Massac Creek is a small stream found in

McCracken County, Kentucky McCracken County is a county located in the far western portion of U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,875. The county seat and only municipality is Paducah. McCracken County was the 78th county formed in the st ...

, running west of

Paducah Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...

. It is considered to be a great creek to kayak, fish, and swim. The creek runs for .U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed May 13, 2011 Massac Creek gets its name from

Massac County, Illinois Massac County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 15,429. Established in 1843 and named for a French fort founded in the 18th century, its county seat is Metropolis. Massac County is ...

, where it empties into the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

. The source of the creek is located near

Saint Johns, Kentucky Saint Johns is an unincorporated community in McCracken County, Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It b ...

. It has one major branch known as Little Massac Creek. The creek is home to many species of fish, including

gar Gars are members of the family Lepisosteidae, which are the only surviving members of the Ginglymodi, an ancient holosteian group of ray-finned fish, which first appeared during the Triassic, over 240 million years ago. Gars comprise seven livin ...

and

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

. Little Massac Creek has greater biodiversity due to less development and run off than the main creek. Massac Creek was named and charted in the 1830s or 1840s when Paducah was founded. For many years it was used to power a saw mill known as Maxon Saw Mill.

References

Rivers of Kentucky Rivers of McCracken County, Kentucky {{Kentucky-river-stub

See also

References