Lynches River

Lynches River, named for Thomas Lynch, Jr., signer of the Declaration of Independence, rises in North Carolina near Waxhaw, North Carolina, at about 700 feet (210 m) elevation, flowing only a short distance to the South Carolina border, and thence to join the Great Pee Dee River near Johnsonville. It is about 140 mi (225 km) long and the drainage area is 1030 square miles (2670 km²).

Several sections of the river have been designated by South Carolina as wild and scenic rivers, and thus have some protection from development. The river is a favorite for canoeing, but Hurricane Hugo in 1989 felled many trees, blocking the flow at places, making navigation difficult at low water and dangerous at high water. River enthusiasts have been gradually cleaning up the storm debris. The river is also a popular fishing spot, with sunfish, redbreast, catfish and bass.

The upper reaches of the River are in the Piedmont, an area of worn down mountains, consisting mostly of metamorphic rocks, overlain by rocky clay soils. Much of the Piedmont is forested with some agricultural land, especially around Pageland, site of an annual watermelon festival.

This section of the river was an important gold, and minor iron mining area in the 19th century, with the first known gold being mined by placer in Lynches River and its tributaries near Pageland and Jefferson starting about 1828. Before the Civil War, 58 gold mines operated in South Carolina. All commercial mining ceased in 1942 when the federal government's War Labor Board and PL-208 outlawed gold mining across the country. With the value of gold locked at $35 per ounce, and federal law prohibiting private citizens from holding gold between the 1930s and 1980s, nearly all gold mines in the United States became impractical and unprofitable to operate.

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