Wills Creek 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

Muskingum River The Muskingum River (Shawnee: ') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country o ...

, 92.2 mi (148.4 km) long, in eastern

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

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 ...

. Via the Muskingum and

Rivers, it is part of 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 the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. It drains an area of 853 mi² (2,209 km²).Ohio Department of Natural Resources
''A Guide to Ohio Streams.''Chapter 10: Major Ohio Watersheds (pdf)
/ref> The

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

settled on "Wills Creek" as the stream's name in 1963. According to 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 ...

, it has also been known historically as "Cou-wach-en-ink" and as "Will's Creek." Wills Creek is formed by a confluence of short forks near Pleasant City in southern

Guernsey County Guernsey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,438. Its county seat is Cambridge, and it is named for the Isle of Guernsey in the English Channel, from which many of the county's earl ...

, and initially flows northwardly through Byesville,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and Kimbolton. Near Kimbolton it turns westwardly and flows through southeastern Coshocton and northeastern Muskingum Counties, past Plainfield, to its mouth at the Muskingum River,

DeLorme DeLorme is the producer of personal satellite tracking, messaging, and navigation technology. The company’s main product, ''inReach'', integrates GPS and satellite technologies. ''inReach'' provides the ability to send and receive text messages ...

(1991). ''Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 8 mi (13 km) south of the city of Coshocton. Near its mouth, a flood-control

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

causes the creek to form Wills Creek Lake.

2005 flood

On January 16, 2005 the Wills Creek Dam became the only dam in the Army Corps of Engineers Huntington District's history (established 1938) to reach its spillway elevation and have water flow uncontrolled over the top of the spillway. On that day Wills Creek Lake was above its normal level of 749 feet (above sea level), and spanned , causing it to be the largest man-made lake in the state of Ohio. This extreme event was caused by an average of 5-8 inches of rain falling over Central Indiana and Ohio during January 4–14, 2005. This rain combined with snow melt and saturated ground to produce record breaking runoff. Other reservoirs in the Huntington District also set pool level records, including Alum Creek, Deer Creek,

Delaware Lake Delaware Lake is a small lake north of Long Eddy in Delaware County, New York. It drains south via an unnamed creek which flows into Hoolihan Brook. It was once referred to as Perch Pond See also * List of lakes in New York This is a list of la ...

, Paint Creek,

Atwood Lake Atwood Lake is a reservoir located in Tuscarawas and Carroll counties in east central Ohio. The lake is formed by Atwood Dam across Indian Fork, a tributary of Conotton Creek. The lake is named for the community of Atwood which was purchase ...

, Bolivar Dam,

Charles Mill Lake Charles Mill is a reservoir located in central Ohio near the junction of State Routes 430 and 603. Charles Mill Lake is a quiet and enjoyable place for boating, camping, fishing, hunting, or hiking. The lake is located in both Richland County (n ...

Dillon Lake Dillon Lake is a reservoir in Muskingum County, Ohio Muskingum County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,410. Its county seat is Zanesville. Nearly bisected by the Muskingum River, t ...

Dover Dam Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

and

Mohawk Dam Mohawk Dam, located in Jefferson Township, Coshocton County, Ohio northwest of Nellie, is a dry dam constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in the mid-1930s for the purpose of flood control on the Walhonding River. The ...

References

{{Authority control Wills Creek Muskingum River Rivers of Coshocton County, Ohio Rivers of Guernsey County, Ohio Rivers of Muskingum County, Ohio

Wills Creek Lake Wills Creek is a tributary of the Muskingum River, 92.2 mi (148.4 km) long, in eastern Ohio in the United States. Via the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. It drains an area of 853 mi� ...

Wills Creek Dam

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington District