Mill Run (also known as Osterhout Creek or Osterhouts 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

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

Wyoming County, Pennsylvania Wyoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,069. Its county seat is Tunkhannock. It was created in 1842 from part of Luzerne County. W ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Tunkhannock Township and Overfield Township. The stream is not designated as an impaired waterbody. In its upper reaches, it flows through glacial drift, while in its lower reaches, it passes over a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

. Lakes in the stream's watershed include Flow Pond. A number of bridges have been constructed over Mill Run. A

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

also used to be located on the stream. The stream's drainage basin is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

Course

Mill Run begins in a lake between Middle Mountain and Osterhout Mountain in Tunkhannock Township. It flows in a southerly direction for several tenths of a mile before entering Flow Pond. From the southern end of the pond, it flows south-southwest past German Hill for several tenths of a mile before entering a valley between Osterhout Mountain and Greenwood Hill. Here, the stream turns west and flows alongside

Pennsylvania Route 307 Pennsylvania Route 307 (PA 307) is a north–south route of the Pennsylvania Highway System that runs for . The southern terminus is PA 435 in Covington Township and the northern terminus is PA 92 in Tunkhannock Township. The highway is ...

for several tenths of a mile, crossing it twice. It then turns south-southwest for a few tenths of a mile, crossing Pennsylvania Route 307, leaving its valley, crossing

Pennsylvania Route 92 Pennsylvania Route 92 (PA 92) is a north–south state highway located in northeast Pennsylvania. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 11 (US 11) in West Pittston. The northern terminus is at the New York-Pennsylvania border in ...

, and reaching its confluence with the Susquehanna River at La Grange Island. Mill Run joins the Susquehanna River upriver of its mouth.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

of Mill 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 standardised g ...

. The elevation of the stream'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. The width of Mill Run at the outlet of Flow Pond is and its depth is . At the inlet of the pond, the stream is wide and deep. The upper reaches of the creek are relatively slow-moving. At the outflow of Flow Pond, the

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

of Mill Run is clean and rocky. Upstream of the pond, the channel is clean and marshy. In its upper reaches, the stream flows over

glacial drift In geology, drift is a name for all sediment (clay, silt, sand, gravel, boulders) transported by a glacier and deposited directly by or from the ice, or by glacial meltwater. Drift is often subdivided into (unsorted and) unstratified drift (glaci ...

in a

buried valley A buried valley is an ancient river or stream valley that has been filled with glacial or unconsolidated sediment. This sediment is made up of predominantly gravel and sand, with some silt and clay. These types of sediments can often store and trans ...

. However, it cuts through the drift approximately upstream of its mouth. In the lower reaches of Mill Run, the stream flows over some cascades with a height of . In an 1887 book, these cascades were said to give the stream "splendid"

water power Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a wa ...

. A preglacial valley also occurs in the stream's watershed. The watershed is separated from Lake Winola by a wall of glacial drift with a height of . Rock types in the vicinity of Mill Run include green and greenish-gray

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) ...

, red

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 ...

, and others. The

surficial geology Superficial deposits (or surficial deposits) refer to geological deposits typically of Quaternary age (less than 2.6 million years old). These geologically recent unconsolidated sediments may include stream channel and floodplain deposits, beach ...

in the vicinity of the lower reaches of Mill Run mainly consists of Wisconsinan

Till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

. However, there is

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

and fill near its mouth.

Hydrology and watershed

Mill Run is not designated as an impaired waterbody. The mouth of Mill Run 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 Tunkhannock. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Factoryville. The designated use of the stream is for

aquatic life An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem formed by surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The two ...

. An artificial lake known as Flow Pond or Osterhout Lake is situated on Mill Run. The lake has an area of .

History

Mill 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 30, 1990. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1168013. The stream is also known as Osterhout Creek or Osterhouts Creek. The former name appears in a 1946 United States Geological Survey map, while the latter name appears in Israel C. White's 1883 book ''The geology of the North Branch Susquehanna River Region in the six counties of Wyoming, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Columbia, Montour and Northumberland''. Historically a

known as Osterhout and Jenkins Sawmill existed on Mill Run. A vein of semi-

bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...

was discovered near the stream in 1877. Two concrete

tee beam A T-beam (or tee beam), used in construction, is a load-bearing structure of reinforced concrete, wood or metal, with a -shaped cross section. The top of the -shaped cross section serves as a flange or compression member in resisting compressiv ...

bridges carrying

over Mill Run were constructed in Tunkhannock Township in 1925 and are long. A concrete frame bridge carrying the same highway over the stream was built in Tunkhannock Township in 1992 and is long. In January 2014, bridge replacement work on two bridges crossing Mil Run was scheduled for completion by December of that year.

Biology

The drainage basin of Mill Run is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. 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 ...

historically stocked the stream with

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

References

External links

Osterhout Falls on Mill Run
{{authority control Rivers of Wyoming County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania