Mill 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 drainage ...

of 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 ...

, long, in western

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Via the Ohio, it is part of 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 the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, draining an area of on the

unglaciated A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

portion of the

Allegheny Plateau The Allegheny Plateau , in the United States, is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio. It is divide ...

. According 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 ...

, it has also been known historically as Big Mill Creek. Mill Creek is formed approximately east of the city of Ripley in central Jackson County by the confluence of streams known as the Elk Fork and Little Mill Creek. The Elk Fork, long, rises in western Roane County and flows generally northwestward. Little Mill Creek, long, rises in northwestern Roane County and flows generally westward. Shortly downstream of their confluence, Mill Creek collects an long tributary known as the Tug Fork, which is formed in southern Jackson County by the confluence of the Bear Fork and Grasslick Creek, and flows northwestward, past the community of Statts Mills, joining Mill Creek from the south. Mill Creek flows generally west-northwestward in a winding course through central and western Jackson County, through the city of Ripley, which may have been named for Harry Ripley, a traveling preacher said to have drowned in the creek in 1830. Downstream of Ripley, the stream passes through a broad valley in the vicinity of the community of Cottageville and flows into the Ohio River at the community of Millwood. Approximately the lowermost of the stream consists of

backwater Backwater or Backwaters may refer to: Music * ''Backwaters'' (album), a 1982 album by American guitarist Tony Rice * Backwater (band), a jazz fusion band from Mobile, Alabama, or this band's 1976 debut album * "Backwater", a song by Brian Eno fro ...

caused by damming of the Ohio. A commercial port facility is located on the creek near its mouth, handling limestone, sand, gravel, aluminum, and salt. According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, approximately 74% of the Mill Creek watershed is

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' ...

ed, mainly

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

. Approximately 25% is used for agriculture and pasture, and less than 1% is urban.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mill Creek (Western West Virginia) Rivers of Jackson County, West Virginia Rivers of West Virginia Tributaries of the Ohio River

See also

References