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White Deer Hole Creek is a tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River in Clinton, Lycoming and Union counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin, the White Deer Hole Creek watershed drains parts of ten townships. The creek flows east in a valley of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians, through sandstone, limestone, and shale from the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian periods. As of 2006, the creek and its watershed are relatively undeveloped, with 28.4 percent of the watershed given to agriculture and 71.6 percent covered by forest, including part of Tiadaghton State Forest. The western part of White Deer Hole Creek has very high water quality and is the only major creek section in Lycoming County classified as Class A Wild Trout Waters, defined by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission as "streams which support a population of naturally produced trout of sufficient size and abundance to support a long-term and rewarding sport fishery." The rest of the creek and its major tributary (Spring Creek) are kept stocked. There are opportunities in the watershed for canoeing, hunting, and camping, and trails for hiking and horseback riding. Historically, two paths of the native indigenous peoples ran along parts of White Deer Hole Creek. Settlers arrived by 1770, but fled in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. They returned and the creek served as the southern boundary of Lycoming County when it was formed on April 13, 1795. A logging railroad ran along the creek from 1901 to 1904 for timber clearcutting, and small-scale lumbering continues. During World War II a Trinitrotoluene (TNT) plant, which became a federal prison in 1952, was built in the watershed. Most development is in the eastern end of the valley, with two unincorporated villages, a hamlet, and most of the farms (many Amish). == Name == Two etymologies have been suggested for White Deer Hole Creek's unusual name. According to Donehoo, it is a translation of the Lenape (or Delaware) ''Woap-achtu-woalhen'' (literally "white-deer digs a hole"), meaning "where the white deer digs". It is ''Opauchtooalin'' on the earliest map showing the creek (1755), while a 1759 map has both ''Opaghtanoten'' and its translation, "White Flint Creek". These are seen as corruptions of ''Woap-achtu-woalhen'', and by 1770 (when the first settlers arrived) a map has "White Deer hole" (''sic'').〔 ''Note'': ISBN refers to a 1999 reprint edition, URL is for the Susquehanna River Basin Commission's web page of Native American Place names, quoting and citing the book〕 In 1870, 88-year-old John Farley gave a second explanation of the name. His family had settled on the banks of White Deer Hole Creek in 1787, and John's father John built a mill on the creek by 1789. The creek was named because "a white deer is said to have been killed at an early day in a low hole or pond of water that once existed where my father built his mill". The hole was "a large circular basin of low ground of some ten acres () in extent....after my father's mill and dam were built the water of the dam overflowed and covered the most of the hollow basin of ground." The mill was just west of the mouth at the unincorporated village of Allenwood (then called Uniontown), now in Gregg Township in Union County.〔 The name "White Deer Hole Creek" is unique in the USGS Geographic Names Information System and on its maps of the United States. Although the whole creek is now referred to by this name, in 1870 the name applied only to the section from the confluence with Spring Creek east to its mouth, while the main branch west of Spring Creek was called "South Creek". Meginness used this name in 1892 and it appeared on a 1915 state map of Union County (but not the 1916 Lycoming County map).〔〔 ''Note'': shows "White Deer Hole Creek" and "South Creek"〕〔 ''Note'': shows only "White Deer Hole Creek"〕 In 2009 the name "South Creek" has disappeared, but there is still a "South Creek Road" on the right bank of the creek in Gregg Township from near the mouth of Spring Creek west to the county line. According to Meginness, the long and wide White Deer Hole Creek valley was just called "White Deer valley" by many in 1892, and this is still common.〔〔 ''Note:'' refers to "White Deer valley"〕 Confusion about the names arises since White Deer Creek is the next creek south of White Deer Hole Creek (they are on opposite sides of South White Deer Ridge).〔''For a document that refers (mistakenly) to both "White Deer Creek valley" and to "White Deer Creek" for White Deer Hole Creek and its valley, see:'' 〕 The Lenape name for White Deer Creek was ''Woap'-achtu-hanne'' (translated as "white-deer stream").〔 Spring Creek is the only named tributary of White Deer Hole Creek. Five unnamed tributaries flow through named features of South White Deer Ridge. Going upstream in order they are: Beartrap Hollow, First Gap, Second Gap, Third Gap, and Fourth Gap.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「White Deer Hole Creek」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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