Wyalusing Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Susquehanna and Bradford counties,

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 United States. It is approximately long and flows through Rush township in Susquehanna County and Stevens Township, Tuscarora Township, Wyalusing Township, and Wyalusing in Bradford County. The watershed of the creek has an area of . It is possible to canoe on a significant portion of the creek.

Course

Wyalusing Creek begins in at the mouths of East Branch Wyalusing Creek and South Branch Wyalusing Creek in Rush Township, Susquehanna County. The creek begins

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 ba ...

ing west for a few miles before picking up the tributary North Branch Wyalusing Creek and turning southwest. It almost immediately crosses

Pennsylvania Route 706 Pennsylvania Route 706 (PA 706) is a state highway in Pennsylvania. The western terminus is at U.S. Route 6 in Pennsylvania, U.S. Route 6 (US 6) in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, Wyalusing, and the eastern terminus is at U.S. Route 11 in Pennsylvania, ...

and soon afterwards, it leaves Rush Township and Susquehanna County. Upon leaving Susquehanna County, Wyslusing Creek enters Stevens Township, Bradford County. It turns northwest briefly and receives the tributary Ross Creek before turning southwest again. After some distance, it picks up the tributary Rockwell Creek and continues southwest. The creek gradually begins turning west and passes Stevensville. Shortly afterwards, it abruptly turns south and enters Tuscarora Township. It then turns west and reenters Stevens Township for a few hundred feet before bending back into Tuscarora Township. A few tenths of a mile later, the creek leaves Tuscarora Township and enters Wyalusing Township. In this township, the creek turns south-southwest and then turns west, passing the community of Camptown. There, it picks up the tributaries Camps Creek and Billings Creek before turning south and receiving the tributary Patton Creek. The creek continues south for several miles, passing the community of Merryall and crossing Pennsylvania Route 706. It then turns roughly south-southwest and begins to flow parallel to Pennsylvania Route 706. After a few miles, the creek enters the community of Wyalusing. In this community, it crosses

U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to P ...

and shortly afterwards reaches its confluence with the Susquehanna River. Wyalusing Creek joins the Susquehanna River upstream of its mouth.

Geography, geology, and climate

Upstream of Rush, Wyalusing Creek is braided with logjams and strainers in places. However, there are no deadfalls or fences along it. The creek flows over cobbles. It has

riffle A riffle is a shallow landform in a flowing channel. Colloquially, it is a shallow place in a river where water flows quickly past rocks. However, in geology a riffle has specific characteristics. Topographic, sedimentary and hydraulic indica ...

s and a relatively fast current. It is fairly wide considering its length. The topography of the watershed of the creek is described as "rough and hilly" in a 1921 book. The watershed contains narrow valleys and steep, but rounded hills. It has experienced

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

activity in the past. The rock in the watershed of Wyalusing Creek consists of shale,

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 ...

, and deposits of glacial drift. The channel of the creek is

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 ...

and has steep banks. There is a stream gauge on Wyalusing Creek at Lawton and another one at Stevensville. The rate of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

in the watershed of Wyalusing Creek ranges between and per year, on average.

Watershed

The watershed of Wyalusing Creek has an area of . The watershed is situated in western Susquehanna County and southeastern Bradford County. It is part of the Upper North Branch Susquehanna

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, ...

. The valley of Wyalusing Creek is narrow and sparsely populated, with

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

s. A

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

known as Camp Pond is in the watershed of Wyalusing Creek. Its surface area is 28 acres.

History and industries

''Wyalusing'' is a Native American name purported to mean "home of the old warrrior". The earliest pioneers in the valley of Wyalusing Creek arrived in the late 1700s from

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

. A gaging station was established on the creek at Wyalusing in October 1908. In 1921, the largest communities in the watershed of Wyalusing Creek were Montrose, Wyalusing, Stevensville, Le Raysville, and Camptown. Their populations were 1914, 580, 340, 326, and 300, respectively. In the early 1900s, the main industries in the watershed of Wyalusing Creek were a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

, a furniture factory, a planing mill, agriculture, and dairy. As of the late 20th century, the dairy industry remains active in the watershed of Wyalusing Creek. However, few crops are grown in the vicinity of the creek. In the early 1900s, Wyalusing Creek was used to power

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

s, a

roller mill Roller mills are mills that use cylindrical rollers, either in opposing pairs or against flat plates, to crush or grind various materials, such as grain, ore, gravel, plastic, and others. Roller grain mills are an alternative to traditional ...

, and 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 ...

. It was also used as a

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

for Wyalusing.

Recreation

It is possible to

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

on a significant portion of Wyalusing Creek during

snowmelt In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many par ...

or within four to seven days of heavy

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...

. The creek is relatively easy to canoe on, having a difficulty rating of 1. Edward Gertler describes the scenery as "good" in his book ''Keystone Canoeing''.

References