Larrys Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map , accessed August 8, 2011 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 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. Note: ISBN refers to the Heritage Books July 1996 reprint. URL is to a scan of the 1892 version with some OCR typos. 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". 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 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. 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.
Name Larrys Creek is named for Larry Burt, the first European settler in the area, who lived near the mouth of the creek outside what is now the hamlet of Larrys Creek in Piatt Township. He traded with the indigenous peoples, and, according to a tradition reported by Meginness (1892), he had a Native American wife. Larry Burt was already there when surveyors came through in 1769 (after the land was purchased by the colonial government of Pennsylvania on November 5, 1768, as part of the "New Purchase" in the first Treaty of Fort Stanwix), but disappeared sometime soon after, perhaps moving west with the Native Americans who left the area.
Larrys Creek is the only major creek in Lycoming County for which a Native American name is unknown. As of 2006, it is the only stream named "Larrys Creek" on USGS maps of the United States and in the USGS Geographic Names Information System. The possessive apostrophe is not part of the official name of the creek, although records from the 19th century often spell it as "Larry's Creek" (as do some highway bridge signs today).
Today the creek has given its name to the hamlet at its mouth, as well as the village of "Larryville" further upstream. Before it became a borough, Salladasburg was also known as "Larrys Creek" (from the name of its post office). The "First Fork" and "Second Fork" of Larrys Creek are named in the order in which they are encountered traveling upstream, with "Fork" here denoting a major tributary. "Lawshe Run", the major tributary of the Second Fork, is named for Robert Lawshe, who established a tannery in Salladasburg in 1848. "Seeley Run", a minor tributary entering the creek at Larryville, is named for Mr. Seely, who built the first sawmill on Larrys Creek in 1796. While the USGS uses "Seeley Run", it is still "Seely Run Road" that follows the stream. The First Fork, Canoe Run, Joes Run, and Wolf Run also have roads named for them.
Course Larrys Creek is the only major watershed in Lycoming County entirely within the county. Measured directly, Lycoming County is about northwest of Philadelphia and east-northeast of Pittsburgh. It is from the mouth of Larrys Creek along the West Branch Susquehanna River to its confluence with the Susquehanna River at Northumberland, Pennsylvania. The source of Larrys Creek is in northern Lycoming County in Cogan House Township, just south of the hamlet of Steam Valley, at an elevation of It flows west-southwest through the village of Cogan House, and then under the Cogan House Covered Bridge.
The creek next heads due south through Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 114. There it runs for about with only a trail or unimproved road beside it. It passes through Mifflin Township for a short distance and heads southeast into Anthony Township, where it leaves the State Game Lands and passes a water filtration plant; there is a dam tall and wide here. Further south, it receives Roaring Run (on the left bank). Roaring Run receives the only acid mine drainage in the watershed and enters Larrys Creek from the mouth.
Larrys Creek then heads southwest back into Mifflin Township, where it passes through the borough of Salladasburg, with Pennsylvania Route 973 running parallel to the creek from the township line to the borough. At Salladasburg, Larrys Creek receives its major tributary, the Second Fork of Larrys Creek, on the right bank from the mouth.
The Second Fork rises in Cogan House Township near the village of White Pine and runs south through the village of Brookside, then a few miles through Cummings Township, and last through Mifflin Township and Salladasburg. Lawshe Run is its major tributary. Pennsylvania Route 287 runs parallel to the Second Fork its whole length, and continues parallel to Larrys Creek from Salladasburg south to its terminus on U.S. Route 220 (near the creek's mouth).
Just south of Salladasburg, Larrys Creek receives the First Fork of Larrys Creek, from the mouth. The First Fork has its source in Cummings Township and flows south-southeast into Mifflin Township. from its mouth Larrys Creek receives Canoe Run. Both these tributaries enter on the right bank.
Larrys Creek then enters Piatt Township, flowing east around a ridge and through the village of Larryville where it receives Seeley Run on the left bank, from the mouth. It next flows back southwest, then south to the hamlet of Larrys Creek and finally into the West Branch Susquehanna River, east of the borough of Jersey Shore, at an elevation of . U.S. Route 220 and the Lycoming Valley Railroad cross the creek on separate bridges just north of its mouth. The direct distance between the source and mouth is only . The difference in elevation between source and mouth, , divided by the length of the creek, , gives the average drop in elevation per unit length of creek or relief ratio of 53.5 feet per mile (10.1 m/km). The meander ratio is 1.08, so the creek is fairly straight in its bed.
Discharge From 1960 to 1979, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) operated one stream gauge on Larrys Creek at the village of Cogan House, for the uppermost of the watershed. The mean discharge measured at this site from 1961 to 1978 was , with a peak discharge of and peak gauge height of , both on June 22, 1972, during Hurricane Agnes. The USGS also estimated mean monthly and annual groundwater recharge at the Cogan House stream gauge. Using data from 1961 to 1977, the upper and lower annual recharge estimates were , and the greatest monthly recharge was in March, with 20.1% of the annual total.
The USGS also measured discharge at the village of Larrys Creek, very near the creek's mouth, as part of water quality measurements on seven occasions between 1970 and 1975. The average discharge was , and ranged from a high of to a low of . Lycoming County operates a stream gauge at Salladasburg as part of the county-wide flood warning system. It only measures the water height (not discharge) and had a peak gauge height of , on September 18, 2004, during Hurricane Ivan.
Geology
Larrys Creek is in a sandstone, limestone, and shale mountain region, with the source in the dissected Allegheny Plateau and the mouth in the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians. The southern part of the Larrys Creek watershed has sedimentary surface rocks from the Devonian period, with a large area from the Mississippian period in the north of the watershed and a small Pennsylvanian period region within this area. The Cogan House anticline runs north of and parallel to the upper part of the creek.For detailed information on the geology of the Larrys Creek watershed, see the following quadrangle maps: "Linden", "Salladasburg", "Trout Run", "Waterville", and "White Pine", in Iron ore within the watershed was mined south of Salladasburg and along Canoe Run in the 19th century; there are also deposits on Puterbaugh Mountain.
Larrys Creek is in a narrow valley formed by mountains and hills, with steep to moderate slopes. The channel pattern is regular, with a dendritic drainage pattern. South of its source, the creek turns to flow southwest along the northern edge of Green Mountain, turns south into the State Game Lands at Buckhorn Mountain, and flows south along the western edge of Coal Mountain. The only named peak on the west bank of Larrys Creek itself is Harris Point, where it leaves the dissected Allegheny Plateau., , , and
The Second Fork flows south along the eastern side of Henson Ridge, then east of Puterbaugh Mountain. The only named peak on the east bank of the Second Fork is Clapp Point, which marks the boundary of the dissected plateau and is southwest of Harris Point. The First Fork flows past the southwest edge of Little Round Top and then continues on the southwest side of Puterbaugh Mountain. Fishery Point is at the southern end of the Allegheny Plateau, just west of the First Fork., , , , and The three features named Point are each part of the Allegheny Front, the edge of the Allegheny Plateau.
The Larrys Creek watershed has two deposits of low volatile bituminous coal along Roaring Run and a small, deep natural gas field. A potentially large source of natural gas is the Marcellus Shale, which lies below the surface here and stretches from New York through Pennsylvania to Ohio and West Virginia. Estimates of the total natural gas in the black shale from the Devonian era range from 168 to 516 trillion cubic feet (4.76 to 14.6 trillion m3), with at least 10 percent considered recoverable. In November 2007, drilling within the Larrys Creek watershed started in Mifflin Township, just west of Salladasburg, with a deep well. A second well was drilled in Mifflin Township in December 2007, and by February 2008 every well drilled in Lycoming County was producing natural gas. The Marcellus Shale requires special techniques to fracture the rock and release the gas, including pumping sand and water into the well, and, in some cases, horizontal drilling.
Watershed
The Larrys Creek watershed is entirely in Lycoming County and accounts for 7.17% of the county by area. It is the only major creek whose watershed is entirely in the county, and lies between the Pine Creek watershed (including Little Pine Creek) to the west and the Lycoming Creek watershed to the east (as measured on the river).
The Larrys Creek watershed has a total population of 2,513 (as of 2000) and a total area of . Of that area, are forested and are given to agricultural uses. Larrys Creek is the largest creek in Lycoming County without its own watershed association.
Tributaries
The major smaller streams in the Larrys Creek watershed include the First and Second Forks, Roaring Run, Lawshe Run, and Canoe Run. The Second Fork is the largest tributary, with a watershed of or 28.0% of the total watershed. The First Fork is next largest, with a watershed of or 19.8% of the total. Roaring Run accounts for 5.7% of the total watershed with and other tributaries are less than 5% of the total.