Stranger Hollow (also known as Stranger's Hollow) is a tributary of

Catawissa Creek Catawissa Creek (colloquially known as The Cat) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in east-central Pennsylvania in th ...

Columbia County, Pennsylvania Columbia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,727. Its county seat is Bloomsburg. The county was created on March 22, 1813, from part ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Beaver Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The stream is considered to be a coldwater fishery. The main rock formations in the stream's watershed are the Mauch Chunk Formation and the Pocono Formation and the main soils are the Leck Kill soil and the Hazleton soil. Historically the

Catawissa Railroad The Catawissa Railroad was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania between 1860 and 1953. For most of its lifespan it was leased by the Reading Company, and was subsequently merged into the Reading. History The original company was chartered as ...

and the

Philadelphia and Reading Railway The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

crossed over the stream.

Course

Stranger Hollow begins on

Catawissa Mountain Catawissa Mountain is a mountain in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Its peak height is above sea level, making it the fifth-highest mountain in Columbia County. Streams that flow near the mountain include Roaring Creek, Cataw ...

in Beaver Township. It flows east for a few tenths of a mile and enters a valley. It eventually turns northeast for another few tenths of a mile before reaching its confluence with Catawissa Creek. Stranger Hollow joins Catawissa Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Stranger Hollow has no tributaries, named or unnamed.

Hydrology

Stranger Hollow is considered to be impaired by atmospheric deposition due to pH. The pH of the stream is unknown.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the mouth of Stranger Hollow 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 at its source is between and . The lower reaches of Stranger Hollow are on rock of the

Mauch Chunk Formation The Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is named for the township of Mauch Chunk, now known as borough of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania and for nearby Mauch Chunk Ridge where th ...

. The rest of the stream is on rock of the

Pocono Formation The Mississippian Pocono Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, in the United States. It is also known as the Pocono Group in Maryland and West Virginia, and the upper part of the Pocono Formation is somet ...

. The lower reaches of the stream are on Leck Kill

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

and the rest of the stream is on Hazleton soil. Stranger Hollow has an extremely high gradient of per .

Watershed and history

The watershed of Stranger Hollow has an area of . Most of the watershed is in Beaver Township, but a small portion on its western side is in Roaring Creek Township. The headwaters of the stream are in

Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 58 Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 58 are Pennsylvania State Game Lands in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. They are one of six State Game Lands in Columbia County and Montour County and are the second-largest of those State ...

, as is most of the rest of the watershed. The watershed is almost entirely on forested land. It is in the Shumans

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, ...

quadrant. It is difficult to access Stranger Hollow and no portion of the stream is within of a road. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of the watershed of Stranger Hollow was 10 people per square kilometer in 1990. In the late 1800s, a

railroad bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

carrying the

crossed Stranger Hollow. This bridge was known as the Stranger's Hollow Bridge and was high. The Catawissa Railroad bridge over the stream was long and high. An 1862 article described the view from the

near the stream as a "most striking and characteristic view".

Biology

Stranger Hollow is considered by the

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws. ...

to be a coldwater fishery.

References

External links

Map of the watershed of Catawissa Creek
{{authority control Rivers of Columbia County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of Catawissa Creek Rivers of Pennsylvania