Larrys Creek

Larrys Creek
Larrys Creek and the Cogan House Covered Bridge in Cogan House Township, Pennsylvania
Map showing Larrys Creek, its major tributaries and watershed
Larrys Creek is located in Pennsylvania
Larrys Creek
Location of the Mouth of Larrys Creek in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
EtymologyLarry Burt, first settler
Location
CountryUnited States
StatePennsylvania
CountyLycoming
Physical characteristics
Sourcenear the hamlet of Steam Valley
 • locationCogan House Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
 • coordinates41°27′13″N 77°08′12″W / 41.45361°N 77.13667°W / 41.45361; -77.13667[1]
 • elevation1,740 ft (530 m)[2]
MouthWest Branch Susquehanna River[3]
 • location
Piatt Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
 • coordinates
41°13′00″N 77°13′13″W / 41.21667°N 77.22028°W / 41.21667; -77.22028[1]
 • elevation
515 ft (157 m)[2]
Length22.9 mi (36.9 km)[2]
Basin size89.1 sq mi (231 km2)[4]
Discharge 
 • locationMouth[5]
 • average66.0 cu ft/s (1.87 m3/s)[5]
 • minimum8.8 cu ft/s (0.25 m3/s)
 • maximum114 cu ft/s (3.2 m3/s)
Discharge 
 • locationCogan House[6]
 • average10.8 cu ft/s (0.31 m3/s)[6]

Larrys Creek is a 22.9-mile-long (36.9 km)[7] tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River in Lycoming County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin, its watershed drains 89.1 square miles (231 km2) in six townships and a borough. The creek flows south from the dissected Allegheny Plateau to the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians through sandstone, limestone, and shale from the Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian periods.

The valley's first recorded inhabitants were the Susquehannocks, followed by the Lenape and other tribes.[8] The Great Shamokin Path crossed the creek near its mouth, where Larry Burt, the first Euro-American settler and the man who gave the creek its present name, also lived by 1769. In the 19th century, the creek and its watershed were a center for logging and related industries, including 53 sawmills, grist mills, leather tanneries, coal and iron mines. A 1903 newspaper article claimed "No other stream in the country had so many mills in so small a territory".[9] For transportation, a plank road ran along much of the creek for decades, and two "paper railroads" were planned, but never built.

As of 2006, the Larrys Creek watershed is 83.1% forest and 15.7% agricultural (a reforestation of land clear-cut in the 19th century). Nearly 9,000 acres (3,600 ha) of second-growth forest are protected public and private land for hunting and trout fishing, with more land protected in parts of Tiadaghton State Forest. Pollution from past industrial use is gone and Larrys Creek "has an exceptionally scenic, ultra-highwater, whitewater run" for canoeing.[10] Despite agricultural runoff and small amounts of acid mine drainage, water quality is quite good, and a water filtration plant on Larrys Creek supplies over 2500 customers.[11]

  1. ^ a b "Larrys Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. August 2, 1979. Retrieved 2006-07-26.
  2. ^ a b c Shaw, Lewis C. (June 1984). Pennsylvania Gazetteer of Streams Part II (Water Resources Bulletin No. 16). Prepared in Cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (1st ed.). Harrisburg, PA: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Resources. OCLC 17150333.
  3. ^ 2021 General Highway Map Lycoming County Pennsylvania (PDF) (Map). 1:65,000. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Bureau of Planning and Research, Geographic Information Division. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  4. ^ "Chesapeake Bay Program: Watershed Profiles: The Larrys Creek - At Larrys Creek Watershed". Chesapeake Bay Program Office, 10 Severn Avenue, Suite 109, Annapolis, MD 21403. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved 2006-03-17.
  5. ^ a b United States Geological Survey. "Water Quality Samples for the Nation, USGS 01549790 Larrys Creek at Larrys Creek, PA". Charts, Graphs. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference discharge was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 8, 2011
  8. ^ Meginness, John Franklin (1892). "Chapter I. Aboriginal Occupation.". 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 ed.). Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co. ISBN 0-7884-0428-8. Retrieved 2006-03-16. Note: ISBN refers to the Heritage Books July 1996 reprint. URL is to a scan of the 1892 version with some OCR typos.
  9. ^ "Lumbering on Historic Stream: A Newberry man tells of mills on Larry's Creek: Within a distance of twenty-two miles there were fifty-three mills - The names of the owners and builders - No other stream in the country had so many mills in so small a territory - Only two of them are now standing". Gazette and Bulletin (Williamsport, Pennsylvania). May 29, 1903. p. 5.
  10. ^ Gertler, Edward (1985). Keystone Canoeing: A Guide to Canoeable Waters of Eastern Pennsylvania (1st ed.). Silver Spring, Maryland: Seneca Press. pp. 303–304. ISBN 0-9605908-2-X.
  11. ^ "Peterson Announces $434,000 Federal Grant For Water Project In Lycoming County". County of Lycoming, Pennsylvania. 2004-10-21. Retrieved 2008-02-20.