Loyalsock Creek
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Loyalsock Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed August 8, 2011
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
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 ...
located chiefly in Sullivan and Lycoming counties in
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
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.
As the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliv ...
, Lycoming County is about northwest of
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
and east-northeast of
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.


Name

The name is a corruption of a word in the language of the local indigenous peoples meaning "middle creek" (the original was something like ''Lawi-sahquick''). This refers to Loyalsock Creek's location between
Lycoming Creek Lycoming Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River located in Tioga and Lycoming counties in Pennsylvan ...
and
Muncy Creek Muncy Creek (also known as Big Muncy Creek) is a tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River in Sullivan County and Lycoming County, at Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long. The watershed of the creek has an area of . ...
, with the mouths of each about up- and downstream of the mouth of the Loyalsock. Several important trails used by the local indigenous peoples ran along parts of the Loyalsock or crossed it. Two important villages of the local indigenous peoples were located on its banks, one of which, Ots-ton-wak-in, was the home to
Madame Montour Madame Montour (1667 or c. 1685 – c. 1753) was an interpreter, diplomat, and local leader of Algonquin and French Canadian ancestry. Although she was well known, her contemporaries usually referred to her only as "Madame" or " Mrs." Montour. She ...
and her son
Andrew Montour Andrew Montour ( – 1772), also known as Sattelihu, Eghnisara,Hagedorn, 57 and Henry,Montour was also called Henry, possibly due to the similarity of sound with the French ''"Andre".'' was an important mixed Language interpretation, interpr ...
, and later became Montoursville.


Description

Loyalsock Creek is long. The
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 in western Wyoming County near the Sullivan County line, and its
confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
with the West Branch Susquehanna River is at Montoursville. The area surrounding the confluence with the Susquehanna River has been flooded numerous times over the past decade, devastating many local homes and businesses. Its main tributary is Little Loyalsock Creek, which has its confluence at Forksville in Sullivan County. The names of Forksville and the surrounding Forks Township come from the fork of the creek there. Pennsylvania receives the most
acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but acid ...
of any state in the United States. Because Loyalsock Creek is in a
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) ...
,
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 ...
, conglomerate, and
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...
mountain region, it has a relatively low capacity to neutralize added
acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...
. This makes it especially vulnerable to increased acidification from acid rain, which poses a long-term threat to the health of the plants and animals in the creek. Loyalsock Creek is used for
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 ...
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
and
whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...
kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...
ing, and the Loyalsock Trail which runs along it is an opportunity for
hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
.
Worlds End State Park Worlds End State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. The park, nearly surrounded by Loyalsock State Forest, is in the Loyalsock Creek valley on Pennsylvania Route 154 in Forks and Shrewsbury Townships southeast ...
is located on the Loyalsock in Sullivan County, near Forksville.
Pennsylvania Route 87 Pennsylvania Route 87 (PA 87) is a north–south state highway located in northern Pennsylvania. The southern terminus of the route is at exit 21 of Interstate 180 (I-180)/U.S. Route 220 (US 220) in Montoursville. The northern terminus is a ...
runs the length of the valley, following the north fork after Forksville.


Floods

The Loyalsock has flooded many times, including major floods in 1866, 1889, 1894 and 1936. The floods of 1972, 1975, 1996 and 2011 each set the record for discharge (flow of water) and stage/gauge (height of the river’s surface). Hurricanes/tropical storms are the primary cause of floods, including Lee (2011)),
Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic languages, Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John (given name), John) from Hebrew language, Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. T ...
(2004), Agnes (1972), and Eloise (1975). The second biggest flood in January 1996 was due to high rain and major snow melt. The record flood of September 8, 2011 was due to a convergence of rare events, which included moisture from three tropical cyclones: #The unusually heavy rains during the first four weeks of August. #Three to five inches of rain from
Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...
on August 28. #The extreme rains far upstream (7+ inches) from remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. #The enhanced rainfall on September 7–8 due to a moisture plume from Hurricane Katia. The Loyalsock valley is deep and narrow, and the 435 sq. miles of drainage funnel water into the narrow valley, resulting in catastrophic level rise. Millions of dollars and six people died in the 1996 and 2011 floods.


Haystacks

The Haystacks are mounds of sandstone that outcrop in Loyalsock Creek south of Dushore in Sullivan County. Geologically, they are a bed of
quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
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) ...
with an undulating upper surface, and are part of the Mississippian-
Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
Upper
Huntley Mountain Formation The Huntley Mountain Formation is a late Devonian and early Mississippian mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, in the United States. Description The formation is composed of relatively soft grayish-red shale and olive-gray sandstone. It is lo ...
.The Haystacks, "Ricketts Folly," and The End of the World: Geology of the Glaciated Allegheny High Plateau, Sullivan, Luzerne, and Columbia Counties, Pennsylvania, 71st Annual Field Conference of Pennsylvania Geologists (field trip guide book), J. D. Inners, G. M. Fleeger, eds., 2006


History


Village of Otstonwakin

Madame Montour Madame Montour (1667 or c. 1685 – c. 1753) was an interpreter, diplomat, and local leader of Algonquin and French Canadian ancestry. Although she was well known, her contemporaries usually referred to her only as "Madame" or " Mrs." Montour. She ...
's village of ''Otstonwakin'' or ''Ostuagy'' was a vitally important location during the settlement of what is now Lycoming County. She operated a trading post and supply depot, partly funded by the Pennsylvania Assembly. Her village at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek on 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 ...
, now part of Montoursville, was an important stopping point for the Moravian
missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
who were spreading the
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
throughout the wilderness of
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, ...
during the 1740s.
Count Zinzendorf Nikolaus Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf (26 May 1700 – 9 May 1760) was a German religious and social reformer, bishop of the Moravian Church, founder of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, Christian mission pioneer and a major fig ...
, a missionary being guided by
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 ...
with the permission of
Shikellamy Shikellamy (1680 - December 6, 1748), also spelled Shickellamy and also known as Swatana, was an Oneida chief and overseer for the Iroquois confederacy. In his position as chief and overseer, Shikellamy served as a supervisor for the Six Nations, ...
, came to Otstonwakin in 1742. Madame Montour was known to be a friend of the British. She welcomed the white men who were beginning to migrate into the
West Branch Susquehanna Valley The West Branch Susquehanna Valley of central Pennsylvania, United States, in the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians, is the low-lying area draining into the West Branch Susquehanna River southeast of the Allegheny Front, northeast of the Bald Eagle ...
. She also had a great amount of influence with the various Indian tribes that were feeling the pressure of colonial expansion. Madame Montour remained loyal to the British despite several attempts by the French to bring her over to their side. This was remarkable because the British colonial government sometimes went as long as a year without paying her for her services.


Rail transportation

Although lumbering was an important industry in the Loyalsock Creek watershed, railroads took little advantage of the creek valley below Forksville. One exception was the
Susquehanna and Eagles Mere Railroad The Susquehanna and Eagles Mere Railroad was a logging railroad operating from 1902 to 1930 in Sullivan and Lycoming Counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. The railroad was originally built from the Eagles Mere Railroad near Eagles Me ...
, which built down into Hillsgrove and along the creek as far as Ogdonia in 1902, before turning up Kettle Creek. It was removed in 1922. Above Forksville, the Williamsport and North Branch Railroad followed Mill Creek to reach the Loyalsock and followed it to a crossing at Ringdale. The line was built in 1893 and removed in 1938. About six miles (10 km) to the east, the town of Lopez is the largest settlement on the upper creek. Jennings Brothers Lumber Co. built a narrow-gauge logging line in the area in 1890, and another in 1891 up the creek into Wyoming County, to supply their sawmill at Lopez. In 1892, the Loyalsock Railroad crossed the creek here, building south to bring coal from the Bernice area southward to Harvey's Lake. It was promptly leased to the
Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, w ...
and became part of the Bowmans Creek Branch. At the same time, the Loyalsock Railroad also built a branch along the Loyalsock downstream from Lopez to Ellis Creek, where it turned south to reach a tannery at Thorndale. This branch was removed in 1898. However, Jennings Bros. continued to operate, standard-gauging their rail line about 1900 and building up the Loyalsock as far as Shumans Lake, where their line headed up Cold Run towards High Cobble and the Dutch Mountain area. The logging railroad was finally removed in 1905 when Jennings Bros. relocated to Maryland, but was partly resurrected in 1911. Stony Brook Lumber Co. used the old grade as far as Santee Run, then turned north towards Crane Swamp. This line was removed in 1916. Traffic gradually dwindled on the Lehigh Valley; their line south of Lopez was abandoned in 1939, and it was cut back to Bernice in 1944. Abandonment of the line to Lopez marked the end of rail traffic on the Loyalsock, except for the
Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly calle ...
crossing near its mouth at Montoursville. The bridge there is now owned by the
Lycoming Valley Railroad The Lycoming Valley Railroad is a short line that operates of track in Lycoming and Clinton counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. It is part of the North Shore Railroad System. The line runs generally west between Muncy (in ...
. The original Reading bridge was destroyed by flooding from Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 and removed. Its replacement was opened for service on August 13, 2014.


See also

*
List of rivers of Pennsylvania This is a list of streams and rivers in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. By drainage basin This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name. Delaware Bay Chesapeake Bay *''E ...


References


External links


U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stations
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081224083645/http://www.chesapeakebay.net/wspv31/(3fwefm55tzka3q45qloiyxbu)/WspAbout.aspx?basno=177&topic=5 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Page on the Loyalsock Creek watershed from the source to Little Loyalsock Creek]
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Page on the Loyalsock Creek watershed from Little Loyalsock Creek to the mouth

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Page on the Little Loyalsock Creek watershedOfficial Lycoming County Map showing all townships, villages, boroughs, cities, county roads, rivers, creeks, and some streams
(copyright expired) {{authority control Tributaries of the West Branch Susquehanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania Rivers of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Sullivan County, Pennsylvania