Loyalsock Creek
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| Loyalsock Creek | |
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| Origin | Western Wyoming County |
| Mouth | West Branch Susquehanna River, at Montoursville |
| Basin countries | Pennsylvania, United States |
| Length | 63.6 mi (102 km) |
| Source elevation | 2272 ft (693 m) |
| Basin area | 495 mi² (1282 km²) |
Loyalsock Creek is a tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River located chiefly in Sullivan and Lycoming counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. As the crow flies, Lycoming County is about 100 mi (160 km) northwest of Philadelphia and about 165 mi (265 km) east-northeast of Pittsburgh.
Loyalsock Creek is about 63.6 mi (102 km) long. The source is in western Wyoming County near the Sullivan County line and its confluence with the West Branch Susquehanna River is at Montoursville. The area surrounding the confluence with the Susquehanna River has been flooded numerous times over the past decade devastating many local homes and businesses.
The name is a corruption of a word in the language of the local indigenous peoples meaning "middle creek" (the original was something like Lawi-sahquick). This refers to Loyalsock Creek's location between Lycoming Creek and Muncy Creek, with the mouths of each about 6 mi (10 km) up- and down-stream of the mouth of the Loyalsock. Several important trails used by the local indigenous peoples ran along parts of the Loyalsock or crossed it. Two important villages of the local indigenous peoples were located on its banks, one of which, Ots-ton-wak-in, was the home to Catherine Montour and her son, and later became Montoursville.
Its main tributary is Little Loyalsock Creek, which has its confluence at Forksville in Sullivan County. The names of Forksville and the surrounding Forks Township come from the fork of the creek there.
Pennsylvania receives the most acid rain of any state in the United States. Because Loyalsock Creek is in a sandstone, limestone, shale, conglomerate, and coal mountain region, it has a relatively low capacity to neutralize added acid. This makes it is especially vulnerable to increased acidification from acid rain, which poses a threat to the long term threat to the health of the plants and animals in the creek. [1]
Loyalsock Creek is used for trout fishing, white water kayaking, and the Loyalsock Trail which runs along it is an opportunity for hiking. Worlds End State Park is located on the Loyalsock in Sullivan County, near Forksville. U.S. Route 220 runs through the Loyalsock valley and in the autumn the fall foliage is quite spectacular.
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[edit] History
[edit] Ostuagy
Madame Montour's village of Ostuagy was a vitally important location during the settlement of what is now Lycoming County. Her village at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek on the West Branch Susquehanna River was an important stopping point for the Moravian missionaries who were spreading the gospel throughout the wilderness of Pennsylvania during the 1740s. Count Zinzendorf, a missionary being guided by Conrad Weiser with the permission of Chief Shikellamy came to Ostuagy in 1742.[2]
Madame Montour was known to be a friend of the British. She welcomed the white men who were beginning to migrate into the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley. She also had a great amount of influence with the various Indian tribes they were feeling the pressure of colonial expansion. Madame Montour remained loyal to the British despite several attempts by the French to bring her over to their side. Historians note that this was remarkable due to the fact the that British colonial government sometimes went as long as a year without paying her for her services.
[edit] Rail transportation
Although lumbering was an important industry in the Loyalsock Creek watershed, railroads took little advantage of the creek valley below Forksville. One exception was the Susquehanna and Eagles Mere Railroad, which built down into Hillsgrove and along the creek as far as Ogdonia in 1902, before turning up Kettle Creek. It was removed in 1922. Above Forksville, the Williamsport and North Branch Railroad followed Mill Creek to reach the Loyalsock and followed it to a crossing at Ringdale. The line was built in 1893 and removed in 1938. About six miles to the east, the town of Lopez is the largest settlement on the upper creek. Jennings Brothers Lumber Co. built a narrow-gauge logging line in the area in 1890, and another in 1891 up the creek into Wyoming County, to supply their sawmill at Lopez. In 1892, the Loyalsock Railroad crossed the creek here, building south to bring coal from the Bernice area southward to Harvey's Lake. It was promptly leased to the Lehigh Valley Railroad and became part of the Bowmans Creek Branch. At the same time, the Loyalsock RR also built a branch along the Loyalsock downstream from Lopez to Ellis Creek, where it turned south to reach a tannery at Thorndale. This branch was removed in 1898. However, Jennings Bros. continued to operate, standard-gauging their rail line about 1900 and building up the Loyalsock as far as Shumans Lake, where their line headed up Cold Run towards High Cobble and the Dutch Mountain area. The logging railroad was finally removed in 1905 when Jennings Bros. relocated to Maryland, but was partly resurrected in 1911. Stony Brook Lumber Co. used the old grade as far as Santee Run, then turned north towards Crane Swamp. This line was removed in 1916. Traffic gradually dwindled on the Lehigh Valley; their line south of Lopez was abandoned in 1939, and it was cut back to Bernice in 1944. This marked the end of rail traffic on the Loyalsock, except for the Reading Railroad crossing near its mouth at Montoursville, still active today.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Acid Precipitation (English). Retrieved on June 3, 2006.
- ^ *Meginness, John Franklin [1892]. History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania: including its aboriginal history; the colonial and revolutionary periods; early settlement and subsequent growth; organization and civil administration; the legal and medical professions; internal improvement; past and present history of Williamsport; manufacturing and lumber interests; religious, educational, and social development; geology and agriculture; military record; sketches of boroughs, townships, and villages; portraits and biographies of pioneers and representative citizens, etc. etc.", 1st Edition, Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co.. ISBN 0-7884-0428-8. Retrieved on March 7, 2007. “(Note: ISBN refers to Heritage Books July 1996 reprint. URL is to scan of 1892 version with some OCR typos).”
- ^ Taber, Thomas T., III (1987). Railroads of Pennsylvania Encyclopedia and Atlas. Thomas T. Taber III. ISBN 0-9603398-5-X.
[edit] External links
- Chesapeake Bay Watershed Page on the Loyalsock Creek watershed from the source to Little Loyalsock Creek
- Chesapeake Bay Watershed Page on the Loyalsock Creek watershed from Little Loyalsock Creek to the mouth
- Official Lycoming County Map showing all townships, villages, boroughs, cities, county roads, rivers, creeks, and some streams
- History of Lycoming County Pennsylvania edited by John F. Meginness, ©1892 (copyright expired)
