Laurel Run (also known as Laurel Run 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 drai ...

of Mill Creek in

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county by total area. As of ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Bear Creek Township, Laurel Run, Plains Township, and

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...

. The watershed of the stream has an area of . It is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and part of it is inhabited by wild trout. Various mills were built on the stream in the 19th century and it was also historically used as a water supply. A number of bridges have also been built across it.

Course

Laurel Run begins on a mountain, called Rui Wang, in Bear Creek Township. It flows northeast for a few tenths of a mile before turning northwest and entering a deep valley. The stream then flows north-northwest for more than a mile, entering the borough of Laurel Run. It then enters another valley and turns northeast for a few miles, entering Plains Township. In Plains Township, it receives its only named tributary, Deep Hollow. The stream then turns north and begins flowing near

Pennsylvania Route 115 Pennsylvania Route 115 (PA 115) is a north–south state highway in eastern Pennsylvania. It stretches from U.S. Route 209 (US 209) in Brodheadsville, Monroe County, northwest to Interstate 81 (I-81) and PA 309 ...

as its valley becomes much narrower. After a short distance, it turns north-northeast and then turns west-northwest, passing through Meadow Run Lake and crossing

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 Isla ...

Pennsylvania Route 309 Pennsylvania Route 309 (PA 309) is a state highway that runs for 134 miles (216 km) through eastern Pennsylvania. The route runs from an interchange between PA 611 and Cheltenham Avenue on the border of Philadelphia and Cheltenham Township n ...

and Pennsylvania Route 115. A short distance further downstream, it crosses

Pennsylvania Route 315 Pennsylvania Route 315 (PA 315) is an state highway located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is at an interchange with the PA 309 freeway and the northern terminus of PA 309 Business (PA 309 Bus.) in Wilkes-Barre. The ...

and enters Wilkes-Barre. After a few tenths of a mile, it turns east for several tenths of a mile. The stream then turns northwest and reaches its confluence with Mill Creek after a few tenths of a mile. Laurel Run joins Mill Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Laurel Run has one named tributary, which is known as Deep Hollow. Deep Hollow joins Laurel Run upstream of its mouth. Its watershed has an area of .

Hydrology

The peak annual discharge of Laurel Run at its mouth has a 10 percent chance of reaching per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching per second.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Laurel 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 standardise ...

. 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 between above sea level. There are

outfall An outfall is the discharge point of a waste stream into a body of water; alternatively it may be the outlet of a river, drain or a sewer where it discharges into the sea, a lake or ocean. In the United States, industrial facilities that discha ...

s on Laurel Run in several places: Trethaway Street, the Mill Street bridge, and the Scott Street bridge. It also has a

retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

in some places. The stream flows between Wyoming Mountain and Wilkes-Barre Mountain for part of its course. It also flows through the Laurel Run Gap.

Watershed

The watershed of Laurel Run has an area of . The watershed encompasses much of the southern part of the watershed of Mill Creek. It occupies portions of Bear Creek Township, Plains Township, Laurel Run, and Wilkes-Barre. The mouth of the stream is 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 Pittston. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Wilkes-Barre East. Laurel Run is one of the major tributaries of Mill Creek.

History

Laurel 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 1179019. Hezekaiah Parsons built a cloth-dressing mill on Laurel Run in the early 1800s, some time in or after 1813. John Holgate constructed a turning-mill on the stream in 1832. Jehoida P. Johnson constructed a small

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

on Laurel Run in 1817. During part of the 1820s, it also operated alongside a distillery. The mill was expanded in 1843 and a

powder mill A powder mill was a mill where gunpowder is made from sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal. Milling steps Crude grinding and mixing operations such as the Frankford Powder-Mill of Philadelphia were a cottage industry until the industrial revolution ...

nearby was built in 1844. However, the powder mill exploded in 1848 and destroyed the mill, which was never rebuilt. The 1909 book ''A History of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania'' described Laurel Run as being "of considerable size and importance up to about thirty years ago". However, in modern times, it is a "trickling flow of water". Historically, the stream was used as a

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

by the Wilkes-Barre Water Company. A concrete slab bridge carrying State Route 2020/Scott Street was built over Laurel Run in 1929. It is long and is in Wilkes-Barre. A concrete culvert bridge carrying Interstate 81 over the stream was built in 1963. It is long and its situated in Plains Township. Another bridge of the same type, but with two spans, was built over the stream in 1991. It is long. Another two-span concrete culvert bridge was built over the stream in Wilkes-Barre in 1991. It is long. Laurel Run experienced a flash flood in 2006, causing significant damage to areas such as Scott Street. A $2,000,000, six-phase cleanup project was later announced. The first phase of this cleanup effort was a $360,000 project done by the Slusser Brothers. In 2015, the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition of Abandoned Mine Reclamation received a $5000 grant from the Coldwater Heritage Partnership to assess the effects of

acid mine drainage Acid mine drainage, acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), or acid rock drainage (ARD) is the outflow of acidic water from metal mines or coal mines. Acid rock drainage occurs naturally within some environments as part of the rock weathering ...

and AML to Laurel Run and to study the stream's natural trout populations.

Biology

Laurel Run is designated as a Coldwater Fishery. 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-salm ...

naturally reproduce in the stream in a stretch running from its headwaters to the Colebrook Dam. This stretch is long.

References

External links

Google Street View image of Laurel RunThe confluence of Laurel Run (right) with Mill Creek
{{authority control Rivers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania