Pine Creek is a tributary of Huntington Creek in

Luzerne County 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 ...

and Columbia County, in

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

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. It is approximately long and flows through Fairmont Township, Huntington Township, and New Columbus in Luzerne County; and Fishing Creek Township in Columbia County. The creek's watershed has an area of 30.7 square miles and is located in Columbia and Luzerne Counties. Its tributaries include Bell Branch and Little Pine Creek. The vicinity of the creek was settled in the late 1700s. The main industries in the watershed in the early 1900s were timber and agriculture. Pine Creek is designated as a coldwater fishery and a migratory fishery. Northern myotis bats also inhabit areas near the creek.

Course

Pine Creek begins in western Fairmount Township, Luzerne County, near the border between Luzerne County and Columbia County. It flows southeast for a few miles, entering a valley and receiving the tributaries Brish Run and Wasp Branch. The creek then turns south, passing near Red Hill. Further downstream, it enters Huntington Township. Shortly after entering this township, the creek picks up Bell Creek and continues south, crossing

Pennsylvania Route 239 Pennsylvania Route 239 (PA 239) is a state highway located in Luzerne, Columbia and Lycoming Counties in Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is at PA 93 in Nescopeck Township. The northern terminus is at PA 42 in North ...

and entering the borough of New Columbus. On the southern side of New Columbus, the creek leaves Luzerne County and enters Columbia County. Upon entering Columbia County, Pine Creek begins flowing through Fishing Creek Township. It makes several

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...

s before making a final turn south and reaching its confluence with Huntington Creek in the community of

Jonestown The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name "Jonestown", was a remote settlement in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, a U.S.–based cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. Jonestown became internationall ...

. Pine Creek joins Huntington Creek of its mouth.

Tributaries

Tributaries of Pine Creek include

Brish Run Brish Run is a tributary of Pine Creek (Huntington Creek), Pine Creek in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is approximately long and flows through Fairmount Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Fairmount Township. The watershed of ...

Wasp Branch Wasp Branch is a tributary of Pine Creek in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Fairmount Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The stream is considered to be Class A Wi ...

, Bell Creek, Spring Branch, and

Little Pine Creek Little Pine Creek is a tributary of Pine Creek in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Pine Township and Cummings Township. Course Little Pine Creek begins at the confluence of Texas C ...

. Little Pine Creek has a watershed area of 7.15 square miles and joins Pine Creek upstream of its mouth.

Geography, geology, and climate

The watershed of Pine Creek has been described as "rough and hilly". Its valley is narrow and the hills around it are steep. The creek's

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 ...

sinuous Sinuosity, sinuosity index, or sinuosity coefficient of a continuously differentiable curve having at least one inflection point is the ratio of the curvilinear length (along the curve) and the Euclidean distance (straight line) between the ...

. The channel of Pine Creek goes through

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) ...

. upstream of its mouth, the elevation of Pine Creek is above sea level. upstream of the mouth, the elevation is above sea level. At its mouth, the creek's elevation is above sea level. On average, the annual level of precipitation in the vicinity of Pine Creek ranges from .

Watershed

The watershed of Pine Creek has an area of 30.7 square miles. It is located in northeastern Columbia County and northwestern Luzerne County. The uppermost reaches of the watershed are on North Mountain. Communities in the watershed of Pine Creek include

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, New Columbus, and Fairmount Springs. In 1921, these communities had populations of 213, 175, and 100, respectively.

History

Johnathan Westover, an early settler of Huntington Township, Luzerne County settled in the northwestern part of the township, near Pine Creek. Abram Dodder, a member of the second family to inhabit Fishing Creek Township, in Columbia County, settled on the creek in 1786. His father arrived there in 1788. In 1814, Pine Creek was designated as a public highway between 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 ...

belonging to Amos Buckalew in Columbia County and a location near Johnathan Westover's sawmill in Huntington Township, Luzerne County. The August 19, 1890 Wilkes-Barre tornado, passed by the creek, where it had a smell resembling

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

. The tornado was moving at approximately per hour at this point. A

woolen mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods s ...

was built on Little Pine Creek, a tributary of Pine Creek, circa 1820. In the 1800s, D. Chatfield Brittain owned a 62-acre tract of forest on Pine Creek. In the early 1900s, industries in the vicinity of Pine Creek included

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

Biology

The northern myotis bat was observed to be living on Pine Creek in 1999. The exact population of the bats here is not known. Pine Creek is designated as a coldwater fishery and a migratory fishery. The

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) is a private nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1932 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. WPC has contributed land to 12 state parks and conserved more than a quarter million acres o ...

has recommended the creation of

riparian buffer A riparian buffer or stream buffer is a vegetated area (a "buffer strip") near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect the stream from the impact of adjacent land uses. It plays a key role in increasing water quality i ...

s along several miles of Pine Creek and its tributaries.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Columbia County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Fishing Creek (North Branch Susquehanna River) Rivers of Pennsylvania