Stonecoal Creek
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Stonecoal Creek | |
|---|---|
 The Right Fork of Stonecoal Creek, downstream of Stonecoal Lake in 2006
|
|
| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| Watershed | 41 mi² (106 km²) [1] |
| Source | |
| - location | northwestern Upshur County |
| - coordinates | [2] |
| - elevation | 1,453 ft (443 m) [3] |
| Mouth | West Fork River |
| - location | Weston |
| - coordinates | [2] |
| - elevation | 1,010 ft (308 m) [2] |
Stonecoal Creek is a tributary of the West Fork River in north-central West Virginia in the United States. Via the West Fork, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 41 square miles (106 km²) on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau.
Stonecoal Creek rises approximately five miles (8 km) west-northwest of Buckhannon in northwestern Upshur County and flows westwardly into northern Lewis County, where it joins the West Fork River from the east in the city of Weston.[4] Its principal tributary, the Right Fork Stonecoal Creek,[5] was dammed in Lewis County to form Stonecoal Lake in 1972 by Allegheny Energy for the purpose of providing water to a power plant in Harrison County. The 550-acre (220 ha) lake is privately owned, but is managed by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, as is a Wildlife Management Area surrounding the lake.[6]
According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, approximately 77% of Stonecoal Creek's watershed is forested, mostly deciduous. Approximately 19% is used for pasture and agriculture, and approximately 2% is urban.[1]
[edit] Variant spellings
According to the Geographic Names Information System, Stonecoal Creek has also been known historically as:[2]
- Stone Coal Creek
- Stone Cole Creek
- Stone Cole Run
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Watershed Atlas Project. West Fork River. Archived from the original on 2006-05-07. Retrieved on February 26, 2007.
- ^ a b c d Geographic Names Information System. Geographic Names Information System entry for Stonecoal Creek (Feature ID #1547471). Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
- ^ Google Earth elevation for GNIS source coordinates. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
- ^ DeLorme (1997). West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. p.36. ISBN 0-89933-246-3.
- ^ Geographic Names Information System. Geographic Names Information System entry for Right Fork Stonecoal Creek (Feature ID #1545711). Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
- ^ Winters, Kelly (2006). "Stonecoal Lake", in Ken Sullivan (ed.): The West Virginia Encyclopedia. Charleston, W.Va.: West Virginia Humanities Council, p. 684. ISBN 0-9778498-0-5.
