Catasauqua Creek

Catasauqua Creek[1]
Catasauqua Creek watercourse in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationNorthampton, Pennsylvania ~2,052 feet (625 m) south of Pheasant Drive, county road 248, (in the dell between Hilltop Rd and Sickle Rd., ~3,530 feet (1,080 m) north of their junction.
 • coordinates40°44′16″N 75°26′01″W / 40.7377778°N 75.4336111°W / 40.7377778; -75.4336111
 • elevation610 feet (186 m)[2]
Mouth 
 • location
In Catasauqua opposite West Catasauqua and Allentown just south of the Race/W.Race Street Bridge on the Lehigh River below the Lehigh Gap and north of Bethlehem, PA.
 • coordinates
40°38′49″N 75°28′08″W / 40.647011°N 75.468957°W / 40.647011; -75.468957
 • elevation
272 ft (83 m)
Length14.9 mi (24.0 km)
Map of Lehigh Canal and Lehigh River

Catasauqua Creek is an ENE–SSW oriented creek draining 6.6 miles (10.6 km) (straight line distance)[3] from springs of the Blue Mountain barrier ridge several miles below the Lehigh Gap in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians located upriver and opposite from Allentown in Lehigh and Northampton counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.

The mouth of the creek outlets directly opposite West Catasauqua just below Race Street bridge across the Lehigh River, the latest of the several successor structures built to replace the original wooden bridge built in 1839-1840 to carry heavy wagons of iron ore to the new furnaces being built within the new village aborning as the Lehigh Crane Iron Company created the infrastructure to father the iron and steel industry of the Lehigh Valley.

The head of the Creek begins in the Dannersville neighborhood of Bath at 40°44′16″N latitude 75°25′58″W longitude (or 40.737849,-75.432824), forming a steep sided ravine almost immediately as it gathers waters over its first mile. As it passes Sauerkraut Hill, it gathers two major tributary creeks and leaves a steeper terrain for a gentler run over the last four miles.

  1. ^ "USGS GNIS data page". USGS GNIS database page.
    • initial search results page:
      Feature Name -- ID# -- Class -- County -- State -- Latitude -- Longitude -- Ele(ft) -- Map -- BGN Date -- Entry Date
      Catasauqua Creek 1200067 Stream Northampton PA 403849N 0752808W 272 Catasauqua - 02-AUG-1979
      Additionally from detail (main url) page:
      Counties Sequence County Code State Code Country 1 Northampton 095 Pennsylvania 42 US 2 Lehigh 077 Pennsylvania 42 US
      Linear Feature (Stream, Valley, Arroyo) Mouth Sequence Latitude(DEC) Longitude(DEC) Latitude(DMS) Longitude(DMS) Map Name 1 40.6470414 -75.4687939 403849N 0752808W Catasauqua
      Linear Feature (Stream, Valley, Arroyo) Source Sequence Latitude(DEC) Longitude(DEC) Latitude(DMS) Longitude(DMS) Map Name 2 40.7377778 -75.4336111 404416N 0752601W Catasauqua
  2. ^ http://www.google.com/map/place (terrain mode) + Lat/Long in search bar.
  3. ^ Measurement using BING map distance and area measurement tool, 8 Mar 2017 between USGS identified marker points when Lat & Long were used in search window.