Sprout Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed October 3, 2011 creek located entirely within

Dutchess County, New York Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later orga ...

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 ...

. It is the largest tributary of

Fishkill Creek Fishkill Creek (also Fish Kill, from the Dutch ''vis kille'', for "fish creek") is a tributary of the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, United States. At U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data ...

, entering that creek some upstream from the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. The creek is annually stocked with 6,000

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

, and maintains its own natural population of trout.

Course

Sprout Creek begins in Millbrook, at in elevation. Paralleling Oak Summit Road, the creek flows generally southward towards

New York State Route 82 New York State Route 82 (NY 82) is a state highway in the eastern Hudson Valley of New York in the United States. It begins at an junction with NY 52 northeast of the village of Fishkill, bends eastward towards Millbrook, and th ...

, where it passes through Verbank. The creek turns towards the west, though after reaching Verbank Village, it resumes its southwestern course. It turns around several small hills and mountains, and later intersects

New York State Route 55 New York State Route 55 (NY 55) is a east-west state highway in southern New York, running from the Pennsylvania state line at the Delaware River in Barryville to the Connecticut state line at Wingdale. It is the only other state hi ...

. Shortly thereafter, Sprout Creek crosses the

Taconic State Parkway The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G) is a Parkways in New York State, parkway between Kensico Dam and Chatham (town), New York, Chatham, the ...

; it soon receives Jackson Creek. The Jackson Creek watershed covers of land, draining a large portion of Union Vale into Sprout Creek, and has a small annual stocking of around 700 brown trout. Sprout Creek continues generally towards the southwest, and later towards the south, before once again passing under Route 82. The bridge over the creek, located in the town of Fishkill, was built in 1934. At long, the bridge carried an

AADT Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...

of 19,400 vehicles as of February 2006. In 1722,

William Verplanck William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

constructed a dam across the creek. He also built a grinding mill on the creek's banks; during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, this mill ground a large quantity of grain for the soldiers stationed at Fishkill. The creek ends at the Fishkill Creek, just north of

New York State Route 52 New York State Route 52 (NY 52) is a state highway in the southeastern part of the state. It generally runs from west to east through five counties, beginning at the Pennsylvania state line in the Delaware River near Narrowsburg, cr ...

. Sprout Creek also passes through

Sprout Creek Farm Sprout or Sprouts may refer to: Botany * Brussels sprout, an edible vegetable of the ''brasicca'' genus * Shoot, the early growth of a plant * Sprouting, the practice of germinating seeds, often for food purposes ** Alfalfa sprouts ** bean sp ...

, an educational farm, in the town of LaGrange.

Watershed

Comprising 24% of the overall Fishkill Creek watershed, the Sprout Creek

subwatershed 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, t ...

encompasses about of land—of which 17% was being used for agricultural purposes in 2000. The creek's quality is described as "good" by the Fishkill Creek Watershed Committee, though agricultural operations, sewer treatment plants, and septic systems led to pollution at certain times during a study from 1973 to 2002. It drains portions of La Grange, Union Vale,

Wappinger The Wappinger () were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut. At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutches ...

, and

East Fishkill East Fishkill is a Town (New York), town on the southern border of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 29,707 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town was once the ...

. One of only three trout creeks in Dutchess County, the creek is annually stocked with 6,000

; wild trout are also present. A group of local residents formed the Sprout Creek Association, after the operation of a nearby rock mine prompted concerns about the creek's environmental health.

References

External links

Fishkill Creek Subwatershed mapFishkill Creek Watershed Committee
{{authority control Rivers of New York (state) Rivers of Dutchess County, New York Tributaries of the Hudson River