Ashelman Run is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of Coles Creek in

Columbia County, Pennsylvania Columbia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,727. Its county seat is Bloomsburg. The county was created on March 22, 1813, from part ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Sugarloaf Township. The stream's watershed has an area of . The stream is designated as a Coldwater Fishery. It is named after Daniel Ashelman, who lived in the area in the early 1800s. Glacial till and other geological features can be found in the vicinity of the stream. It has one unnamed tributary and there are two lakes in the watershed.

Course

Ashelman Run begins in a large

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

in Sugarloaf Township, on the southern base of

Central Mountain Central Mountain is a mountain in Columbia County, Sullivan County, and Luzerne County, in Pennsylvania, United States. Its elevation is above sea level. The mountain is part of the Allegheny Front. Rock formations on the mountain include the P ...

. It flows southwest for several hundred feet, crossing

Pennsylvania Route 118 Pennsylvania Route 118 (PA 118) is a state route located in northeastern Pennsylvania. The western terminus of the route is at PA 405 in Hughesville. The eastern terminus is at PA 415 in Dallas. The road is known briefly as East Wa ...

. The stream then turns south-southeast. After a few tenths of a mile, it receives an unnamed tributary from the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

. Some distance further downstream, the stream reaches its confluence with Coles Creek. Ashelman Run joins Coles Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Ashelman Run has no named tributaries. However, it does have one unnamed tributary.

Geography, geology, and watershed

The elevation near the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

of Ashelman Run is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The elevation of the stream's source is between above sea level. For most of its length, Ashelman Run flows over a

glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

known as the Wisconsinan Till. This glacial till is typically more than thick. However, the stream's lower reaches are on

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

containing stratified

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

, and

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

. The alluvium is approximately thick. The stream also passes through a small patch of fill near its headwaters, where it crosses Pennsylvania Route 118. The Wisconsinan Till Moraine occurs a short distance north of its headwaters. The

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of Ashelman Run has an area of . The stream is entirely in the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

quadrangle of Red Rock. It is located in northeastern Sugarloaf Township. There are two small lakes in the watershed of the stream. One is located in the watershed's middle reaches and one is located in its upper reaches.

History and etymology

Ashelman Run was entered into the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1168447. Ashelman Run is named after Daniel Ashelman. Ashelman most likely moved from the Wyoming Flats to a location near the stream in the early 1800s. He also constructed a

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers. Eur ...

close to the stream. The land near it was still owned by the Ashelman family as late as 1982.

Biology

Wild

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

naturally reproduce in Ashelman Run between its headwaters and its mouth. The stream is designated as a Coldwater Fishery.

References