Dan River

Dan River at Danville, Virginia

The Dan River is a river in the southeastern United States. It flows in the states of Virginia and North Carolina and is the main tributary of the Roanoke River. Therefore, he was also named South Branch Roanoke River.

The river rises in the eastern Appalachian Mountains in Patrick County, Virginia near the Blue Ridge Parkway. At the headwaters of the Dan River has the character of a mountain river. It flows first to the south and breaks in the Dan River Gorge to the east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here the river is dammed to two small reservoirs. The Talbott Reservoir and the smaller Townes reservoir supplying water for 1938 put into operation in water power plant of Pinnacles.

After leaving the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains crosses the Dan River the border into North Carolina and reaches the Piedmont Plateau. The Dan River flows first over to the southeast at Hanging Rock State Park and the town of Danbury. Near the Belews Lake, he changes the flow direction to the north- east and flows past the small towns of Madison and Eden back to Virginia. In Virginia, the Dan River reaches the center city Danville, with over 40,000 inhabitants, the largest town on the river. On the riverfront in Danville, there were 1882 to 2008 a textile factory named after the river Dan River Inc. company.

After a short loop back to North Carolina - a total of Dan River crosses the state border eight times - the river flows to the east. Before 1952 it flowed in the city of Clarksville in the Roanoke River, since the construction of a dam of the Dan River ends below the town of South Boston in the west arm of the John H. Kerr reservoir.

The Dan River has a catchment area of approximately 8550 square kilometers and is about 340 km long. Its main tributaries are Mayo River, Smith River, Sandy River, Banister River and the Hyco River.