Catawba Headwaters

The Catawba River (named after the Native American tribes that first settled on the banks) is a tributary of the Wateree River in the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina. The river is approximately 220 miles long. It rises in the Appalachian Mountains and drains into Piedmont, and is impounded through a series of reservoirs for flood control and hydroelectricity. The river is named after the Catawba tribe of Native Americans. They were known in their own language as the Kawahcatawbas, "the people of the river".