Lycoming Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map , accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River located in Tioga and Lycoming counties in Pennsylvania in the United States.
Conrad Weiser guided Moravian Church missionary along the creek and path to reach Onondaga, the capital of the Iroquois Confederacy in 1737. Raiding parties of Indian warriors used the creek and path in 1770 when conducting attacks on the West Branch Susquehanna Valley strongholds of Fort Muncy and Fort Freeland. Fort Freeland was also attacked and captured by Loyalists in July 1779. Colonel Thomas Hartley led the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment up the Sheshequin Path during the American Revolution. Hartley's expedition in 1778 preceded the Sullivan Expedition of 1779. Both Hartley and Sullivan were instrumental in claiming the frontier of Pennsylvania and New York for the forces of the Continental Army. As Hartley and his men passed through Lewis Township the Sheshequin path was widened. The widening of the path helped to open this area to settlement in the years following the Revolution.
In 1839, the Williamsport and Elmira Railroad was built along the creek from Williamsport to Ralston, and was extended to the source of the creek and beyond to Elmira, New York, in 1854. The railroad was reorganized in 1860 as the Elmira and Williamsport Railroad, and came under the control of the Northern Central Railway in 1863, and later the Pennsylvania Railroad. U.S. Route 15 and Pennsylvania Route 14 were later built up the length of the creek. In 1972, flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes washed out several rail bridges and resulted in the abandonment of the railroad north of Hepburnville; the remainder was abandoned in 1986.
There was severe on Lycoming Creek on January 19 and 20, 1996, when a combination of heavy snow on the ground, heavy rains and subsequent melting, and Ice jam led to flooding two feet higher than that seen in 1972 with Hurricane Agnes. Six people died as a result of flooding on Lycoming Creek in the greater Williamsport area, and there was millions of dollars of damage to property.
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