INTRODUCTION. 
37 
Rockingham and Guilford counties, and flow S. S. E., the latter making 
an eastward sweep from the southeast corner of Randolph along the 
southern border of Chatham, till it meets the former in the southeast 
corner of the latter county, the united waters pursuing the same average 
course (in the Cape Fear) to its mouth in the southeast corner of the 
State, 30 miles below Wilmington. Haw River receives two large tribu- 
taries, Alamance Creek and New Hope River. Its fall from the Pied- 
mont Railroad crossing, in the northest corner of Guilford county, to its 
confluence with Deep River is 470 feet, affording with its affluents, many 
excellent water powers, a number of which have been utilized in cotton 
factories, flouring mills, &c. Deep River, which rises in the western part 
of Guilford county, has a fall of some 600 feet from the crossing of the 
North Carolina Railroad, and drives a number of mills and factories, chiefly 
in Randolph county. Its largest tributary is Rocky River in Chatham. 
The Cape Fear is navigable to Fayetteville, more than 100 miles above 
Wilmington ; and its upper portion was once improved by the State at a 
cost of nearly $1,000,000, and navigated its whole length, as well as some 
30 miles of Deep River, through the coalfields and iron beds. The fall 
from the confluence at Haywood is 135 feet. The aggregate length of 
the Cape Fear and tributaries is not less than 500 miles, including CJppet' 
Little River , Lower Little River and Liockfish Creek on the west, and 
two large navigable rivers from the east, viz: Black River, entering 12 
miles above Wilmington and draining Sampson and portions of Cumber- 
land, Bladen and New Hanover counties, and Nroth East River , con- 
fluent at Wilmington. The drainage is not less than 8,000 square miles. 
New River , with its branches, is nearly confined to Onslow county, rising 
in the border of the great swamps of Jones. For 15 miles this is a tidal 
river, 2 to 3 miles wide. 
In the southeastern angle of the State are two other water courses of 
considerable size: Lumber River, which rises in Montgomery county, 
but derives its waters chiefly from Richmond and Robeson, passing the 
State line in Columbus, with a fall to this point of some 200 feet, and a 
drainage of 1,800 miles; and Waccamaw River, which rises in the lake 
of the same name in Green Swamp, and after a southerly course within 
the State of some 30 miles, and a fall of about one foot to the mile, en- 
ters South Carolina, and flowing parallel to the coast for about 50 miles, 
enters the Atlantic, with the last named stream, by way of the Peed ee, at 
Georgetown. Both these rivers are beatable for considerable distance 
within the State, the latter quite to the lake. 
In the northeastern part of the State are several broad navigable rivers 
which drain this much watered angle of the State, — an area of some 2,500 
