Penns Creek

For the village named Penns Creek, see Penns Creek, Pennsylvania.
Penns Creek flowing through Penns Valley
Sun rising, as seen from Penns Creek
Map of Penns Cave

Penns Creek is a 67.1-mile-long (108.0 km)[1] tributary of the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania in the United States.[2]

The creek was called the Kaarondinhah[3] by the Iroquois who were in possession of the Susquehanna Valley from the mid-17th to the mid-18th centuries. Between 1754, when the Iroquois sold most of the Susquehanna Valley including the creek to the provincial government of Pennsylvania, and 1772, it was called both Big Mahany and John Penn's Creek (after the younger brother of Pennsylvania founder William Penn) by the European settlers who moved there.[4]

Penns Creek drains a watershed of approximately 163 square miles (420 km2) in Snyder, Union, and Centre counties. It flows from its headwaters north of Spring Mills to the Susquehanna River, approximately 3.6 miles (5.8 km) downstream of Selinsgrove.[2]

A large spring within Penn's Cave, a commercial cave that offers guided tours by boat, forms one source for this limestone creek.

Penns Creek is renowned as a popular fly fishing destination in the Northeast.[5][6] It is well known amongst anglers for its prolific Green Drake hatch, which occurs in late May.[7]

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed August 8, 2011
  2. ^ a b Gertler, Edward. Keystone Canoeing, Seneca Press, 2004. ISBN 0-9749692-0-6
  3. ^ Linn, John Blair (1883). History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania. J.B. Lippincott. p. 2.
  4. ^ Linn, John Blair (1877). Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania, 1755-1855. Harrisburg, PA: Lane S. Hart. p. 7.
  5. ^ "Penns Creek Overview". TCO Fly Shop. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  6. ^ Writer, P. J. REILLY | Staff (2023-05-22). "Trout-fishing paradise can be found at Penns Creek [column]". LancasterOnline. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  7. ^ Weamer, Paul (2014-05-14). "Matching The Drake Hatch". Fly Fisherman. Retrieved 2024-03-23.