Monday Creek

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Monday Creek
Monday Creek near Nelsonville in 2006
Origin	39°37′48″N, 82°11′54″W,^[1] Perry County, Ohio, approximately 2 mi (3 km) north of Shawnee^[2]
Mouth	39°25′01″N, 82°11′34″W,^[1] Hocking River in Athens County, Ohio, approximately 2 mi (3 km) southeast of Nelsonville^[2]
Basin countries	United States
Length	27.0 mi (43.5 km)^[3]
Source elevation	Approx. 820 ft (250 m) ^[4]
Mouth elevation	659 ft (201 m) ^[1]
Basin area	116 mi² (300 km²) ^[5]

Monday Creek is a tributary of the Hocking River, 27 miles (43.5 km) long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. Via the Hocking and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 116 square miles (300 km²) on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau.^[6] Monday Creek has been badly affected by acid mine drainage.

1 Course and watershed
2 History
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Course and watershed

Monday Creek rises north of Shawnee in southern Perry County, and flows generally southwardly through northeastern Hocking County and northwestern Athens County, passing through the eastern part of Nelsonville to its confluence with the Hocking River about 2 miles (3 km) southeast of that city.^[2] Its largest tributaries are Little Monday Creek,^[7] 14.3 miles (23 km) long,^[6] which flows through Perry and Hocking Counties, and the Snow Fork,^[8] 10.7 miles (17.2 km) long,^[6] which rises in Perry County and flows through Hocking and Athens Counties, through the communities of Murray City and Buchtel.^[2]^[6]

Monday Creek near Nelsonville in 2006

As of 1994, land use in the Monday Creek watershed was occupied thusly:^[6]

Forest, 87%
Surface mining, 5%
Cropland, 3%
Wetlands, 2%
Grazing and pasture, 1% each
Urban, 1%

The Wayne National Forest owns 38% of land in the watershed; the largest private landowner is the Sunday Creek Mining Comany.^[6]

[edit] History

The Adena, who lived in the region around 1000 BC, were the earliest known inhabitants of the Monday Creek area. Later native people of the region included the Lenape, Shawnee and Wyandot.^[9] According to legend, early European explorers of the region named the stream for the day on which it was discovered.^[10] The earliest white settlements in the area date to 1774; the Ohio Company purchased all the land in the watershed in two installments in 1787 and 1792.^[9]

The aggressive pursuit of natural resources, including coal, timber, salt, iron, and clay took its toll on the watershed from the mid-1800s until well into the 20th century. Iron production in the area aided the North during the Civil War. As much as 89% of the Monday Creek watershed was deforested by 1885, with replanting beginning with the establishment of the Wayne National Forest in 1935. Salt mining occurred in the watershed in the 19th century; clay brick production peaked in the early 20th century; oil and natural gas production began in 1909.^[9]

The earliest coal mines in the watershed can be traced to the 1860s.^[10] Early mines were underground, a practice which was in sharp decline by the 1920s and had ended completely in the watershed by 1991. Surface mining was begun post-World War II and declined in the 1970s.^[6] Coal in the watershed is primarily of the Middle Kittaning #6 variety, which is high in sulfur and has been identified by the Ohio EPA as having a high potential for pollution.^[11]

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has identified Monday Creek as having been "irretrievably altered to the extent that no appreciable aquatic life can be supported" due to severe contamination by acid mine drainage.^[11]

The Monday Creek Restoration Project, sponsored by Rural Action, has been working since 1994^[10] to address water quality issues in the Monday Creek watershed. As of 2006, the partnership had received and spent about 4.3 million dollars in state and federal grant money to reduce the impact of acid mine drainage on the watershed.^{[citation needed]}