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

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeaste ...

, 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source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person,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 ...

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 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 ...

. A short distance further downstream, it reaches its confluence with the Susquehanna River. The elevation near the

mouth A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...

of Wadham Creek is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

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

Watershed, geography, hydrology, and geology

The

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

of Wadham Creek has an area of . The creek's mouth is in the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

'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, aqua ...

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 (, ) 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. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

, 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 Semi-arid climate, semiar ...

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 Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

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 location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...

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, wh ...

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, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop and a

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

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 ...

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 A streambed or stream bed is the bottom of a stream or river and is confined within a channel or the banks of the waterway. Usually, the bed does not contain terrestrial (land) vegetation and instead supports different types of aquatic vegetat ...

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