Big Wapwallopen Creek

Creek in Pennsylvania, United States

Big Wapwallopen Creek (also known as Wapwallopen Creek or Big Wap) is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 23 mile (37 km) long and flows through Bear Creek Township, Fairview Township, Rice Township, Wright Township, Dorrance Township, Hollenback Township, Nescopeck Township, and Conyngham Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of 53.2 square miles (138 km2). The creek has three named tributaries: Balliet Run, Watering Run, and Bow Creek. The creek is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery and is also Class A Wild Trout Waters for part of its length. However, a portion is considered to be impaired by organic enrichment and/or low levels of dissolved oxygen and its pH ranges from moderately acidic to slightly alkaline. Big Wapwallopen Creek has three large waterfalls, all of which are more than 25 feet (8 m) high. The creek flows through the Wapwallopen Gorge in its lower reaches, where it descends 210 feet (64 m). It mainly flows through rock formations consisting of sandstone and shale. The creek has existed for several million years, but the portion of its course that flows through the Wapwallopen Gorge is less than 20,000 years old. The creek's watershed is mainly rural and most of it is forested. It is the main source of flooding in six townships. Wapwallopen Creek is named after a Native American village that historically existed on the creek. The Delaware tribe inhabited the area by 1675 and the Shawnee tribe also historically inhabited the area. Numerous mills were built on the creek in the 1700s and 1800s, including two powder mills in the Wapwallopen Gorge. The second powder mill was built in 1859 by E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company and was one of the largest powder mills in the United States at the time. That powder mill operated until 1912. Numerous bridges were built across the creek in the 1900s. The Wapwallopen Gorge is listed on the Luzerne County Natural Areas Inventory. It is possible to canoe on 10.3 mile (17 km) of the creek, but there are some unrunnable points.

Big Wapwallopen Creek begins in Crystal Lake in Bear Creek Township. It flows west for several tenths of a mile and enters Fairview Township. The creek turns west southwest for approximately a mile, passing Arbutus Peak to the south and crossing Pennsylvania Route 437. It then turns west northwest for several tenths of a mile before turning southwest and then west, crossing Pennsylvania Route 309. It passes through Pole Bridge Swamp and begins flowing along the border between Rice Township and Wright Township. Over the next couple of miles, the creek gradually turns south southwest, still following the township line. It then passes through Hickory Swale and receives Bow Creek, its first named tributary, from the left. It turns southwest for several tenths of a mile before turning south and then southwest. It then turns west for more than a mile before turning southwest for a few miles, receiving the tributary Watering Run from the left before entering Dorrance Township and crossing Interstate 81. The creek then turns south for a few tenths of a mile before turning west and then southwest for a few miles, passing Feys Grove. It eventually turns west southwest and enters Hollenback Township. After a few miles, the creek turns south for a short distance and receives Balliet Run, its last named tributary, from the left. It then turns west northwest for more than a mile before turning south. At this point, the creek turns west again and enters a gorge. After several tenths of a mile, it turns north again, still flowing through the gorge and crossing the border between Hollenback Township and Nescopeck Township several times. The creek then turns west northwest and begins flowing along the border between Nescopeck Township and Conyngham Township. After approximately a mile, it leaves the gorge and crosses Pennsylvania Route 239. It then reaches its confluence with the Susquehanna River just southwest of Wapwallopen.

Big Wapwallopen Creek has three named tributaries: Balliet Run, Watering Run, and Bow Creek. The creek also has numerous unnamed tributaries. The cause of the impairment is organic enrichment and/or low levels of dissolved oxygen. The creek has a United States Geological Survey stream gage near Wapwallopen. In the mid 1970s, the concentration of nitrogen in the form of nitrates in Big Wapwallopen Creek near its mouth ranged from 0.60 to 1.96 milligrams per liter (3.5×10−7 to 1.13×10−6 oz/cu in). The concentration of nitrogen in the form of nitrites ranged from 0.026 to 0.076 milligrams per liter (2.6×10−5 to 7.6×10−5 oz/cu ft). The phosphorus concentration ranged from 0.050 to 0.500 milligrams per liter (5.0×10−5 to 0.000499 oz/cu ft), the sulfate concentration ranged from 10.0 to 36.0 milligrams per liter (0.0100 to 0.0360 oz/cu ft), and the chloride concentration ranged from 6.0 to 13.0 milligrams per liter (0.0060 to 0.0130 oz/cu ft). The peak annual discharge of Big Wapwallopen Creek at its mouth has a 10 percent chance of reaching 3350 cubic feet per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching 6550 cubic feet per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching 8400 cubic feet per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching 15,000 cubic feet per second. The peak annual discharge of the creek at the confluence of Balliet Run has a 10 percent chance of reaching 1900 cubic feet per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching 3050 cubic feet per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching 3600 cubic feet per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching 5200 cubic feet per second. The elevation of the creek's source is between above sea level. The mean elevation of the creek's watershed upstream of State Route 3012/Hobbie Road is 1330 feet (405 m) above sea level. It flows off the southwestern edge of the Pocono Plateau. Closer to its mouth, there are three large waterfalls on the creek. The uppermost waterfall cuts through red sandstone. The gorge is in Conyngham Township, Hollenback Township, and Nescopeck Township. The annual rate of precipitation in the watershed of Big Wapwallopen Creek ranges from The creek's mouth is located approximately 17 mile (27 km) to the southwest of the city of Wilkes Barre. The community of Mountain Top is located at the headwaters of the creek. The historical community of Glen Summit Springs was also at the headwaters of the creek. Big Wapwallopen Creek flows through a rural valley with steep slopes. A dammed reservoir with an area of is located on the creek at its headwaters. A tract of land known as American Legion Post 781 is in the vicinity of Big Wapwallopen Creek in Wright Township. The tract is owned by the North Branch Land Trust and has an area of The watershed of the creek is 2 mile (3 km) away from the planned Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant. The two sites are separated by the Susquehanna River.

Big Wapwallopen Creek was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1192144. Big Wapwallopen Creek is named after a Native American village on the Susquehanna River near the creek. The first land grant in Nescopeck Township was located to the west of Big Wapwallopen Creek. It was known as the Campania Tract and it was surveyed to Daniel Grant in 1769. The tract was patented to George Campbell in 1773. While the mills were in operation, there were fatal explosions every eight years and the infrastructure was destroyed by flooding numerous times. Only ruins remain today. The artist Thomas Addison Richards created a graphite on wove paper drawing of Big Wapwallopen Creek in 1852. The Crystal Spring Water Company was chartered on April 11, 1861. It got its water supply from the upper reaches of the watershed of Big Wapwallopen Creek. In the 1800s, F. K. Miller constructed a tannery on a tributary of the creek in southeastern Dorrance Township. By 1865, the community of Dorrance had a gristmill, four sawmills, and a tavern on the creek. The Albert Methodist Church was moved from the Powder Glen near Wapwallopen in the early 1900s and dedicated in 1927. Two prestressed box beam or girders bridges with three spans were built across Big Wapwallopen Creek in 1965 and repaired in 1982. Both carried Interstate 81 and were 144.0 feet (44 m) long. A concrete culvert bridge carrying Pennsylvania Route 239 was built over the creek in 1970. This bridge is 65.0 feet (20 m) long. A prestressed box beam or girders bridge with a length of 37.1 feet (11 m) was built over the creek in 1993. A prestressed box beam or girders bridge with a length of 44.0 feet (13 m) was constructed across the creek in 1996.

The drainage basin of Big Wapwallopen Creek is designated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Wild trout naturally reproduce in the creek from its headwaters downstream to its mouth. They also do so in all three of the creek's named tributaries. A 4.7 mile (8 km) long stretch of the creek from Crystal Lake to a powerline crossing upstream of Nuangola Road is designated as Class A Wild Trout Waters for both brook trout and brown trout. The tributaries Bow Creek and Balliet Run are also Class A Wild Trout Waters. It has also been stocked with brook trout at times. Minnows and suckers have been observed within the creek. Hemlock trees form a canopy over Big Wapwallopen Creek in some places. A Jewish camp known as Camp Davidowitz was historically situated along Big Wapwallopen Creek. It was 16 mile (26 km) from Hazleton and had an area of
The creek is designated as Approved Trout Waters from a powerline crossing upstream of Nuangola Road downstream to county road. In 2016, it opened for trout fishing on April 16.