site is now covered by of lake water.
Several waterfalls flow directly into the lake, including Laurel Fork Falls, Mill Creek Falls, Wright Fork Falls, and Moondance Falls.
Hydrology
A confluence of four rivers supplies Lake Jocassee's water. The farthest west of the rivers, the
Whitewater River, flows southeast until it meets the northwest corner of Lake Jocassee. The
Thompson River
The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River, flowing through the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. The Thompson River has two main branches, the South Thompson River and the North Thompson River. The ri ...
flows due south until it too reaches the lake in the northwest corner. The
Horsepasture River
The Horsepasture River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 26, 2011 National Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina. The ...
feeds the lake from the northeast corner, along with the
Toxaway River
The Toxaway River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 26, 2011 waterway that flows south from headwaters in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Lake Toxaway ...
, which is directly east of the Horsepasture River.
The Jocassee Hydro Station, located in the southeast corner of Lake Jocassee, separates it from the beginning of
Lake Keowee
Lake Keowee is a man-made reservoir in the United States in the state of South Carolina. It was developed to serve the needs of power utility Duke Energy and public recreational purposes. It is approximately long, wide, with an average depth of ...
, which has overtaken the underlying
Keowee River
The Keowee River is created by the confluence of the Toxaway River and the Whitewater River in northern Oconee County, South Carolina. The confluence is today submerged beneath the waters of Lake Jocassee, a reservoir created by Lake Jocassee ...
. On the southern border of Lake Keowee is the city of
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
, developed prior to the lake. The old mill town of
Newry
Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011.
Newry ...
, constructed on the banks of the Keowee River, is now along the lake border. Unlike Lake Jocassee, Lake Keowee has become densely settled. As most of the land adjacent to Lake Jocassee is owned by
Duke Power
Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Overview
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...
and the
State of South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
, they have kept it undeveloped.
Natural history
A rare wildflower, the
Oconee Bell
''Shortia galacifolia'', the Oconee bells or acony bell, is a rare North American plant in the family Diapensiaceae found in the southern Appalachian Mountains, concentrated in the tri-state border region of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Ca ...
(''Shortia galacifolia''), native to only a few counties in the
Blue Ridge area, was discovered in the area in 1788 by French botanist
André Michaux
André Michaux, also styled Andrew Michaud, (8 March 174611 October 1802) was a French botanist and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American flora. In addition Michaux collected specimens in England, Spain, France, and even Per ...
. The flooding of a large area by Lake Jocassee is said to have caused the destruction of the heart of the species' range. More recently, biologists have documented the occurrence of a number of rare, threatened and
endangered species in this area. The
Eastatoee Gorge Heritage Preserve was transferred from Duke Power Company to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in 1979 due to the extremely diverse flora occurring there.
Wildlife management efforts in the Jocassee Gorges area began as early as the 1930s when the Chief Game Warden managed the stocking of trout from the Cleveland State Fish Hatchery, Table Rock State Hatchery, and the
Walhalla National Fish Hatchery. The state began to investigate and improve fish populations in the area. People hiking, hunting, fishing, or nature watching benefit from the fish stocking and law enforcement of the Game Management Program (now WMA).
History
The name Jocassee comes from a
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
legend about a maiden of that name. An
Oconee tribe, the "Brown Vipers" led by Chief Attakulla, inhabited the west side of the Whitewater River, while a rival tribe, "The Green Birds", lived on the east. Legend says that a young Green Bird warrior, Nagoochee, was not afraid to enter Brown Viper hunting grounds. On one occasion, he fell and broke his leg and was convinced he was going to die. Then he heard Jocassee, Attakulla's daughter, who brought him back to her father's lodge and nursed him back to health. Jocassee eventually fell in love with him. In a later battle, Cheochee, Jocassee's brother, killed the Green Bird warrior and brought Nagoochee's head back on his belt. Legend has it that Jocassee went into the water and did not sink but walked across the water to meet the ghost of Nagoochee. The name Jocassee means "Place of the Lost One.
"
The Jocassee Gorges area was once part of the
Cherokee Nation homelands. It now lies beneath the surface of the lake, near the
Toxaway River
The Toxaway River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 26, 2011 waterway that flows south from headwaters in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Lake Toxaway ...
. Nearby
Keowee Town was a major hub in the
Cherokee Path that connected Cherokee towns and villages throughout the area. Early 18th-century traders worked with the Cherokee, and delivered as many as 200,000 deerskins annually to
Charleston, South Carolina. They supplied the local Cherokee in trade with European firearms, ammunition, metal tools, and clothing.
However, mounting discord between the English and Cherokee led to war in 1759, during the tensions of the French and Indian War in which the English were engaged. Following the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, in which rebel colonial militia repeatedly attacked Cherokee towns because of their alliance with the British, the Cherokee were forced to cede large areas of territory. In 1785, General
Andrew Pickens hosted a large gathering of Cherokee chiefs; they signed a treaty ceding all of the Jocassee gorges area, with the exception of northern
Oconee County, to the United States. The Cherokee did not cede the Oconee mountains until 1815.
Settlers from the British Isles, mostly of
Scottish and
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
descent, came from the backcountry of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
to this area, as well as from Charleston. United States and South Carolina land grants to European Americans in the Jocassee area date to 1791.
Fishing
Lake Jocassee holds state records for five
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of fish, including three in the sunfish
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
(
Centrarchidae
Centrarchidae, better known as sunfishes, is a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes (formerly belonging to the deprecated order Centrarchiformes), native only to North America. There are eight universally i ...
). In 2001 a
Redeye bass
The Redeye bass, Redeye, or Coosa Bass (''Micropterus coosae'') is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) native to the Coosa River system of Georgia, Alabama. The waters it is normally found in are cool streams and ...
and a
Smallmouth bass were caught. An
Spotted bass
The spotted bass (''Micropterus punctulatus''), also called spotty, or spots in various fishing communities, is a species of North American freshwater fish belonging to the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) of the order Perciformes. It is noted fo ...
was caught in 1996. The last two came from the
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...
family (
Salmonidae
Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...
). A
Brown trout was caught in 1987 and an
Rainbow trout was caught in 1993.
Freshwater Fish Records for South Carolina
/ref>
Economy
The Jocassee Hydro Station, owned by Duke Energy, is located between Lake Jocassee and Lake Keowee
Lake Keowee is a man-made reservoir in the United States in the state of South Carolina. It was developed to serve the needs of power utility Duke Energy and public recreational purposes. It is approximately long, wide, with an average depth of ...
; it is a 610-megawatt, pumped storage
Pumping may refer to:
* The operation of a pump, for moving a liquid from one location to another
**The use of a breast pump for extraction of milk
* Pumping (audio), a creative misuse of dynamic range compression
* Pumping (computer systems), th ...
facility. Near the Whitewater River, Bad Creek Hydroelectric Station
The Bad Creek Hydroelectric Station is a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station located north of Salem in Oconee County, South Carolina. The power plant is owned by Duke Energy and its last generator was commissioned in 1991. The power sta ...
is a 1,065-megawatt pumped-storage facility that started generating electricity in 1991 and is also owned by Duke. Both facilities provide jobs for residents of the surrounding area.
Nearby cities and towns
*Salem, South Carolina
Salem is a U.S. town in Oconee County, South Carolina. The population was 135 at the 2010 United States Census.See http://factfinder.census.gov for population numbers and for municipality and CDP lists in the 2010 Census.
Geography
Salem is locate ...
- pop. 126
See also
*Lake Keowee
Lake Keowee is a man-made reservoir in the United States in the state of South Carolina. It was developed to serve the needs of power utility Duke Energy and public recreational purposes. It is approximately long, wide, with an average depth of ...
* List of lakes in South Carolina
References
Jocassee Charters - Trophy Trout Fishing
Jocassee Lake Tours
Devils Fork State Park website
{{authority control
Jocassee
Protected areas of Oconee County, South Carolina
Cherokee tribe
Hydroelectric power plants in South Carolina
Protected areas of Pickens County, South Carolina
Duke Energy
Bodies of water of Oconee County, South Carolina
Bodies of water of Pickens County, South Carolina