Kinney Run looking upstream in Spring 2015

Kinney Run, also known as Kinney's 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 the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

in Scott Township and Bloomsburg, Columbia County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long. Some of the first settlers to the Kinney Run area arrived in 1769. There are a number of wetlands and one

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

, which is called the Espy Bog, in the stream's watershed.

Course

Kinney Run rises in Scott Township. It heads through moderately steep or steep uplands along 5th Street Hollow Road before crossing 5th Street Hollow Road, passing a forested area and

U.S. Route 11 {{Infobox road , country=USA , type=US , route=11 , map={{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, frame-height=330, type=line, from=U.S. Route 11.map , map_custom=yes , map_notes=US 11 in red, US 11E in blue, US 11W in ...

into a

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

. After crossing under U.S. Route 11, the stream goes through the Espy Bog. The last are on a flood plain. Here, the stream has a

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...

of 0.002 meters downwards per meter. The flood plain that Kinney Run flows through is shared by another stream, called Unnamed Tributary Number 10. Kinney Run then flows into Bloomsburg, passing by three wetlands and the Bloomsburg Town Park before emptying into the Susquehanna River at the end of Market Street. Downstream of the point where Kinney Run crosses 5th Street Hollow Road, it passes by only two areas of steep slopes. Both of these areas are in Bloomsburg.

Hydrology

The installation of pipes carrying stormwater into Kinney Run due to development in the watershed has increased erosion in the upper reaches of the stream. This has caused

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 ...

to be washed downstream. There are several structures that divert water away from Kinney Run. One of these was constructed in 1972, after

Hurricane Agnes Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was the costliest hurricane to hit the United States at the time, causing an estimated $2.1 billion in damage. The hurricane's death toll was 128. The effects of Agnes were widespread, from the Caribbean to Canada, ...

, to divert water from the stream under the runway of the

Bloomsburg Municipal Airport Bloomsburg Municipal Airport is a public non-towered general aviation airport along the Susquehanna River within town limits on the south east corner of Bloomsburg. Services: Columbia Aircraft Services, Inc. Fuel: 100LL Clubs: Parlor City ...

directly to the Susquehanna River. Typically, when Kinney Run floods, it occurs at the same time as when the Susquehanna River floods. In two storms, Kinney Run has flooded twice. The first time was due to precipitation and the second time was due to backwater from the Susquehanna River. The two floods were the 1972 flood caused by Hurricane Agnes and a flood in January 1996. The second flood occurred approximately 24 hours after the first one on both times. However, in other storms, Kinney Run has only flooded once.

Watershed

Kinney Run's watershed has an area of .

Stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed la ...

management has been a problem on Kinney Run for many years. The stream's watershed is entirely in southeastern Bloomsburg and southwestern Scott Township. Kinney Run is also home to a number of

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s, as well as stormwater storage areas. The wetlands are large, and there is a large number of them. The stormwater storage areas exist due to the existence of

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

fills and

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

fills in the watershed. There are two places on the stream where stormwater is diverted either to the Susquehanna River or the unnamed Tributary Number 10.

History

In 1769, Evan Owen, the founder of the community of Berwick, settled at the mouth of Kinney Run. Before the late 1800s, Kinney Run was well known to

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrel ...

men. The Kinney Run watershed has seen a large amount of development, both commercial and residential, since the 1970s and early 1980s. As most of the portion of Kinney Run that was in Bloomsburg, most of the development occurred in Scott Township.

References

External links