Tearcoat Creek

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Tearcoat Creek (officially Tear Coat Creek, per 1931 federal Board on Geographic Names decision [1] ) is an 18.3-mile-long (29.5 km) [2] free-flowing tributary stream of the North River, itself a tributary of the Cacapon River, making it a part of the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds. The creek is located in central Hampshire County, West Virginia. Its name is believed to have been derived from the tearing of the coats of British soldiers by low-hanging branches as they forded the stream during either the French and Indian or the American Revolutionary Wars.

Tributary stream or river that flows into a main stem river or lake

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean.

Stream A body of surface water flowing down a channel

A stream is a body of water with surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. The stream encompasses surface and groundwater fluxes that respond to geological, geomorphological, hydrological and biotic controls.

Cacapon River river in the United States of America

The Cacapon River, located in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle region, is an 81.0-mile-long (130.4 km) river known for its fishing, boating, wildlife, and scenery. As part of the Potomac River watershed, it is an American Heritage River.

Contents

Tearcoat Creek is popular with whitewater rafters who frequent the 3.9-mile (6.3 km) stretch of stream between the Northwestern Turnpike (U.S. Route 50) at Pleasant Dale and its mouth on the North River. The creek's Class II-III rapids are mostly on blind turns in the forested gorge near its mouth. Tearcoat Creek can be accessed by rafters from Tear Coat Road (CR 50/17), which is parallel to the stream from US 50.

Whitewater bubbly, or aerated and unstable current

Whitewater is formed in a rapid, when a river's gradient increases enough to generate so much turbulence that air is entrained into the water body, that is, it forms a bubbly or aerated and unstable current; the frothy water appears white. The term is also loosely used to refer to less turbulent, but still agitated, flows.

The Northwestern Turnpike is a historic road in West Virginia, important for being historically one of the major roads crossing the Appalachians, financed by the Virginia Board of Public Works in the 1830s. In modern times, west of Winchester, Virginia, U.S. Route 50 follows the path of the Northwestern Turnpike into West Virginia, whose major Corridor D project follows the western section of the original Northwestern Turnpike.

U.S. Route 50 in West Virginia highway in West Virginia

U.S. Route 50 in West Virginia runs from the border with Ohio to Virginia, passing briefly through Garrett County, Maryland, and following the Northwestern Turnpike. Prior to the U.S. Highway System it was West Virginia Route 1 and in the 1930s, the road was not finished in Maryland. At that time, motorists had to open a gate at the state line and drive on a dirt path until again reaching the other state line. Today the section of US 50 from Clarksburg to Parkersburg on the Ohio River is part of Corridor D of the Appalachian Development Highway System.

Headwaters & course

The stream's source lies near Ruckman where it flows northeast along the western flanks of Short Mountain (2,864 feet) parallel to Augusta-Ford Hill Road (CR 7). At Ford Hill (1,421 feet), Tearcoat Creek is joined by Mack Road (CR 7/5) and continues on its northeastern course. Through this stretch south of Augusta, Tearcoat merges with a number of smaller cattle watering streams increasing it in size. After parting from Mack Road, the creek meanders through a winding gorge to the west of Dunmore Ridge (1,401 feet). South of US 50, Tearcoat Creek is joined by its two largest named tributary streams: first Turkeyfoot Run and then Bearwallow Creek. Shortly after its confluence with Bearwallow Creek, it passes under the US 50 bridge at Pleasant Dale continuing northeast through another winding forested gorge. It is the stretch within this gorge that Tearcoat Creek, at times, is deep enough and contains enough water flow for Class II-III rapids. From the gorge, the creek turns east and converges with the North River north of Hanging Rock.

Ruckman, West Virginia Unincorporated community in West Virginia, United States

Ruckman is an unincorporated community farming community in Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Ruckman is located at the intersections of Ash Ruckman Road with J.C. Ruckman and Edgar Loy Roads south of Augusta and northeast of Kirby. It is named for the Ruckman family that is still prevalent in the area. Ruckman's post office is no longer in operation.

Augusta, West Virginia Unincorporated community in West Virginia, United States

Augusta is an unincorporated community in central Hampshire County, West Virginia. It is located along the Northwestern Turnpike at the northern terminus of Augusta-Ford Hill Road between Shanks and Pleasant Dale, east of Romney. According to the 2000 census, the Augusta community has a population of 4,728.

Bearwallow Creek is a 4.3-mile-long (6.9 km) tributary stream of Tearcoat Creek, itself a tributary of the North River, making it a part of the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds. Bearwallow Creek is located in Hampshire County, West Virginia. It rises on Chestnut Oak Ridge, from which it flows southwest along the ridge's eastern flanks and then begins its course southeast along Bear Wallow Hollow Road and U.S. Route 50 until its confluence with Tearcoat Creek at Pleasant Dale.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Tear Coat Creek
  2. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed August 15, 2011

Coordinates: 39°17′56″N78°33′08″W / 39.29899°N 78.55223°W / 39.29899; -78.55223

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

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