Racket Brook 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 Wayne County and

Lackawanna County Lackawanna County (; ) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It had a population of 215,615 in 2022. Its county seat and most populous city is Scranton. The county is part of the Northeast region of the commonwealth. The county was ...

, in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Canaan Township in Wayne County and Carbondale Township and Carbondale in Lackawanna County. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The stream has no named tributaries, but has two unnamed tributaries. It is not designated as impaired, but it does experience minor flow loss. It drains part of the

Moosic Mountains The Moosic Mountains is a mountain range in Northeastern Pennsylvania that stretches from Scranton to Mount Pleasant Township, a distance of roughly 32 miles. The high point of the range is in Jefferson Township, at an elevation of above se ...

and also flows through a

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ...

known as the Brownell Ravine. Racket Brook is one of the larger tributaries of the Lackawanna River. There are a number of

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

reservoirs in its watershed: the Brownell Reservoir, Carbondale Reservoir Number 4, and Carbondale Reservoir Number 7.

Anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a lustre (mineralogy)#Submetallic lustre, submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy densit ...

has been mined in the stream's vicinity as early as 1820. The Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad inclined plane existed at its mouth by 1829 and there were railroad lines along the stream by the 1880s. In the 20th century, a number of bridges were constructed across the stream. Racket Brook is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

Course

Racket Brook begins in the

in Canaan Township, Wayne County, just east of the Wayne County/Lackwanna County line. It flows west-northwest for several tenths of a mile, exiting Wayne County almost immediately and entering Carbondale Township, Lackawanna County. The stream then turns north and enters the Brownell Reservoir. From the northern end of that reservoir, it flows north for a short distance and crosses

US Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6) or U.S. Highway 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the United States Numbered Highway System. While it ...

before turning west-northwest. A few tenths of a mile further downstream, it turns southwest and enters Carbondale. Over the next several tenths of a mile, the stream gradually turns northwest before crossing a highway and reaching its confluence with the Lackawanna River. Racket Brook joins the Lackawanna River upriver of its mouth.

Tributaries

Racket Brook has no named tributaries. However, it does have two unnamed tributaries. These tributaries are known as "trib. to Brownwell Res." and "trib from Carbondale Res. No. 4". Their lengths are and , respectively.

Hydrology

Racket Brook is not designated as an impaired stream. However, it experiences some minor flow loss to mine pools in its lower reaches. Racket Brook is a

perennial stream A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long, large stream ...

. In the early 1900s, Racket Brook was found to be a clear stream from the Brownell Reservoir. However, its banks were lined with culm from the Racket Brook Colliery to a point downstream. Culm deposits were also found in the

streambed A streambed or stream bed is the bottom of a stream or river and is confined within a channel or the banks of the waterway. Usually, the bed does not contain terrestrial (land) vegetation and instead supports different types of aquatic vegetat ...

. Additionally,

municipal waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, a ...

was discharged into the stream in its lower reaches. The city of Carbondale has had a permit to discharge

stormwater Stormwater, also written storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed lan ...

into the stream. At its mouth, the peak annual discharge of Racket Brook has a 10 percent chance of reaching 650 cubic feet per second. It has a 0.2, 1, or 2 percent chance of reaching 700 cubic feet per second.

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 Racket Brook is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. The elevation of the stream's

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute ...

is between above sea level. Racket Brook's source is mainly fed by springs and

seep A seep or flush is a moist or wet place where water, usually groundwater, reaches the Earth's surface from an underground aquifer. Description Seeps are usually not of sufficient volume to be flowing beyond their immediate above-ground location. ...

s. The stream drains a number of small

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

s, 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. The stream drains the western part of Salem Hill, the highest part of the

. Downstream of the Brownell Reservoir, it flows through a steep ravine known as the Brownell Ravine that has been partially filled in to allow

to cross it. A

coal bed Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is a type of f ...

with a thickness of is located in the vicinity of Racket Brook.

Watershed

The

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

of Racket Brook has an area of . The mouth of the steam is in 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 Carbondale. However, its source is in the quadrangle of Waymart. Racket Brook 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. It is one of the larger tributaries of the Lackawanna River. Most of the watershed is in Canaan Township, Wayne County and Carbondale Township, Lackawanna County. A smaller area is in Carbondale, Lackawanna County and an even smaller area is in Fell Township, Lackawanna County. The watershed is in the northeastern part of the Lackawanna River drainage basin. As of the early 2000s, the Theta Land Company owns tracts of land in the upper reaches of the watershed of Racket Brook.

Pennsylvania State Game Lands The Pennsylvania State Game Lands (SGL) are lands managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) for hunting, trapping, and fishing. These lands, often not usable for farming or development, are donated to the PGC or purchased by the PGC with ...

also occupy some tracts in this reach of the watershed, as do state correctional institute lands and private properties. The lower reaches of the watershed are in commercial, residential, and urban parts of Carbondale. As is typical for such stream reaches, there are encroachments by fill and urban litter in this reach.

Reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

s in the watershed of Racket Brook include the Brownell Reservoir, Carbondale Reservoir Number 4, and Carbondale Reservoir Number 7. These reservoirs are operated by the Pennsylvania-American Water Company and are used as a

supply Supply or supplies may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as ...

potable water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

for the city of Carbondale.

History

Racket Brook 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 1192049.

was being mined near the mouth of Racket Brook by 1820. The mining was done by William and Maurice Wurts, founders of the Delaware and Hudson Enterprise, which singlehandedly allowed the

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a lustre (mineralogy)#Submetallic lustre, submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy densit ...

industry in the mid and upper Lackawanna River watershed to develop. Historically, the Racket Brook Colliery was in the stream's vicinity. It was owned by the Delaware and Hudson Coal Company. However, by the early 1900s, it had been abandoned and most of its buildings were torn down. Historic sites in the watershed of Racket Brook include the D&H sites and Gravity Inclines in Carbondale and the Racket Brook Vault in Carbondale Township. The first D&H gravity railroad

inclined plane An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

began operations at the mouth of the stream in 1829. The Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan proposed a Heritage Landing at this site. During an extreme

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 ...

on June 18, 1922, Racket Brook overflowed its banks and worsened the flooding caused by overflowing water reservoirs in the area. The flood was caused by a

cloudburst Cloudburst in New Orleans A cloudburst is an enormous amount of precipitation in a short period of time, sometimes accompanied by hail and thunder, which is capable of creating flood conditions. Cloudbursts can quickly dump large amounts of wat ...

and caused $2,000,000 in damage in the area. The city of Carbondale bore the brunt of the flood. There were

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

lines along Racket Brook by the 1880s. The Delaware and Hudson railyard was constructed at the stream's mouth. A concrete stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge was constructed over Racket Brook in 1950. This bridge is long. Another bridge carrying a spur of U.S. Route 6 was built over the stream in Carbondale in 1963. This bridge is a steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge with a length of . In the early 2000s, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan proposed a

greenway Greenway or Greenways may refer to: * Greenway (landscape), a linear park focused on a trail or bike path * Another term for bicycle boulevards in some jurisdictions * European Greenways Association, an association for sustainable transport Peopl ...

/connecting trail along Racket Brook. Such a greenway could link to the D&H Transportation Heritage corridor. This trail could be known as the D&H Gravity/Racket Brook Trail. The Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan also recommended that Carbondale Township and Carbondale include protection of Racket Brook in their comprehensive plans, as well as their ordinances for land use, zoning, and subdivision.

Biology

The drainage basin of Racket Brook is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Wild

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

naturally reproduce in the stream from the Brownell Reservoir downstream to the mouth, a distance of . Ridgetop

scrub oak Scrub oak is a common name for several species of small, shrubby oaks. It may refer to: *the Chaparral plant community in California, or to one of the following species. In California *California scrub oak ('' Quercus berberidifolia''), a widesp ...

pitch pine ''Pinus rigida'', the pitch pine, is a small-to-medium-sized pine. It is native to eastern North America, primarily from central Maine south to Georgia and as far west as Kentucky. It is found in environments which other species would find unsuit ...

barrens occur in the upper reaches of the watershed of Racket Brook. Hemlocks and

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

s inhabit the Brownell Ravine, which the stream flows through.

Knotweed Knotweed is a common name for plants in several genera in the family Polygonaceae. Knotweed may refer to: * ''Fallopia'' * ''Persicaria'' * ''Polygonum'' * ''Reynoutria'' ** ''Reynoutria japonica'' or Japanese knotweed, a highly invasive species in ...

inhabits the area in the vicinity of the stream's lower reaches.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Wayne County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Lackawanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania