Wetzel 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 Kern Run in

Snyder County, Pennsylvania Snyder County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,736. The county seat is Middleburg. Snyder County was formed in 1855 from parts of Union County. Snyder County comprises the Selin ...

, 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 crossed by a bridge carrying US Route 522. Wild

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

naturally reproduce in Wetzel Run.

Course

Wetzel Run begins on a large ridge in Beaver Township. It flows northwest for several tenths of a mile before turning north-northeast for several tenths of a mile, receiving an unnamed tributary from the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

. It then turns north-northwest for a few tenths of a mile before turning northeast for several tenths of a mile, receiving another unnamed tributary from the right and reaching the bottom of the ridge. The stream then turns north for a few tenths of a mile before turning northwest. After several tenths of a mile, the stream turns west and then north-northwest, crossing US Route 522 and approaching Thomas Ridge. Here, the stream disappears from the surface and turns west for several tenths of a mile before reaching its confluence with Kern Run. Wetzel Run joins Kern Run upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology, 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 Wetzel 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 above sea level. Beaverton Finishing Farm has or had a

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...

permit for which the receiving stream was Wetzel Run.

Watershed

The

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of Wetzel Run has an area of . The mouth of the stream 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 Beavertown. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Beaver Springs. The stream's mouth is situated near Beavertown.

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing has been known to occur on Wetzel Run near the borough of Beavertown and in Beaver Township.

History

Wetzel 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 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1191196. A

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 US Route 522 over Wetzel Run was built in 1927. The bridge was a relatively narrow, single-span concrete bridge with a length of . Eventually, the bridge deteriorated to become functionally obsolete and was replaced in 2012 for $456,000. The new bridge had two wide lanes and wide shoulders and is a precast concrete box

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

bridge. The new bridge opened for traffic on August 27, 2012 and is predicted to last at least 50 years.

Biology

Wild

naturally reproduce in Wetzel Run for of its length.

References