Hans Yost Creek 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 Deep Creek in

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Schuylkill County (, ; Pennsylvania Dutch: Schulkill Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the heart of Pennsylvania's Coal Region and is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the popula ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Foster Township and Barry Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . The creek is designated as an impaired waterbody, with the causes being metals and pH and the probable source being

abandoned mine drainage Abandoned mine drainage (also known as AMD) is a form of water pollution involving water that has been polluted by contact with mines, typically coal mines. Although it is sometimes called "acid mine drainage", not all abandoned mine drainage i ...

. It has no named tributaries, but two abandoned mine discharges flow into it. The creek's watershed was extensively mined in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but the only remaining active mining permits are for remining.

Course

Hans Yost Creek begins in a large valley in Foster Township. It flows in a westerly direction through the valley for several tenths of a mile, entering Barry Township. The creek then turns southwest for a short distance before turning west. After a few tenths of a mile, it turns southwest for several tenths of a mile, entering a much narrower valley. The creek eventually turns in a westerly direction for several tenths of a mile briefly turning northwest and then southwest along the way before reaching the end of its valley and turning northwest. A short distance further downstream, the creek reaches its confluence with Deep Creek. Hans Yost Creek joins Deep Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Hans Yost Creek has no named tributaries, nor are any tributaries visible on the United States Geological Survey map of the Tremont quadrangle. However, a few small

intermittent stream Intermittent, temporary or seasonal rivers or streams cease to flow every year or at least twice every five years.(Tzoraki et al., 2007) Such rivers drain large arid and semi-arid areas, covering approximately a third of the earth's surface. ...

s do flow into the creek's headwaters.

Hydrology

Hans Yost Creek is designated as an impaired waterbody for its entire length. The causes of the impairment are metals and pH and the probable source of impairment is

. There are two abandoned mine discharges in the creek's watershed. One is known as the Moser Mine Pool Discharge and enters the creek in its upper reaches. The estimated flow of this discharge is 0.259 million gallons per day. The other is known locally as Rattling Run and is formed from the Collapsed Tunnel Discharge and the Buck Mountain Vein Overflow Discharge. This discharge enters the creek in its lower reaches. The average

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

of Hans Yost Creek above the Moser Discharge has been estimated to be 0.259 million gallons per day, while below the discharge, it has been estimated at 0.518 million gallons per day. Above the Rattling Run discharge, the creek's discharge was found to average at 1.49 million gallons per day, while below the discharge, it was 3.59 million gallons per day. In the 1980s and/or 1990s, the

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

concentration in Hans Yost Creek upstream of the Moser Discharge ranged from , with an average of . Below the discharge, it ranged from less than to , with an average of . Above the Rattling Run discharge, the iron concentration ranged from , with an average of . Below this discharge, the concentration ranged between , with an average of . The

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

concentration in Hans Yost Creek upstream of the Moser Discharge ranged from less than to , with an average of . Below the discharge, it ranged from with an average of . Above the Rattling Run discharge, the manganese concentration ranged from , with an average of . Below this discharge, the concentration ranged between , with an average of .

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 Hans Yost Creek 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 near the creek's

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

is above sea level. Part of a steep valley between Broad Mountain and Mahantango Mountain is drained by Hans Yost Creek. The creek flows through the Southern Anthracite Coal Field. 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 Hans Yost Creek has an area of . The creek is entirely within 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 Tremont. Its mouth is located within of Weishample. The headwaters of Hans Yost Creek flow through

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

ed land and are difficult to access. The watershed of Hans Yost Creek is located northeast of

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

and north of Tremont.

Pennsylvania Route 901 Pennsylvania Route 901 (PA 901) is a state route located in eastern Pennsylvania. The western terminus of the route is at PA 61 in the Coal Township hamlet of Ranshaw. Its eastern terminus is at PA 183 in Cressona. PA 901 runs northwest-southe ...

and

Interstate 81 Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island ...

are partially in the vicinity of the creek's watershed.

History

Hans Yost Creek 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 1176486. The creek is also known as Hanyost Creek. This variant name appears in a

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...

map of Schuylkill County dating to 1975. The watershed of Hans Yost Creek experienced extensive mining during the late 1800s and early 1900s. There are still active mining permits in the watershed, as of 2001. However, they are remining permits and thus do not involve discharges into the creek. In 1976, the Schuylkill County Sportsmen's Association began a drive to construct a fish nursery with a capacity for 30,000

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 ...

on the creek. This was despite the M.S.W. Coal Company proposing to mine at the headwaters of Deep Creek and discharge treated water into the watershed of Hans Yost Creek; the Schuylkill County Sportsmen's Association opted to believe that the coal mining operation would not pollute anything. At least two biological studies have been conducted on Hans Yost Creek. In 1972, the

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources 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. ...

found the

macroinvertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate s ...

community to be satisfactory. However, in 1997, a study 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. ...

found the creek to be impaired. The Tri-Valley Watershed Association, which operates in the watersheds of Deep Creek, Pine Creek, and

Mahantango Creek Mahantango Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin, Northumberland County, P ...

, has dosed the Moser Mine Pool Discharge with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

to increase the creek's alkalinity. Treatment for the lower reaches of Hans Yost Creek are also being considered by the Tri-Valley Watershed Association.

Biology

The drainage basin of Hans Yost Creek is classified as a Coldwater Fishery. The designated use for Hans Yost Creek is

aquatic life An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem formed by surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The two ...

. In the 1970s, Hans Yost Creek was found to have "good stream conditions", with the abandoned mine drainage discharges causing little or no impact to the macroinvertebrate community in the creek.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Mahantango Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania