INTRODUCTION. 
35 
Greek , John's River , Lower Creek and the three <£ Little Rivers ” ; those 
of the Yadkin, Lewis's Fork , Reddle's River , Mulberry, Roaring Creek, 
Big Elkin, Mitchell's River, Fisher s” River and Ararat , besides a mul- 
titude of creeks, large and small, entering on both sides. 
These rivers, upper Yadkin and Catawba,, are of nearly equal size, and 
the fall is nearly the same, being, for the Catawba, a little over 500 feet, 
counting from Old Fort to the great bend, a distance of 75 miles; and 
for the Yadkin, from Richlands to the bend, 100 miles. Their combined 
drainage area is more than 2500 square miles. 
After entering the midland region of the State, these rivers properly 
belong to the fourth system and pursue a parallel course, which is a little 
east of south, but show very marked differences in other respects ; the 
Catawba having an additional length, to the State line, of some 70 miles, 
a fall of 300 feet, and draining a narrow valley of 10 to 15 miles breadth, 
- — an area of not more than 700 square miles, and receiving no impor- 
tant tributaries from it, while the Yadkin has an additional length of 150 
miles, a fall of more than 700 feet, and drains a wide valley of an aver- 
age breadth of 50 miles and an area of more than 5000 square miles ; re- 
ceiving, besides a number of large creeks, five considerable rivers, two 
from the west, South Yadkin and Rocky River, and three from the 
east, Little Yadkin, Uwlxarrie and Little River , thus becoming the 
largest river in the State. The aggregate lengths of these twin streams 
and their confluents in this State are respectively some 325 and 550 
miles. 
Both these rivers are navigable for the most part of their course 
through and even beyond the midland region, except at a few shoals and 
rapids, most of them easily surmounted by canals, jetties, &e. Such im- 
provements were undertaken about 50 years ago, but never completed 
There were no serious obstructions on the Catawba, and that river was 
navigated for some years by flat boats, and the Yadkin also furnished an 
outlet for the produce of several counties up to the foot of the Blue 
Ridge. The Narrows, however, constituted an obstruction of a suf- 
ficiently formidable character to defeat the enterprise undertaken by the 
State for the improvement of that river. 
The third river system, is that of the Dan and its tributaries, which, 
with the Roanoke, (its continuation), drains the counties along the north- 
ern border of the State from Surry county to Northampton, — almost from 
the Blue Ridge to the coast ; although in the middle part of its course it 
makes a northern curve into Virginia. It is the longest river in the 
State, its distance, measured along its course from the northern border of 
Stokes to the mouth, being more than 300 miles, and it is further notable 
