Wadham Creek, usually styled Wadhams Creek, and in the 18th century first known as Whittlesey 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 drai ...

of the Susquehanna River in

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county by total area. As of ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Plymouth Township and Plymouth Borough. The creek's watershed has an area of . It has one dam. The drainage basin of Wadham Creek is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

Course

Wadham Creek begins on the base of the Shawnee Mountain range in Plymouth Township. The elevation of the creek'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source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person,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 between above sea level. It flows south for a short distance before entering the Plymouth Borough. Once in Plymouth, the creek continues to flow south for several tenths of a mile before turning southwest. After several hundred feet, it turns southeast and crosses beneath US Route 11. A short distance further downstream, it reaches its confluence with the Susquehanna River. The elevation near the mouth of Wadham Creek 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 standardise ...

. Wadham Creek joins the Susquehanna River upstream of its mouth.

Watershed, geography, hydrology, and geology

The watershed of Wadham Creek has an area of . The creek's mouth 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, ...

's Wilkes-Barre West quadrangle, while its source is in the Kingston quadrangle. There are a number of diversions and debris structures on Wadham Creek upstream of Plymouth. In Plymouth, the creek flows through both open channels and culverts. Wadham Creek has a

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 ...

above where it crosses Shawnee Avenue. The dam is high. Mine subsidence affects the dam, but as of 2009, Luzerne County considered the mitigation of this problem to be low-priority. Wadham Creek is typically dry. However, it can experience short, high-rate floods on occasion. The surficial geology in the vicinity of the lower reaches of Wadham Creek consists largely of

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...

, with some fill. The surficial geology near the creek's middle reaches consists mainly of

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...

and Wisconsinan Ice-Contact Stratified Drift. The surficial geology in the creek's upper reaches features land where

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

was once surface mined, with large pits and piles of rock waste.

History

Until the late 18th century, Wadham Creek was known as Whittlesey Creek. In the 1940s, Wadham Creek was known as Nottingham Creek after the nearby Nottingham Colliery. On August 2, 1979, the creek 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 ...

as "Wadham Creek." Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1190462. According to Samuel L. French's 1915 history, ''Reminiscences of Plymouth, Luzerne County, Penna'', arks and

flat-bottomed boat A flat-bottomed boat is a boat with a shallow draft, two-chined hull, which allows it to be used in shallow bodies of water, such as rivers, because it is less likely to ground. The flat hull also makes the boat more stable in calm water, whic ...

s used to transport

downriver to market were constructed in a long-vanished natural formation known as the "basin". In the 19th century, a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

shop and a

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

operated adjacent to the creek. In 1959, the creek-bed was reformed in concrete from its source to a new

earth-fill dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...

northeast terminus of First Street. The project, which cost $123,000, was flanked nearly its entire length by strip-mine operations. In 2000–01, after 30 years of political wrangling Wadham Creek was the subject of a restoration project costing $1.3 million. The restoration included giving the creek a concrete streambed and walls. Had the restoration not been done, the creek could have eventually flooded and caused severe damage like the nearby Coal Creek, according to Clif Madrack, a former borough administrator. In 2011, Coal Creek, less than a mile away, flooded severely after a rainfall in less than 45 minutes, but Wadham Creek was did not overflow its banks or suffer any erosion.

Biology

The entire drainage basin of Wadham Creek is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

References

External links