The 18.2 square mile Solomon Creek watershed is located within the Wyoming Valley Section of the Lackawanna Synclinorium and includes 26.66 miles of streams. The Solomon Creek watershed is situated within the Anthracite Valley Section of the Ridge and Valley Province, where 17 mineable seams of Anthracite coal. The elevation of the Solomon Creek watershed ranges from approximately 2148’ on top of Haystack Mountain, near the radio towers in the southeastern portion of the headwaters to approximately 560’ at the western outlet of the watershed floodplain in the Lynnwood Section of Hanover Township, and just south of the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority along the Wyoming Valley Levee System. The mainstem of Solomon Creek is approximately 8.5 miles long and three (3) officially named tributaries listed in the “PA Gazetteer of Streams” (PA DER, 1989): Pine Creek, Sugar Notch Run, and Spring Run. About 1/2 of the watershed is underlain by underground mines and a mine pool, to which it loses surface water flows. The creek picks up two (2) main AMD discharges near the mouth: the Buttonwood Shaft discharge near Buttonwood Section of Hanover Township and the South Wilkes-Barre Boreholes near the Lee Park Section of Hanover Township. EPCAMR recently discovered some additional AMD seeps from the Doran Farm Area, the Careys Patch Area and a collapsed borehole from the Inman mine discharging along Middle Road in the vicinity of St. Marys Cemetery.
“Among the numerous streams that rush from the mountain into the bosom of the majestic Susquehanna, the beautiful cascade of Solomon’s Creek is well calculated to gratify the ardent admirer of the works of Nature. Surrounded with dark hemlocks, the rocks stained with moss and partially covered with laurel and other evergreens, it forms one of the finest scenes for the pencil of the painter. Dashing, foaming and working its tempestuous way down the mountain’s side, it here precipitates itself, in the most romantic and picturesque manner, over a ledge of rocks into a natural basin; from which, winding beneath overhanging rocks, it passes through a narrow, perpendicular fissure which runs in a rapid and winding course to the river.” – J. Cist, c. 1809, Describing a Set of Waterfalls in the Headwaters of Solomon Creek above Route 29 and I-81.There are several reports completed for the Solomon Creek Watershed, here are a few:
Solomon Creek Coldwater Conservation Plan – (11MB) Prepared by EPCAMR (November 2012)
Photo Essay -(151MB) virtual stream walk-through of full color and high-resolution image file sizes.
Sugar Notch Run (only) Photo Essay-(41MB) virtual stream walk-through of full color and high-resolution image file sizes.
Operation SCARLIFT: Nanticoke, Warrior and Solomon Creeks
