Stream Names

[Berks]

I was looking at some stream reports not long ago and saw references to “unnamed tributary” and got to thinking, who’s responsible for naming streams. Obviously most streams and other water bodies are named, but what agency has the authority, if any, to assign a name to unnamed body of water?

Speaking of stream names… it looks like the PFBC has assigned a name to a creek in Berks County I’ve not heard before. Swamp Creek listed in the trout stocking page is referred to as the West or East Branch Conestoga River on the maps I use. Maybe it’s a local reference??

 

[troutbert]

Berks wrote:

Obviously most streams and other water bodies are named, but what agency has the authority, if any, to assign a name to unnamed body of water?

The USGS (US Geological Survey).

 

[streamerguy]

I checked out a little stream last summer that supposedly didn't have a name. No name on Google maps, another topo map I checked, etc. and the PFBC had it listed as "unnamed trib to xyz creek."

Later on I found out that the stream was named on a state park map.

Since then I've found this to be the case with a few other creeks as well.

 

[salmonoid]

troutbert wrote:

Berks wrote:

Obviously most streams and other water bodies are named, but what agency has the authority, if any, to assign a name to unnamed body of water?

The USGS (US Geological Survey).

More info here, including how to submit your own name for an unnamed feature. Note: you can't name a stream after a living person - they must be dead at least five years

 

[brookieaddict]

Find an old local who fished and trapped the area, he will tell you the names of the runs .

 

[Berks]

Thanks for the info.

I was wrong in assuming most streams in PA are named. After some research it appears most are not, and by quite a wide margin. The fear of at least one conservation group is unnamed streams go unnoticed and don't get the proper protection. It's interesting to me the PFBC isn't more involved with the naming process.

 

[AFISHN]

the other day I heard someone have another name for obviously was the "Poho".Can't remember what he said..does anyone here know the old name?

 

[outsider]

AFISHN wrote:
the other day I heard someone have another name for obviously was the "Poho".Can't remember what he said..does anyone here know the old name?

If you are referring to the Pohopoco Creek in Carbon County, I believe my mentor and fly fishing partner decades ago call it Big Creek.

 

[JackM]

My favorite stream name is Jack's Run. There are at least two I know of.

 

[Chaz]

There may be names on old maps that are no longer used also. I don't know why that is, but our T.U. Chapter did some research of stream names in the Perkiomen Drainage. We found some that apparently never had a name, and some that had a name and it was out of use.

 

[Oregon_Owl]

To add to this, Perkiomen TU submitted the names for two streams. One had no name, and is now Pachwechan Run, a Lenape word meaning meadow. The second stream was always listed as UNT, but a map of 1854 (from the Pa Historical Commission in Harrisburg) listed the stream as Valley Run, so we submitted both a new name and introduction of the historical name to the USGS. It is quite a process. Most names are generated locally by various interest groups. The township environmental council where I used to live submitted four names. Most are small first and second order streams in headwaters.

 

[troutbert]

I Googled Pachwechan Run and nothing came up. I also searched on AcmeMapper and it didn't come up. If the name was on the official USGS name database, I would think that it would come up. Unless the database just hasn't been updated yet.

 

[Chaz]

If you go to the Map of Perkiomen Creek at USGS and follow the Creek to Chappel you will see Pachwechan Run, but you must zoom in. Focus on the section of stream between Rts. 29 and 100. All that work is paying off, both streams are holding more trout and the water is colder in the summer.

 

[troutbert]

Chaz wrote:
If you go to the Map of Perkiomen Creek at USGS and follow the Creek to Chappel you will see Pachwechan Run, but you must zoom in. Focus on the section of stream between Rts. 29 and 100. All that work is paying off, both streams are holding more trout and the water is colder in the summer.

Do you have a link to this map?

 

[Chaz]

Pachwechan Run
Click the link then search for Pachwechan Run.
Notice all the headwaters on the Map? That's Ltl. Lehigh, West Branch Perky, Sacony Creek, and some un-named tribs.

 

[troutbert]

Chaz wrote:
Pachwechan Run
Click the link then search for Pachwechan Run.
Notice all the headwaters on the Map? That's Ltl. Lehigh, West Branch Perky, Sacony Creek, and some un-named tribs.

Nice mapping website. I bookmarked it.

 

[Oregon_Owl]

It is on one of the lists for wild trout that the PA F&BC uses. I saw it about a 2 weeks ago. Click the link below. Takes you to the Jan. 2015 of wild trout water. Look under Berks County listings.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffishandboat.com%2Ftrout_repro.pdf&ei=2tg9VdiAMNHHogTd-oCIDQ&usg=AFQjCNGtQO2qERyTD1Nk1BYOimsvKf2bCA&sig2=fcce2jXdtlEk5Y0MpfDtOQ&bvm=bv.91665533,d.cGU&cad=rja

 

[Chaz]

Oregon_Owl wrote:
It is on one of the lists for wild trout that the PA F&BC uses. I saw it about a 2 weeks ago. Click the link below. Takes you to the Jan. 2015 of wild trout water. Look under Berks County listings.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffishandboat.com%2Ftrout_repro.pdf&ei=2tg9VdiAMNHHogTd-oCIDQ&usg=AFQjCNGtQO2qERyTD1Nk1BYOimsvKf2bCA&sig2=fcce2jXdtlEk5Y0MpfDtOQ&bvm=bv.91665533,d.cGU&cad=rja

Valley Run is shown on the map, but isn't on the wild trout list. I'll have to send a note to Mike.

 

[Oregon_Owl]

Valley Run might not have year-round residents (do remember seeing risers in a small section of Cox Farm in the fall when we were wrapping a crossing fix). It may have never been surveyed, but I recall taking temps in the hot weather near a bridge on Kutztown Road. I think a 100 degree day yielded stream temps around 74 or 75 degrees, which is survivable for browns.