Lake Marion is the largest lake in
South Carolina,
centrally located and with territory within five counties. The lake is
referred to as South Carolina's inland sea. It has a 315-mile (507 km)
shoreline and covers nearly 110,000 acres (450 square kilometers or
173.7 square miles)
[1] of rolling farmlands,
former marshes, and
river valley landscape.
The Santee River was dammed in the 1940s to supply
hydroelectric power, as part of the rural electrification efforts initiated under President
Franklin D. Roosevelt's
New Deal during the
Great Depression.
It is one of the fifty largest lakes in the United States, whether
natural or man-made reservoirs, but covers only about a third of the
area of the fifteenth largest in size.
[2]
ORIGIN
Lake Marion was created by the construction of the
Santee Dam in November 1941, part of the state-owned electric and water utility
Santee Cooper's Hydroelectric and Navigation Project. The project also included the construction of the
Pinopolis Dam (Cooper River Dam) to create
Lake Moultrie, immediately downstream, and a diversion canal seven and a half miles long to connect the two.
[3]
The earthen Santee Dam is eight miles long and has 62
Tainter gates.
Despite its size, the Santee Dam creates only 1.92 megawatts of
hydropower. Hydroelectric facilities at Pinopolis Dam were designed to
produce the lion's share of the original scheme: currently about 128
megawatts. In 1985, as part of a large-scale rediversion and redesign,
the
United States Army Corps of Engineers installed the St. Stephen Dam hydro facility to recapture lost generating capacity of another 84 megawatts.
[4]
Lake Marion is fed by many tributaries, including Wyboo Creek and the
Santee River, and also by numerous springs, including Eutaw Springs. The lake is named for the
American Revolutionary War General
Francis Marion. His former home of Pond Bluff was one of those flooded when the lake was created.
LOCATION

Located in five of South Carolina's counties including:
Berkeley,
Calhoun,
Clarendon,
Orangeburg, and
Sumter.
Public access is provided through several public boat ramps,
Santee State Park, and the
Santee National Wildlife Refuge.
Interstate 95 crosses the man-made lake near the Town of
Santee.
WILDLIFE
Lake Marion is known for its big fish and abundant wildlife. The state fishing record for
Largemouth Bass (16.2 Ibs) was set at this lake.
[5] Other fish that abound are
striped bass,
white perch,
white bass,
crappie,
channel catfish,
Arkansas blue catfish,
Shellcrackers,
bream and Chain (Jack). Other wildlife that call Lake Marion home include
deer,
fox,
squirrel,
turtle,
dove,
wild turkey,
alligator and various species of
duck,
hawk,
eagle,
egret and
osprey.
Conditions vary from shallow swamps and
blackwater ponds
to vast open water with a multitude of underwater structures. The area
was not completely cleared when Lake Marion was created. As a result,
there are thousands of stumps, standing dead tree trunks and live
cypress trees.