Panther Creek is a west-draining left-bank

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

Little Schuylkill River The Little Schuylkill River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Schuylkill River in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It rises south of McAdoo He ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

and rises in the vicinity of the east side of Lansford in the plateau-like nearly flat terrain of the complex three-way

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

between Mount Pisgah to its east,

Nesquehoning Ridge Nesquehoning may refer to the following places in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania: *Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania, a borough in Carbon County ** Nesquehoning High School, in the above borough *Nesquehoning Creek, a tributary of the Lehigh River *Nesqu ...

to the north and

Pisgah Ridge The name Pisgah may refer to: *Mount Pisgah (Bible) Places In the United States Communities * Pisgah, Alabama, a town * Pisgah, Georgia, an unincorporated community *Pisgah, Iowa, a city * Pisgah, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Pisgah, Ke ...

to the south, both ridgelines flanking its entire course as it makes its way ENE-to-WSW. The creek's valley is historically and industrially important having been mostly owned by the historically significant

Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and i ...

which eventually built the Panther Creek Railroad from Lansford to Tamaqua and the

Hauto Tunnel The Hauto Tunnel, dug in 1871–72, was a single-track railway tunnel crossing under the barrier ridge of Nesquehoning Mountain between Lansford, Pennsylvania, in the Panther Creek Valley and the Central Railroad of New Jersey trackage near the ...

to haul coal from the copious anthracite deposits,

collieries Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...

, and

coal breaker A coal breaker is a coal processing plant which breaks coal into various useful sizes. Coal breakers also remove impurities from the coal (typically slate) and deposit them into a culm dump. The coal breaker is a forerunner of the modern coal pre ...

s along an easier route than up and over the mountains to

Mauch Chunk Jim Thorpe is a borough and the county seat of Carbon County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is historically known as the burial site of Native American sports legend Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe is ...

and the

Lehigh Canal The Lehigh Canal, or the Lehigh Navigation Canal, is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of twenty years, beginning in 1818. The low ...

via

Summit Hill, PA Summit Hill is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 3,034 at the 2010 census. Summit Hill has a storied history as the western terminus of the United States' second operational r ...

and the

Mauch Chunk & Summit Hill Railway The Mauch Chunk and Summit Railroad was a coal-hauling railroad in the mountains of Pennsylvania that operated between 1828 and 1932. It was the first operational railway, in the United States, of any substantial length to carry paying passenger ...

, North America's second oldest operational railroad and both its first Gravity & Switchback railroads. The coal seams of the valley were the first deposits discovered and exploited by any company beginning with surface deposits along the south ridge leading to the founding of Summit Hill, then Lansford in western Carbon County, then the downstream towns of Coaldale and Tamaqua in eastern Schuylkill County. Today the ''so called 'New Company','' a leaned-down and reorganized Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company (note the slight title change) still mines the coal deposits in the valley and owns all of its mineral rights. As they mine above Panther Creek the creek has been heavily polluted over the years. How a company can take a natural resource that should belong to everyone and destroy it without retrobution is something that cannot continue to happen. In recent years creeks and rivers have been being rehabilitated and this wonderful little creek should be brought back to life.

References

External links

Little Beaver Creek Land Foundation
Rivers of Pennsylvania Rivers of Carbon County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Schuylkill River {{Pennsylvania-river-stub

See also

References

External links