Little Mahanoy Creek is a tributary of

Mahanoy Creek Mahanoy 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 Northumberland and Schuylkill counties, Pennsylvania. There are ...

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 ...

. It starts in the borough of Frackville and joins Mahanoy Creek in the borough of

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

. Its one named tributary is Rattling Run. The creek's watershed has an area of . Its watershed is not affected by mining. Compounds found in the waters of the creek include nitrogen, phosphorus, orthophosphates, phosphates, nitrates, and ammonia.

Course

Little Mahanoy Creek starts in Frackville and heads westward past a

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 ...

or small

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

. It then drops steeply through a steep narrow valley between Ashland Mountain and Broad Mountain, which abruptly widens out a short distance downstream. The creek then flows on the northern edge of Broad Mountain to the borough of Gordon, where it picks up Rattling Run before flowing into Mahanoy Creek.

Tributaries

Rattling Run flows into Little Mahanoy Creek in Gordon, not far from Little Mahanoy Creek's mouth. It rises from springs on the slopes of Broad Mountain.

Watershed

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 Little Mahanoy Creek has an area of . Areas in the watershed include the southern side of Ashland Mountain between Frackville and the creek's mouth.

Geography and geology

Little Mahanoy Creek flows through a valley between Ashland Mountain and Broad Mountain. The valley is very steep and narrow near the creek's headwaters, but becomes broader further downstream, being close to wide at the mouth. The creek lies over a layer of red

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

. Below the shale is a layer of hard and compact

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, which has some black,

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

-containing matter in it.

Hydrology

Little Mahanoy Creek is one of the only tributaries of Mahanoy Creek that is not affected by mining in the area. The other is

Schwaben Creek Schwaben Creek is a tributary of Mahanoy Creek in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Schwaben Creek is approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map ...

. The average discharge of Little Mahanoy Creek, as measured in late 2008 and early 2009 2.3 cubic feet per second and 14.9 cubic feet per second, with an average of 8.02 cubic feet per second. The discharge steadily increased between September 2008 and April 2009. In the same time period, the water temperature ranged between and . The average temperature during that time was . The measurement in September 2008 was the highest and the measurement in March 2009 was the lowest. The

electrical conductivity Electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allow ...

of the creek 0.169 to 0.295 thousandths of a

siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

. The average conductivity was 0.238 thousands of a siemens. The concentration of

dissolved oxygen Oxygen saturation (symbol SO2) is a relative measure of the concentration of oxygen that is dissolved or carried in a given medium as a proportion of the maximal concentration that can be dissolved in that medium at the given temperature. It ca ...

in the waters of Little Mahanoy Creek ranged between 9.8 milligrams per liter and 11.8 milligrams per liter in late 2008 and early 2009. The average concentration was 11.2 milligrams per liter. The creek is typically

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...

, with pH levels ranging from 7.4 in late 2008 to 8.1 in March 2009. The average pH level between September 2008 and April 2009 was 7.6. In late 2008 and early 2009, the concentration of suspended

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 ...

ranged from 2 to 9 milligrams per liter, with an average of 4.5 milligrams per liter. The total concentration of

suspended solids Suspended solids refers to small solid particles which remain in suspension in water as a colloid or due to motion of the water. Suspended solids can be removed by sedimentation if their size or density is comparatively large, or by filtration. It ...

in the creek was usually less than 5 milligrams per liter, but was 6 milligrams per liter on April 16, 2009. The total concentration of

orthophosphate A phosphoric acid, in the general sense, is a phosphorus oxoacid in which each phosphorus (P) atom is in the oxidation state +5, and is bonded to four oxygen (O) atoms, one of them through a double bond, arranged as the corners of a tetrahedron. ...

s in Mahanoy Creek between September 2008 and April 2009 ranged from 0.029 to 0.112, with an average of 0.055 milligrams per liter. The concentration consistently decreased between late 2008 and early 2009. The concentration of

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

ranged between 0.113 milligrams per liter and 0.044 milligrams per liter, with an average of 0.083 milligrams per liter. The concentration of

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

ranged from 1.39 milligrams per liter to 2.61 milligrams per liter, with an average of 0.93 milligrams per liter. The concentration of

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...

s ranged from 1.13 to 2.14 milligrams per liter, with an average of 0.78 milligrams per liter. The concentration of

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

was consistently less than 0.02 milligrams per liter between November 2008 and April 2009.

History

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

was built on Little Mahanoy Creek in 1814. In 1875, the borough of Ashland purchased a tract of land on the creek in Butler Township, two miles downstream of the creek's headwaters. In 1882, some people attempted to pump water from Little Mahanoy Creek to create a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

and pipe the water to those who needed it. Little Mahanoy Creek was

polluted Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

in 1915. Around that time, it was a source of water for the borough of Ashland. In 1936, the Frackville Sewerage Company attempted to create a sewer in Frackville, but after a controversy about paying for the sewer, it was stopped, causing the pumphouse to discharge into Little Mahanoy Creek. A number of local court cases resulted from this. Discharging

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

into the creek was banned by 1938. In 2011, there was an

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

drop in Little Mahanoy Creek. There were plans to make it an annual tradition.

Fauna

Little Mahanoy Creek is a

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 ...

stream. It can be fished in year-round. The trout are stocked in the creek. For instance, 600 trout were stocked in 2001.

Rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

have also historically been observed in the creek. In 1906, there were 800 fish in the creek, including

juvenile fish Fish go through various life stages between fertilization and adulthood. The life of a fish start as spawned eggs which hatch into immotile larvae. These larval hatchlings are not yet capable of feeding themselves and carry a yolk sac which ...

, yearling fish, and adult fish.

References

{{Coord, 40.75441, -76.34457, format=dms, type:river_region:US-PA, display=title Rivers of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Mahanoy Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania