NEPA geography (York, Wyoming, Luzerne: homes, land, area)

[Toonamatic]

Is the Lackawanna Valley the same as the Wyoming Valley or are they two distinct areas?

Thx!

Toon

[PeeAye Native]

There is a Lackawanna River, a Lackawanna County, and many businesses and organizations with Lackawanna Valley in their name, (eg., Lackawanna Valley Trout Unlimited). And in western NY there is a town or city named Lackawanna (famous for the Lackawanna Six).

But if you look in the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) (BGN: Domestic Names - Main), there is no place named Lackawanna Valley.

The Wyoming Valley however is a distinct place name in three states in addition to PA ... OH, NY and WI.

As a trivia question, there is no Wyoming Valley in WY, but there is a Wyoming Gluch.

[weluvpa]

Learn something new everyday..

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Toonamatic

Is the Lackawanna Valley the same as the Wyoming Valley or are they two distinct areas?

Thx!

Toon

Really a good question and there isn't a good answer. If you look from distance using a topographic map they appear to be the same. A closer look reveals a much wider and flatter valley in the Wyoming Valley section especially on the west side.. Above where the "Susky" enters the Valley there is certainly a distinct elevation shift upwards and a more hilly terrain.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.389173,-75.776825&spn=0.806711,2.113495&t=p&z=10&vpsrc=6

[Mr Yuk]

How did the W-B area become known as the Wyoming Valley? (especially since the state of WY is on the other side of the country). Is it because of the borough of Wyoming? Wouldn't Susquehanna Valley make more sense?

[sp2007]

Also the state of Wyoming is named for the Wyoming Massacre in Wyoming area PA. It was one of the lesser known defeats of Colonials during the Revolutionary War.

[PeeAye Native]

The name came from an American Indian name.

From 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica - Free Online

WYOMING VALLEY, a valley on the N. branch of the Susquehanna river, in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Its name is a corruption of a Delaware Indian word meaning "large plains." The valley, properly speaking, is about 31 m. wide and about 25 m. long, but the term is sometimes used historically in a broader sense to include all of the territory in the N.E. of the state once in dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut. In Connecticut the Susquehanna Land Company was formed in 1753 to colonize the valley, and the Delaware Land Company was formed in 1754 for the region immediately W. of the Delaware river. The rights of the Six Nations to all this territory were purchased at Albany, New York, by the Susquehanna Company in 1754, but the work of colonization was delayed for a time by the Seven Years' War. A few colonists sent out by the Susque hanna Company settled at Mill Creek near the present site of 1 In place of De Forest Richards, deceased.
...

Wyoming Valley

[nepaexpat]

On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming!Although the wild-flower on thy ruin'd wall,And roofless homes, a sad remembrance bring,Of what thy gentle people did befall;Yet thou wert once the loveliest land of allThat see the Atlantic wave their morn restore.Sweet land! may I thy lost delights recall,And paint thy Gertrude in her bowers of yore,Whose beauty was the love of Pennsylvania's shore!This was a succesful poem of it's day, and may be why the state of Wyoming is called that today. And the reason it is not the Susquehanna Valley? It already exists in upstate NY.

[ki0eh]

Isn't the Lackawanna Valley "up da line" and the Wyoming Valley "down da line"?

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by ki0eh

Isn't the Lackawanna Valley "up da line" and the Wyoming Valley "down da line"?

Pretty much, but it depends on what part of "da line" you're at. Anything south of of Scran'n is "down da line" if you're up da line in da Mid Valley, up de Eynon.

Hayna er no?