Why do some Susquehanna River tributaries have the same name on both sides? (Philadelphia: college)

[ki0eh]

I find really odd, as a PA non-native, a tendency for some tributaries of the Susquehanna to have the same name on both sides - two Conewago Creeks that come in just below Three Mile Island, two Fishing Creeks that come in just north of Harrisburg, two Mahantango Creeks too that enter from opposite sides at nearly the same point.

What on earth were they thinking back in the early 1700s when they wrote these names down???

[Gerania]

One creek is the Conewago and the other is the Little Conewago. That clears it up right? LOL

"...Lenape, meaning "at the rapids". The rapids are the Conewago Falls in the Susquehanna River..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conewago_Creek_(east)

Both creeks enter the river in that area, so... It seems that giving one of the creeks a different name would have been less confusing.

Two Fishing Creeks is curious.

[CHIP72]

You can fish in many creeks, hence the multiple Fishing Creeks.

BTW, there's one that drains into the Susquehanna up by Bloomsburg too.

My bigger pet peeve with Pennsylvania river names is how the rivers in the Pittsburgh area are treated as three rivers rather than two rivers merging into one river. Really, the Allegheny River should be the Ohio River North Branch and the Monongahela River should be the Ohio River South Branch.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by CHIP72

My bigger pet peeve with Pennsylvania river names is how the rivers in the Pittsburgh area are treated as three rivers rather than two rivers merging into one river. Really, the Allegheny River should be the Ohio River North Branch and the Monongahela River should be the Ohio River South Branch.

I've noticed that up in NY where I-86 crosses the Allegheny River on the Seneca Nation territory the sign for the river crossing like some others has another sign in the Seneca language with it - and this one reads "Ohi'yo" (or something like that, operating from memory)

[Ohiogirl81]

LMAO ... I'm a native of Pennsylvania and I still find the entire state a bit odd ...

Really, the Allegheny River should be the Ohio River North Branch and the Monongahela River should be the Ohio River South Branch

By that logic, then, the Ohio River should be the Mississippi East Branch, and every river that drains into the Mississippi would be similarly named. Talk about confusing.

[CHIP72]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

LMAO ... I'm a native of Pennsylvania and I still find the entire state a bit odd ...


By that logic, then, the Ohio River should be the Mississippi East Branch, and every river that drains into the Mississippi would be similarly named. Talk about confusing.

The difference is the Ohio River, while a major river, still contributes less flow to the Mississippi River south of Cairo, IL than the Mississippi River north of Cairo, IL does. With the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, they contribute pretty much the same volume of water (and are both about the same width) when they join together to form the Ohio River.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by CHIP72

You can fish in many creeks, hence the multiple Fishing Creeks.

BTW, there's one that drains into the Susquehanna up by Bloomsburg too.

My bigger pet peeve with Pennsylvania river names is how the rivers in the Pittsburgh area are treated as three rivers rather than two rivers merging into one river. Really, the Allegheny River should be the Ohio River North Branch and the Monongahela River should be the Ohio River South Branch.

My Nebraskan husband says the same thing. The Pitt alma mater makes note of this in the line "Where twin rivers, forest bounded, merge and journey towards the sea". However, it's possible when these rivers were named, no one knew that.

[Icy Tea]

If you look up some of the rivers, they seem to go on forever. The Susquehanna begins as a stream in NY near the catskills not too far from the headwaters of the Delaware. Thats the east branch. The west branch starts much farther west /north of State College.
But you'll get a good laugh in you drive in Lancaster County and see some of their "rivers". They call them rivers but they are just streams. One is along route 625, the Connestoga River.
I saw a news story from Philadelphia where they traced the headwaters of the Schuylkill to a stream from a coal mine in Schuylkill County( the west branch). Pretty interesting except they fumbled the story majorly by not actually driving ALONG the Schuylkill River which has the Schuylkill Expressway and Route 422 along much of it and then route 61. They missed many river cities and towns and it made the news piece seem pretty amateurish and not written that well. I mean they drove up through Lehigh County which doesn't even touch the river. But the Lehigh River is a cool river and even more scenic than the Schuylkill. Yeah, I like rivers.

[Gerania]

^ Summer of the Delaware "18 July 08: Seeking the source..." It's the last entry on this page.

phillyskyline.com | yo

There are a lot of Fishing Creeks, but I had never noticed two entering a river across from other.