Nineteenth Century Legacy Mill Pond Sediment in the Southern Blue Ridge

Field and archival research demonstrates that although not accurately documented in historic records, small, water-powered mills may have been common throughout the southern Blue Ridge during the nineteenth century. Investigations in the Bent Creek watershed of North Carolina indicate that, as in other physiographic regions, the impoundment of low-order streams resulted in the trapping of a portion of sediment eroded from steep slopes as settlers cleared land for agriculture and logging. Sediment remobilized as a result of subsequent dam breaching and channel incision may have added between 2–5 t km⁻² y⁻¹ to Bent Creek sediment yield values during the early twentieth century. Approximately one-half of nineteenth century pond sediment remains stored as quasi-stable, terrace-like landforms within the bottomlands of Bent Creek watershed, but the potential for this sediment to transition to sediment source remains should fluvial conditions in the watershed change in the future.