The Little River originally flowed U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed April 26, 2011 from its headwaters in northern

Oconee County, South Carolina Oconee County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,607. Its county seat is Walhalla and its largest city is Seneca. Oconee County is included in the Seneca, SC Micropol ...

near Salem into the

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 ...

northeast 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 ...

. The Little River was dammed at

Newry, South Carolina Newry is a census-designated place in Oconee County, South Carolina. According to the 2020 United States Census, the population of the CDP was 199.See http://factfinder.census.gov for population numbers and for municipality and CDP lists in the ...

in the 1890s to power the Newry Mill of the Courtenay Manufacturing Company. In the early 1960s, the lower part of the Little River was flooded by the

Lake Hartwell Lake Hartwell is a man-made reservoir bordering Georgia and South Carolina and encompassing parts of the Savannah, Tugaloo, and Seneca rivers. Lake Hartwell is one of the Southeastern United States' largest recreation lakes. The lake was created ...

reservoir. In the early 1970s, the Little River Dam was built upstream of Newry as one of two dams to form

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 ...

. The upstream portion of the Little River remains free flowing. The Little River was in the heart of the

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 ...

Lower Towns region. Several Cherokee towns were located along the river.

References

Rivers of South Carolina History of the Cherokee Rivers of Oconee County, South Carolina Tributaries of the Savannah River {{SouthCarolina-river-stub