Saluda River

River in northwestern and central South Carolina. Its North and South forks, rising in the Blue Ridge Mountains near the North Carolina border, merge 16 km/10 mi northwest of Greenville. From here, the combined Saluda flows for some 320 km/200 mi before joining with the Broad River to form the Congaree River.

The course of the Saluda takes it southeast across the Piedmont region, past Ware Shoals and into Lake Greenwood, an artificial body of water formed by the Buzzard Roost Dam (1940). The river then flows southeast into Lake Murray (area 203 sq km/78 sq mi), which is impounded by the Saluda Dam. This major barrier is 63 m/208 ft high and 2,391 m/7,838 ft long, and was built in 1930. From here, the Saluda runs southeast to its junction with the Broad near Columbia.