Cape Fear River
The Cape Fear River, shown highlighted, with its tributaries
Origin	North Carolina
Mouth	Atlantic Ocean
Basin countries	United States
Length	202 mi (325 km)
Avg. discharge	3,885 cu ft/s (110 m³/s)

The Cape Fear River at Smith Creek in Wilmington, NC.

The Cape Fear River is a 202 miles (325 km) long^[1] blackwater river in east central North Carolina in the United States. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The overall water quality of the river is continuously measured and monitored by the Lower Cape Fear River Program and conducted by the UNCW Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, UNCW Benthic Ecology Laboratory, and the UNCW Icthyology and Fish Ecology Laboratory. The Cape Fear Shiner is endemic to the river basin.

Course

It is formed at Haywood, near the county line between Lee and Chatham counties, by the confluence of the Deep and Haw rivers just below Jordan Lake. It flows southeast past Lillington, Fayetteville, and Elizabethtown, then receives the Black River approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Wilmington. At Wilmington, it receives the Northeast Cape Fear River and turns south, widening as an estuary and entering the Atlantic approximately 3 miles (5 km) west of Cape Fear.

During the colonial era, the river provided a principal transportation route to the interior of North Carolina. Today the river is navigable as far as Fayetteville through a series of locks and dams. The estuary of the river furnishes a segment of the route of the Intracoastal Waterway.

See also

• List of North Carolina rivers

References

Sources and external links

• Cape Fear River discharge data

The port in Wilmington on the Cape Fear River estuary

Lock and Dam No. 1 on the Cape Fear River in Bladen County

A cargo ship navigating the mouth of the Cape Fear River at Southport

A closeup of a cargo ship passing by Southport