High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Pacolet River is a tributary of the Broad River, about 50 miles (80 km) long, in northwestern South Carolina in the United States . One of its principal headwaters tributaries also drains a small portion of western North Carolina. Via the Broad and Congaree Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Santee River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean . The stream`s name has also been spelled historically as "Pacolate River" .