Delaware Run is a tributary of the

West Branch Susquehanna River The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the Northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is generally regarded as the exte ...

Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Northumberland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,647. Its county seat is Sunbury. The county was formed in 1772 from parts of Lancas ...

, in the United States. It is long. It flows through Delaware Township, starting in the Muncy Hills. The watershed has an area of 11.7 square miles in Northumberland and Lycoming Counties. Delaware Run was reached by Europeans as early as 1737 and an area near it settled in 1769 and the community of Dewart is near Delaware Run.

Course

Delaware Run begins in Delaware Township, near the southern edge of the

Muncy Hills Muncy may refer to: People * Baron Muncy (c.1300), English peerage title held by Walter de Muncy * Becky Muncy, American educator in Indiana * Jeff Muncy, American television producer and toy designer * Matt Muncy (born 1983), American former prof ...

. It flows southwards and crosses under

Pennsylvania Route 54 Pennsylvania Route 54 (PA 54) is a state highway which runs for in eastern Pennsylvania. It runs from U.S. Route 15 (US 15), which is three miles (5 km) west of Montgomery, Lycoming County, in the west, to US 209 in Nesquehoning, ...

before making a sharp turn northwest. The course gradually turns from northwest to westwards as the stream picks up two tributaries. It then turns southwest and passes by the community of Dewart and flowing under

Pennsylvania Route 405 Pennsylvania Route 405 (PA 405) is a state highway that runs in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The southern terminus of PA 61 in Sunbury. The route heads across the Susquehanna River to Northumberland and ...

. After passing Pennsylvania Route 405, the stream turns southwards, paralleling the West Branch Susquehanna River, and passes under

Pennsylvania Route 44 Pennsylvania Route 44 (PA 44) is a -long state highway in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route, which is signed north-south, is designated from Interstate 80 (I-80) and PA 42 in Buckhorn northwest to the New York state line near New York S ...

. Shortly after this, the stream reaches its confluence with the West Branch Susquehanna River.

Tributaries

Delaware Run has a large number of unnamed tributaries.

Hydrology

Delaware Run has an average daily load of of

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

. This load would need to be reduced by 41% to meet the

total maximum daily load A total maximum daily load (TMDL) is a regulatory term in the U.S. Clean Water Act, describing a plan for restoring impaired waters that identifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive while still meeting water quali ...

set by the

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws. ...

. Out of this daily load, a total of comes from croplands. comes from

stream bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...

s and comes from hay or pastures. of sediment per day comes from low-intensity development and per day comes from forested lands. of the daily load comes from unpaved roads and comes from land considered "in transition" by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Most of the lower reaches of Delaware Run and its tributaries are considered impaired by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. However, some of the streams in the upper reaches of the watershed are not considered impaired. The

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

considers the stream to be impaired by

siltation Siltation, is water pollution caused by particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the increased accumulation (temporary or ...

. Between 1991 and 2011, the average annual rainfall was . The average annual runoff during the same period was .

Geology

The entirety watershed of Delaware Run is in the

ridge and valley The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending ...

section of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. Ninety percent of the rocks in the watershed are

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology), cementation. Sedimentati ...

. These rocks include rocks from the Bloomsburg/Mifflinburg Formation, the

Clinton Group The Clinton Group (also referred to as the Clinton Formation or the Clinton Shale) is a mapped unit of sedimentary rock found throughout eastern North America. The interval was first defined by the geologist Lardner Vanuxem, who derived the name f ...

, the

Hamilton Group The Hamilton Group is a Devonian-age geological group in the Appalachian region of the United States. It is present in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, northwestern Virginia and Ontario, Canada. It is mainly composed of mar ...

, the Onondaga/Old Port Formation, the

Trimmers Rock Formation Trimmer may refer to: * Trimmer (construction), beam used in construction * Trimmer (electronics), small electrical component * Trimmer (gardening), gardening power tool * Trimmer (surname) * Trimmer, California, community in Fresno County * Lam ...

, and the

Wills Creek Formation Wills Creek Formation is a mapped Silurian bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Description The Wills Creek is defined as a moderately well bedded greenish-gray shale containing local limestone and sandstone zon ...

. Five percent of the rocks in the watershed are

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate g ...

rocks, which come from the Keyser/Tonoloway Formation. The Trimmers Rock Formation largely occurs in the northern part of the Delaware Run watershed. The Hamilton Group occurs in the central part of the watershed. The Onondaga/Old Port Formation occurs south of the Hamilton Group and the Keyser/Tonoloway Formation Undivided occurs south of the Onondaga/Old Port Formation. The Wills Creek Formation, the Bloomsburg/Mifflinburg Formation Undivided, and the Clinton Group occupy a small area in the southwestern part of the watershed. The

basal outcrop Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nece ...

of the Lower Helderberg Formation is located near the mouth of Delaware Run, although it is hidden under boulders and other debris starting south of the stream. The Hamilton Group occupies 55% of the Delaware Run watershed and the Trimmers Rock Formation is found in 35%. The Onondaga/Old Port Formation is found in 10% of the watershed and the Keyser/Tonoloway Formation and the Wills Creek Formation each occur in 5% of the watershed. The Bloomsburg/Mifflintown Formation occurs in 4% of the watershed and the Clinton Group is found in 1%. The main type of soil in the Delaware Run watershed is the Berks-Weikert-Bedington series, which is a

silt loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

with shale. It mostly is found in the upper reaches of the watershed. The Hagerstown-Edom-Washington series, the Chenango-Pope-Holly series, and the Watson-Berks-Alvira series are also found in the watershed. The Berks-Weikert-Bedington series occurs in the northern, central, and south-central parts of the Delaware Run watershed. It makes up 60% of the watershed. The Hagerstown-Edom-Washington series, which makes up 17% of the watershed, is found in the southeastern part of the watershed and the Chenango-Pope-Holly series is found in the southwestern part of the watershed. It occurs in 20% of the watershed. The Watson-Berks-Alvira series is found in a small part (3%) of the eastern part of the watershed. Parts of Delaware Run experience stream bank erosion.

Watershed

The Delaware Run watershed has an area of 11.7 square miles. There are a total of of streams in the watershed of Delaware Run. One of the major highways in the watershed is Pennsylvania Route 54, which goes through the middle of it. There are also a large number of

township road A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

s in the watershed. Fifty-four percent of the land in the watershed is agricultural land and thirty-seven percent is forested land. The remaining nine percent of the land is developed. Most of the forested land is in the northern part of the watershed and much of the developed land is in the southwestern part. Most of the watershed of Delaware Run is in Delaware Township, Northumberland County, but a small part of it is in

Lycoming County Lycoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 114,188. Its county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. ...

. Going from north to south, Delaware Run is the first significant stream to join the West Branch Susquehanna River in Northumberland County.

History

Europeans reached Delaware Run as early as March 17, 1737. On the aforementioned day,

Conrad Weiser Conrad Weiser (November 2, 1696 – July 13, 1760), born Johann Conrad Weiser, Jr., was a Pennsylvania Dutch (German) pioneer who served as an interpreter and diplomat between the Pennsylvania Colony and Native American nations. Primarily a fa ...

, a German, and three Native Americans journeying to Onandago passed by the stream, pausing "within the shadow of the great

pines A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

of Delaware Run. On February 3, 1769, Lieutenant Daniel Hunsicker purchased a tract of land a short distance south of the mouth of Delaware Run, near modern-day Watsontown. The first

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

in Delaware Township was situated on Delaware Run in the middle of the township. It was used until 1870, when a church was built in Watsontown. The community of Dewart was established near Delaware Run. The Dewart Covered Bridge was a single-span

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

with multi-king post trusses and it crossed Delaware Run. It was built in 1882 by Samuel L. Culp and was destroyed on June 22, 1972 by a

tropical storm A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

Biology

There are no

riparian buffer A riparian buffer or stream buffer is a vegetated area (a "buffer strip") near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect the stream from the impact of adjacent land uses. It plays a key role in increasing water quality i ...

s in some places where Delaware Run flows through agricultural lands.

Livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

can freely access the stream in some locations.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the West Branch Susquehanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania