Mill Creek is a tributary of Reilly 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 Dennison Township. The creek flows through a number of ponds, at least one of which has a dam. There are relatively few roads in the watershed of the creek and the significant majority of the watershed is forested land. The creek is named, but has not been assessed.

Course

Mill Creek begins in southeastern Dennison Township, not far from the community of White Haven. It flows north-northwest for a short distance before turning west-northwest for more than a mile, passing through a large

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 ...

and then a much smaller pond. The creek eventually turns abruptly north for a few tenths of a mile and then turns north-northwest, passing through Bryants Pond and meandering between Pine Mountain and Maple Ridge. A short distance further downstream, it reaches its confluence with Reilly Creek.

Tributaries

Mill Creek was no named tributaries. However, it has one unnamed tributary, which enters the creek from the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Mill Creek 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 standardised g ...

. The elevation near the creek's source is between and above sea level. The creek is considerably longer than Reilly Creek, which it is a tributary of. There are several

rock formation A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock formation'' can also refer to specific sediment ...

s in the vicinity of Mill Creek. These include the

Mauch Chunk Formation The Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is named for the township of Mauch Chunk, now known as borough of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania and for nearby Mauch Chunk Ridge where th ...

, the

Pocono Formation The Mississippian Pocono Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, in the United States. It is also known as the Pocono Group in Maryland and West Virginia, and the upper part of the Pocono Formation is somet ...

, and the Sherman Creek Member of the

Catskill Formation The Devonian Catskill Formation or the Catskill Clastic wedge is a unit of mostly terrestrial sedimentary rock found in Pennsylvania and New York. Minor marine layers exist in this thick rock unit (up to ). It is equivalent to the Hampshire Form ...

. Additionally, several

wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

are found in the vicinity of the creek. A

with a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

known as the Ray T. Mantz Dam is situated on Mill Creek. The Ray T. Mantz Dam is in the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of White Haven and is not accessible to the public.

Watershed

Both the mouth and the source of Mill Creek are 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 White Haven. The creek's watershed is in the northeastern part of the watershed of

Nescopeck Creek Nescopeck 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 Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The creek is in the Coal Region of ...

. There are less than of

state route A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

s in the watershed of Mill Creek. There are only a few miles of

local road The road hierarchy categorizes roads according to their functions and capacities. While sources differ on the exact nomenclature, the basic hierarchy comprises freeways, arterials, collectors, and local roads. Generally, the functional hierarchy ...

s in the creek's watershed. The watershed of the creek has less than 80 percent

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

coverage. The watershed is adjacent to the watersheds of Reilly Creek and Long Hollow.

History

Mill Creek was added to 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 1181129. Mill Creek, along with Reilly Creek, which Mill Creek is a tributary to, is on the list of streams that are named, but are not assessed.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Pennsylvania Tributaries of Nescopeck Creek