Muddy Run looking downstream in Northumberland County

Muddy Run 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

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 ...

in Northumberland County,

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

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 ...

. It is in length. The creek is several miles northeast of the community of

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

. Main land uses include agricultural land and forest. The area of the creek's watershed is , most of which is agricultural land. Muddy Run is entirely within Turbot Township. Most of the rock in the watershed is shale. The most common soil series is the Berks-Weikert-Bedington series.

Course

Muddy_Run_looking_upstream_in_Northumberland_County

Muddy Run begins in a valley in eastern Turbot Township, near the Paradise Church. The creek heads westward before turning south and then southwest. It crosses under

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

and turns due west again. After some distance, the creek crosses under

Pennsylvania Route 147 Pennsylvania Route 147 (PA 147) is a north–south route that runs for along the east shore of the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania, United States. The southern terminus is at an interchange with U.S. Route 22 (US 22)/US 322 in Re ...

and turns northwest past a country club. North of the country club, it turns abruptly north and then west again, crossing under

Pennsylvania Route 405 Pennsylvania Route 405 (PA 405) is a state highway that runs in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The southern terminus of PA 61 in Sunbury. The route heads across the Susquehanna River to Northumberland and ...

and entering the West Branch Susquehanna River.

Tributaries

Muddy Run's main tributaries are unnamed.

Hydrology

The Hoeganaes Corporation, in the northwestern part of the watershed, is the only entity permitted to discharge

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

in the Muddy Run watershed. There is a total daily load of of sediment. comes from cropland, comes from the banks of streams, and comes from land used for hay or pastures. A total of comes from developed land, comes from forests, and comes from wetlands. The average annual amount of precipitation between the early 1990s and the early 2010s was . The average amount of annual runoff during the same time period was .

Geology

In the Muddy Run watershed, 90% of the rock is shale from the Bloomsburg/Mifflinburg Formation Undivided and the

Wills Creek Formation Wills Creek Formation is a mapped Silurian bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Description The Wills Creek is defined as a moderately well bedded greenish-gray shale containing local limestone and sandstone zon ...

. The remaining 10% is composed of

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

from the Keyser/Tonoloway Formation Undivided. Most of the western part of the watershed is on the Bloomsburg/Mifflinburg Formation Undivided, with the exception of a band in the central-western part of the watershed, which is on the Wills Creek Formation. The Keyser/Tonoloway Formation Undivided occurs in an area in the northeastern part of the watershed. The rest of the watershed is on the Wills Creek Formation. The main soil series in the Muddy Run watershed is the Berks-Weikert-Bedington, which is a silt-

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

with shale. Other soil types in the watershed include the Chenango-Pope-Holly series, the Hagerstown-Edom-Washington series, and the Leck Kill-Meckesville-Calvin series. The Berks-Weikert-Bedington series occurs in the central and northwestern part of the watershed. The Chenango-Pope-Holly series is found in an area in the extreme western area of the watershed. The Hagerstown-Edom-Washington series is found in the eastern section of the watershed. The Leck Kill-Meckesville-Calvin soil series occurs in the southwestern and north-central areas of the watershed. The

stream bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...

s of Muddy Run are eroded in some locations. The elevation of the creek at its mouth is above sea level.

Watershed

The area of the Muddy Run watershed is approximately . 75% of the watershed is devoted to agriculture 15% is

forested 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' ...

, and 10% is developed. In specific, 3402.6 acres of the watershed are for growing crops, 2083.1 acres are for hay or

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

s, 1045.3 acres are forest, and 630.1 acres are considered "low-intensity development" by the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

. 93.9 acres are turf, 37.1 acres are considered "transition" by the Environmental Protection Agency, and 17.3 acres are

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

. Much of the forest and developed land is in the western half of the watershed. The main roads in the Muddy Run watershed are Interstate 80, Pennsylvania Route 147 in the western part of the watershed, and a number of township roads throughout the watershed. The watershed occupies part of Milton Township, Turbot Township, Delaware Township in Northumberland County. It also occupies a small area of western Limestone Township, in

Montour County Montour County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,136. Its county seat is Danville. The county is named for Andrew Montour, a prominent Mét ...

History

The first mill in Turbot Township was built on Muddy Run by Hawkins Boone some time before 1779. In 1785, Cornelius Waldron and his son Laffert arrived at the mouth of Muddy Run. Laffert Waldron later purchased a tract of farmland on the creek. In 1840, Abraham Straub moved a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

to a location on the creek. The Muddy Run school was historically located on Muddy Run. Fort Boone was built at the mouth of Muddy Run. Part of the area Muddy Run flowed through was historically referred to as "Paradise".

Biology

There are no riparian buffers in certain areas along Muddy Run. Livestock such as cattle have unlimited access to the creek in some places.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the West Branch Susquehanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania