Keyser Creek
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Keyser Creek (historically known as Keyser's Creek, Beaver Run or Beaver Creek) is a
tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of the
Lackawanna River The Lackawanna River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It flows through a region of t ...
in
Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Lackawanna County (; ) is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It had a population of 215,615 in 2022. Its county seat and most populous city is Scranton, Pennsylvania, Scranton. The c ...
, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Newton Township, Ransom Township,
Scranton Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...
, and
Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...
. The watershed of the creek has an area of . It is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. The creek has two named tributaries: Lucky Run and Lindy Creek. The watershed of Keyser Creek was historically affected by coal mining and has been channelized. It has no flow in dry conditions, although it does have some during and after storms. As of 1991, the watershed is mostly forested. The first white settlers in Lackawanna County settled near the creek in 1769. Keyser Creek is a major second-order tributary of the Lackawanna River. Since 2013, a trailhead of the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail has been situated near the creek. A number of bridges have also been built across the creek.


Course

Keyser Creek begins in a deep valley on West Mountain in Newton Township. It flows south-southeast for more than a mile, exiting Newton Township, passing through Ransom Township, and entering Scranton. The creek then turns southeast for about a mile, crossing
Interstate 476 Interstate 476 (I-476) is a auxiliary Interstate Highway of I-76 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The highway runs from I-95 near Chester north to I-81 near Scranton, serving as the primary north–south Interstate corridor through ea ...
. It then turns southwest for several tenths of a mile and receives Lindy Creek, its first named tributary, from the
right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...
. The creek then turns south-southwest for several tenths of a mile and receives Lucky Run, its last named tributary, from the right before turning southwest. After a few tenths of a mile, it turns south-southwest again and eventually turns southeast for a few tenths of a mile before turning south. Several tenths of a mile further downstream, it southeast and then south-southwest. After several tenths of a mile, it reaches its confluence with the Lackawanna River. Keyser Creek joins the Lackawanna River upriver of its mouth.


Tributaries

Keyser Creek has two named tributaries: Lucky Run and Lindy Creek. Lucky Run joins Keyser Creek upstream of its mouth. Its watershed has an area of . Lindy Creek joins Keyser Creek upstream of its mouth. Its watershed has an area of .


Hydrology

Some reaches of Keyser Creek experience total flow loss and there is no regular flow in the watershed's lower reaches. There are also extensive piles of culm and
silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...
s piled up in the creek's
floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
, left over from the coal mining era. There is at least one sanitary sewer overflow in the watershed. As of 2013, there are an estimated four stormwater detention facilities in the watershed. The creek has no perennial flow, since it loses flow to mine pools during dry weather. For this reason, it is unlikely to attain its designated uses. However, it still has flow during storms. During storm flows, the creek carries large amounts of
sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...
containing coal waste. Additionally, there are some discharges of rusty water into the creek, in addition to a
combined sewer overflow A combined sewer is a type of gravity sewer with a system of pipes, tunnels, pump stations etc. to transport sewage and urban runoff together to a sewage treatment plant or disposal site. This means that during rain events, the sewage gets dilute ...
. The peak annual discharge of Keyser Creek at its mouth has a 10 percent chance of reaching per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching 3100 cubic feet per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching per second. The peak annual discharge of Keyser Creek upstream of Lucky Run has a 10 percent chance of reaching per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching per second. The peak annual discharge of Keyser Creek upstream of Lindy Creek has a 10 percent chance of reaching per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching per second. In the early 1900s, Keyser Creek was a clear stream until it reached the repair shops of the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of . The railroad was ...
. At this point, it received some oil and refuse. At the Capouse Shaft, the creek washed an ash bank and a culm bank and was contaminated with some
sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...
. More dirty waste materials drained into the creek at the Archbald Colliery and a
fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...
plant also discharged waste into it.


Geography and geology

The elevation near the
mouth A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...
of Keyser Creek is above sea level. The elevation near the creek's source is between above sea level. In its upper reaches, the creek has a gradient on the order of . However, in its lower reaches, once it flows off Bald Mountain and into Keyser Valley, its gradient is only on the order of . A
waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...
known as Fawnwood Falls is in the watershed of Keyser Creek. The Moffat Breaker is in the creek's watershed, as are the ruins of other Moffat Colliery buildings and the remains of some water works. The watershed drains part of West Mountain or Bald Mountain. The creek's headwaters are in springs and
wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
s on Bald Mountain/West Mountain. The creek passes through stone and concrete
culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...
s when flowing under Main Avenue. Numerous stream segments have braided flows or channel loss. The creek flows through 21
pipes Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circu ...
, whose diameters range from . Keyser Creek is topographically very similar to the nearby Saint Johns Creek. In its headwaters, its gradient is steep and it passes through several small cataracts. In its lower reaches, it is in a shallow
floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
. The creek begins in springs and
wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
s on a mountain known as Bald Mountain, which has an elevation of above sea level. At some locations, Keyser Creek has experienced significant
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...
, causing
sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...
and red ash (burned culm) to enter the creek. Keyser Creek has unstable banks due to abandoned mine impacts. Its banks are shallow and natural
cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...
banks in its lower reaches. However, the creek is channeled and has a steep bank further upstream. A delta fan made of eroded red ash sediment occurs at the mouth of Keyser Creek. The creek flows through
rock formation A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock (geology), rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock Geological formation, formation ...
s such as the Llewellyn Formation and the Pocono Formation. conglomerate and
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
have been observed in the creek's vicinity. There are coal measures in the vicinity of the creek. There are pyroclastic materials in foundry slag and coal mining waste in the watershed. Large deposits of drift have been observed near the creek. Substantial
till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
deposits are also present in its valley. There is a historic
flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...
structure along Keyser Creek. The
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws ...
carried out channelization work on of Keyser Creek and its tributary Lindy Creek in 1999 and 2000. Approximately of the creek is in a rectangular concrete channel. In 2001, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Project proposed a substantial stream channel restoration project on Keyser Creek.


Watershed

The watershed of Keyser Creek has an area of . The watershed is in the western or southwestern section of the Lackawanna River watershed. It occupies parts of Taylor, Scranton, and Ransom Township, as well as a small area in Newton Township. The stream is entirely within the
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...
quadrangle of Scranton. Upstream of the tributary Lucky Run, its watershed has an area of . Upstream of the tributary Lindy Creek, it has an area of . As of 1991, nearly 80 percent of the watershed of Keyser Creek is forested land. Approximately 20 percent is residential land. There are also a few small areas of commercial and industrial land. Keyser Creek is an "important"
second-order Second-order may refer to: Mathematics * Second order approximation, an approximation that includes quadratic terms * Second-order arithmetic, an axiomatization allowing quantification of sets of numbers * Second-order differential equation, a d ...
stream. It is one of the larger tributaries of the Lackawanna River. It is a
second-order Second-order may refer to: Mathematics * Second order approximation, an approximation that includes quadratic terms * Second-order arithmetic, an axiomatization allowing quantification of sets of numbers * Second-order differential equation, a d ...
stream. Major roads in the watershed include Keyser Avenue, Luzerne Street, North South Road, Simplex Drive, Washburn Street, and Sherman Avenue. Keyser Creek is one source of
flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...
ing in the borough of Taylor. It is also the only recent flooding source in the borough. In 1971, the creek overflowed after a rainstorm, damaging several yards and lots near Oak Street and First Street. The flooding was caused by a faulty culvert, which was later replaced by the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, Michael B. Carroll. PennDOT ...
.


History, etymology, and recreation

Keyser Creek was entered into the
Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...
on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1198972. The first white settlers in Lackawanna County settled near Keyser Creek. Timothy Keys, Solomon Hocksey, and Andrew Hickman constructed homes at this location in 1769. The creek is named after Timothy Keys. The
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, responsible for the collection, conservation, and interpretation of Pennsylvania's heritage. The commission cares for hist ...
added a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker near the creek in 1948 to commemorate the settlers. Another early settler in the area was Cornelius Atherton, who arrived at a hill overlooking the creek in 1782. In maps from the 1700s, the creek is referred to as Beaver Run or Beaver Creek. Since the 19th century, Keyser Creek has been heavily impacted by coal mining and railroads. Three steel
girder A girder () is a Beam (structure), beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a sta ...
bridges that historically carried the Central New Jersey Railroad across Keyser Creek near its mouth. The bridges now carry the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail. The creek also flows under a stone arch culvert with a length of near the Canadian Pacific rail yard in Taylor. A steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge was constructed across the creek in 1996. It is long and carries Washburn Avenue. In the early 2000s, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan recommended that Ransom Township, Newton Township, and the city of Scranton include protection of Keyser Creek in their comprehensive plans, as well as their ordinances for land use, zoning, and subdivision. The creek is on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation's priority list and the Lackawanna River Corridor Association's priority list for the Lackawanna River watershed.


Biology

The entire drainage basin of Keyser Creek is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. In the late 1800s, there was a laurel swamp along the creek. The area in the vicinity of Keyser Creek has experienced
habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
due to abandoned mine impacts. What remains of the creek's
riparian buffer A riparian buffer or stream buffer is a vegetated area (a " buffer strip") near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect the stream from the impact of adjacent land uses. It plays a key role in increasing water quality ...
in some reaches is overrun with
invasive plant An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native speci ...
s. The understory in the creek's riparian area is covered in knotweed. However, some reaches have riparian buffers containing
red maple ''Acer rubrum'', the red maple, also known as swamp maple, water maple, or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest Service recognizes it as the most abundant nati ...
,
silver maple ''Acer saccharinum'', commonly known as silver maple, creek maple, silverleaf maple, soft maple, large maple, water maple, swamp maple, or white maple, is a species of maple native to the eastern and central United States and southeastern Canad ...
, and
river birch ''Betula nigra'', the black birch, river birch or water birch, is a species of birch native to the Eastern United States from New Hampshire west to southern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and west to Texas. It is one of the few heat-tol ...
.


Recreation

The Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Project suggested creating a
trailhead A trailhead is the point where a trail begins or is accessed, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain restrooms, maps, signposts, and distribution centers for ...
for the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail at the mouth of Keyser Creek. The section of the trail running from Keyser Creek to Taylor is long and is known as the CNJ Extension. Groundbreaking began on May 14, 2012 and the trail opened in 2013.


See also

* Spring Brook (Lackawanna River), next tributary of the Lackawanna River going downriver * Stafford Meadow Brook, next tributary of the Lackawanna River going upriver *
List of rivers of Pennsylvania This is a list of streams and rivers in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. By drainage basin This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name. Delaware Bay Chesapeake Bay *''E ...
* List of tributaries of the Lackawanna River


References


External links


Google Street View image of Keyser Creek
{{authority control Rivers of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Lackawanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania