Mahantango Creek (also known as Mahantongo Creek) is a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''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 into which they ...

of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

in Snyder and Juniata counties,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, in the United States. Its name comes from a Delaware Indian word meaning "where we had plenty to eat". The creek flows along the border between Snyder County and Juniata County. Historically, numerous

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, 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 ...

s and

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

s have been built on the creek. The first inhabitants of the area arrived in the late 1700s. In the 1750s, Peter and Michael Shaffer had land grants along and near the mouth of Mahantango Creek. They were both farmers, Michael also had a lumber mill and a distillery. The watershed of the creek has an area of .

Trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

inhabit the tributaries of Mahantango Creek, but not the

main stem In hydrology, a main stem or mainstem (also known as a trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". The mainstem extends all the way from one specific headwater to the outlet of the river, although t ...

Smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

, however, may inhabit Mahantango Creek itself.

Course

Mahantango Creek begins at the border between Perry Township, Snyder County, Chapman Township, Snyder County, and Susquehanna Township, Juniata County. The creek's headwaters are at the confluence of North Branch Mahantango Creek and

West Branch Mahantango Creek West Branch Mahantango Creek is a tributary of Mahantango Creek in Snyder County and Juniata County, in Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately in length. The creek starts on Shade Mountain in Snyder County. It ends at its confl ...

, near Pennsylvania Route 104 near the village of Meiserville. It heads southeast for a short distance and then turns northeast. Shortly afterwards, it turns southeast again, passing by the community of Mahantango. The creek then turns nearly due-south and crosses under

U.S. Route 11 U.S. Route 11 or U.S. Highway 11 (US 11) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway extending across the eastern U.S. The southern terminus of the route is at US 90 in Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refu ...

and

U.S. Route 15 U.S. Route 15 or U.S. Highway 15 (US 15) is a United States Numbered Highway, serving the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. The route is signed north–south, from US ...

. Shortly afterwards, it reaches its confluence with the Susquehanna River. Mahantango Creek joins the Susquehanna River upstream of its mouth and upstream of

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

Tributaries

Mahantango Creek has two named tributaries. These are North Branch Mahantango Creek and

. West Branch Mahantango Creek is long and North Branch Mahantango Creek is long. Both of these tributaries' headwaters are in

Bald Eagle State Park Bald Eagle State Park is a List of Pennsylvania state parks, Pennsylvania state park in Howard Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, Howard, Liberty Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, Liberty, and Marion Township, Centre County, Pennsylvan ...

Hydrology, geography and geology

There is a broken

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

ridge between

Richfield Richfield may refer to: Places Canada *Richfield, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Richfield, Nova Scotia *Richfield, British Columbia, a ghost town from the Cariboo Gold Rush United States * Richfield, California *Richfield, Idaho * Richfiel ...

and Mahantango Creek. A feature known as McKee's Half Falls is located near the creek's mouth. There are also

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

formations at the mouth of the creek. A rock formation known as the Marcellus black

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

forms visible outcrops at the headwaters of the creek. Mahantango Creek forms part of the border between Snyder County and Juniata County. In 2009, a $600,000 project was to alleviate

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the Topsoil, upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, Atmosphere of Ea ...

on Mahantango Creek was carried out. There are also no-till planting practices being done in the creek's watershed to reduce the amount of

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

flowing from it into the Susquehanna River and

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

. The water temperature of Mahantango Creek can be as high as .

Watershed

The watershed of Mahantango Creek has an area of . The watershed is located in Snyder County and Juniata County. Parts of the watershed of Mahantango Creek are

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

and is mostly used for agricultural purposes.

History

Mahantango Creek's name comes from the

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

word ''mahantongo'', which means "where we had plenty to eat". It was apparently named after a group of Native Americans had a large meal on the creek. George Herrold had a tract of land on the creek in 1765. It is unlikely, but possible, that Peter Shaffer settled on the creek around 1765. Michael Witmer gained access to a tract of land on Mahantango Creek around 1770. In May 1772, there were plans to construct a road from Sunbury to Mahantango Creek. The Mahantongo

Methodist Circuit The organisation of the Methodist Church of Great Britain is based on the principle of connexionalism. This means that British Methodism, from its inception under John Wesley (1703–1791), has always laid strong emphasis on mutual support, in ...

historically included the watershed of the creek. Historically, there were twelve

s and fourteen

s on Mahantango Creek and its tributaries. As late as 1919, there were still a large number of mills in the watershed, including the Old West Perry Mill, producing fermented pear cider, or

perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

, which was built in 1778. In March 1901, flooding and

ice jam Ice jams occur when the ice that is drifting down-current in a river comes to a stop, for instance, at a river bend, when it contacts the river bed in a shallow area, or against bridge piers. Doing so increases the resistance to flow, thereby in ...

s severely damaged a number of bridges over Mahantango Creek. There are two

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

s located on Mahantango Creek near Pennsylvania Route 104. One of them is called the

North Oriental Covered Bridge The North Oriental Covered Bridge, also known as Beaver Covered Bridge, is a historic wooden covered bridge located at Perry Township near Meiserville in Snyder County, Pennsylvania and Susquehanna Township near Oriental in Juniata County, Pen ...

and was built in 1908. The other is known as the

Sheaffer Covered Bridge The East Oriental Covered Bridge, also known as the Sheaffer Covered Bridge, is a historic wooden covered bridge located at Perry Township, Snyder County, Pennsylvania, Perry Township near Meiserville, Pennsylvania, Meiserville in Snyder County, ...

and was built in 1907. Both bridges are

burr arch truss Burr may refer to: Places Australia *Cape Burr, a headland in South Australia *Mount Burr, South Australia, a town and mountain in South Australia United States *Burr, Minnesota, an unincorporated community *Burr, Missouri, an unincorporated comm ...

bridges.

Biology

The Mahantango Creek Confluence Pools are a series of small pools located near Mahantango Creek in Susquehanna Township, Juniata County and Snyder County. These pools are surrounded by hardwood forests, which have been somewhat affected by

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks Additionally, there are

vernal pool Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the saf ...

s on the tributary West Branch Mahantango Creek. These are known as the West Branch Mahantango Creek Vernal Pools. Mahantango Creek flows through an area of forest with an area of greater than . Mahantango Creek is not stocked with fish. It is, however, a warmwater community for fish. No

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

inhabit the creek, although it is possible that

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

inhabit it. However, trout are stocked on the tributary West Branch Mahantango Creek.

Brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout h ...

have inhabited North Branch Mahantango Creek in the past. A barn on the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of Mahantango Creek is inhabited by 30,000

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s. These include little brown myotis bats and

big brown bat The big brown bat (''Eptesicus fuscus'') is a species of vesper bat distributed widely throughout North America, the Caribbean, and the northern portion of South America. It was first described as a species in 1796. Compared to other microbats ...

References

External links

U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stations
{{authority control Rivers of Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of Snyder County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Juniata County, Pennsylvania