Nescopeck Mountain
| Nescopeck Mountain | ||
|---|---|---|
 Nescopeck Mountain in Main Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania |
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| height | 486 m | |
| location | Pennsylvania , United States | |
| Notch height | 270 m | |
| Coordinates | 40 ° 59 '10 " N , 76 ° 18' 43" W | |
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| Type | Ridge between Moosic River and Susquehanna River | |
Nescopeck Mountain (also known as Nescopec Mountain ) is a ridge in Columbia County and Lucerne County in Pennsylvania in the United States. The highest point is 486 m above sea level. The ridge is forested, with at least two different types of forest. There are also two systems of ponds that are not always water-bearing at the foot of the ridge. It is a fairly long and uninterrupted ridge with two breakthroughs, one cut through Catawissa Creek and the other through Nescopeck Creek . The Devonian to Carboniferous rock strata that make up this ridge mainly include the sedimentary rocks of the Trimmers Rock Formation, the Catskill Formation, the Spechty Head Formation, the Pocono Formation and the Mauch Chunk Formation. In the last Ice Age, the ridge was shaped by glaciation .
The Native Americans settled in the Nescopeck Mountain area. The first Europeans arrived in 1755. The name of the ridge means something like "dirty water" or "black water". Two Pennsylvania State Game Lands and a State Park are partially on it. It extends through numerous townships in Columbia County and Lucerne County.
geography
The highest point of Nescopeck Mountain is 486 m above sea level, making it the highest point in Columbia County. Nescopeck Mountain is located in parts of the following townships in Columbia County: Beaver Township , Mifflin Township, and Main Township in Columbia County. The ridge extends into Lucerne County and extends east into Nescopeck State Park . It runs through Nescopeck Township in Lucerne County .
Nescopeck Mountain was described as "steady and almost uninterrupted" in a book published in 1832. John Gosse Freeze described the ridge in the 1888 book A History of Columbia County, Pennsylvania: From the Earliest Times as "pretty and regularly formed". The ridge has a length of about 30 km from the Susquehanna River to almost the Lehigh River . On the north side the slope is steeper and higher than on the south side. The area is too rocky for agriculture and there are large boulders lying around.
Nescopeck Mountain is part of a long mountain range of continuously forested mountains and ridges that extends from Moosic Mountain to the Susquehanna River and is considered an extension of Catawissa Mountain. The elevation is similar to the mountains around the Wyoming Valley . The ridge has a notch height of up to 255 m, at the breakthrough of Nescopeck Creek 270 m. At the western end near Mainville , the notch height amounts to 120-150 m.
The Interstate 80 runs through the cut from Nescopeck Creek breakthrough in Nescopeck Mountain. The Susquehanna River Lowlands are nearby. The trunk road otherwise runs parallel to it for almost the entire length of the ridge.
At the east end of the now operated by the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad and built by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (Lehigh and Suqehanna Division) railway line from Pittston to Jim Thorpe crosses the mountains. A stretch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad crossed Nescopeck Mountain around 1.5 kilometers to the east . This route is closed. The Pennsylvania Railroad's route through the Nescopeck Creek valley has also been suspended. A Reading Company railway ran through the valley of Catawissa Creek .
Hydrology
The ridge belongs in part to the watershed between the Susquehanna River and the Lehigh River and is largely in the catchment area of the Nescopeck Creek, which runs in the eastern section of the ridge on its south side. However, some watercourses in the Nescopeck Mountain area belong to the Lehigh River basin. It is thus completely drained by rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States .
Most of the ridge is north of Nescopeck Creek, east of the Nescopeck Valley . Through this breakthrough valley north of Buck Mountain , Nescopeck Creek changes to the north side of Nescopeck Mountain shortly after it has received Black Creek at the foot of the ridge. The valley itself is about 30 km long and up to 8 km wide.
Towards its western end, the south side of Nescopeck Mountain is drained between this and McCauley Mountain by the Scotch Run ; this flows into the Catawissa Creek , whose breakthrough valley separates Nescopeck Mountain and Catawissa Mountain .
There are numerous pools at the foot of Nescopeck Mountain ; these mostly do not carry water all year round, but rather dry out over the course of the summer.
geology
The ridge of the mountain is Nescopeck from sedimentary rocks of Devonian to lower carboniferous established, the southeast occur . The northern mountain slopes are formed by the Devonian Trimmers Rock and Catskill formations . While the siltstones and claystones of the Trimmers Rock Formation can be found on the northern lower slope of the ridge, the northern middle and upper slope areas are built up by the siltstones of the Catskill Formation. On the ridge of the ridge, there are mainly light to olive-gray, fine to medium-grain, cross- layered sandstones and silt stones of the Spechty-Kopf formation . The southern slope of the ridge is made up of carbonic sandstones of the Pocono Formation and the claystones of the Carbonic Mauch-Chunk Formation . Further south these rock formations are locally supported by the coal-bearing Pottsville Formation .
Structurally, the ridge of Nescopeck Mountain is mainly determined by rock formations that build the northwest flank of an elongated syncline . The change between layers and planarization areas, which essentially determine the geomorphological structure, results from the different lithological composition of the rock formations and the associated different levels of weathering and erosion resistance.
During the last ice age, the ridge of Nescopeck Mountain was not far from the southern glacier boundary. The glaciers carried debris from the catchment area of today's Susquehanna River and deposited it on the slopes of the ridge.
History and etymology
A Shawnee village once existed where Nescopeck is now , and after 1740 Forks Lenape arrived after they were driven from their home country. As early as 1755 two missionaries from the Moravian Church , Christian Seidel and Henry Frey, traveled along the ridge to proselytize the Indians living here.
In 1838 a man named Butler for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company asked the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for permission to build a tunnel or cut through Nescopeck Mountain. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Glen Summit Springs Hotel operated on the ridge . It was built by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company and in its heyday attracted visitors from the Wyoming Valley and the east coast of the United States . At the end of the 19th century, hard coal was also mined.
In the middle of the 19th century the ridge of the ridge was free of forest. At the beginning of the 21st century, parts of the ridge were cut down and there are plans to erect transmission masts ; the ridge is largely undeveloped.
Nescopeck Mountain is most likely named after the Shawnee village of Nescopeck. The name nescopeck itself is a corruption of neskchoppeck , which means “dirty water” or “black water” in their language.
Flora and fauna
Nescopeck Mountain is one of several areas in Columbia County with contiguous mixed oak forests typical of the Appalachian Mountains . Typical tree species are dyer's oak ( Quercus velutina ), red oak ( Quercus rubra ), American white oak ( Quercus alba ), chestnut oak ( Quercus montana ), red maple ( Acer rubrum ), late blooming bird cherry ( Prunus serotina ), gray -Birch ( Betula populifolia ), sugar birch ( Betula lenta ), Weymouth pine ( Pinus strobus ), pitch pine ( Pinus rigida ) and poplar species ( Populus spec.) Shrub species that occur on the ridge are the Lower pear berries ( Gaultheria procumbens ), Vaccinium and Gaylussacia species and rock pears ( Amelanchier spec.). Other shrub species there are Gaylussacia baccata , the Heidelbeerart Vaccinium angustifolium , mountain laurel ( Kalmia latifolia ), Narrow-laurel ( Kalmia angustifolia ), Aralia nudicaulis and Parthenocissus quinquefolia ( Parthenocissus quinquefolia ). The bracken ( Pteridium aquilinum ) also occurs, for example .
As Edgewood Vernal pools designated areas on the south side of the ridge with dozens of intermittent ponds , the glacial origin, provide habitat for many amphibians , including forest frog ( Rana sylvatica ) and stain-cross tooth scraper ( Ambystoma maculatum ). A globally rare invertebrate species was found in these pools in 1990. The plant species found there include the American bilberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum ), fragrant fever bush ( Lindera benzoin ), red maple ( Acer rubrum ), black tupelo tree ( Nyssa sylvatica ), American white oak ( Quercus alba ), the holly species ( Ilex verticillata ), American hornbeam ( Carpinus caroliniana ), various types of stinging bindweed ( Smilax spec.), chestnut oak ( Quercus montana ), Weymouth pine ( Pinus strobus ), yellow birch ( Betula alleghaniensis ), various peat mosses ( Sphagnum spec.) ) and cinnamon fern ( Osmunda cinnamomea ). On the north side of the ridge there is another system of pools; this is known as the Briggsville Vernal Pools .
The Nescopeck Mountain Barrens - the word barren means wasteland - are a plant community of small trees that form a forest on the ridge and consists of open areas over sandstone rocks with vegetation of bush oak ( Quercus ilicifolia ), wire crawfish ( Deschampsia flexuosa ), Pitch pine ( Pinus rigida ), Schizachyrium scoparius and several Vaccinium species up to dense forest with bush oak and pitch pine protruding beyond that, some of which show traces of forest fires ; Fires are a natural process for the maintenance of this plant community.
In the summer of 2014, the gypsy moth attacked Nescopeck Mountain , which defoliated hundreds of trees. The state forest administration planned to spray pesticides in early summer 2015.
Recreation
Part of Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 58 is located on Nescopeck Mountain, and Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 187 includes the Nescopeck Mountain Barrens. The ridge is located on the northern edge of the 3,550 acres (about 1,440 hectares ) large Nescopeck State Park . Hiking trails lead to the ridge, from the height of which you can see Bloomsburg in good visibility conditions .
See also
supporting documents
- ^ A b c d Walter M. Brasch : Columbia County Place Names ( English ) 1982, p. 156.
- ↑ a b c d e f g The Pennsylvania Office of Science The Nature Conservancy: Columbia County Natural Areas Inventory 2004 ( English , PDF) 2004. Retrieved on January 6, 2015.
- ↑ Nescopeck Mountain ( English ) In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ↑ Topographic Map Ridge features in Columbia County, Pennsylvania ( English ) Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved on January 6, 2015. The source is the height of 1,604 feet, which is inconsistent with the database of the United States Geological Survey.
- ↑ a b Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources : Nescopeck State Park ( English ) Retrieved on January 6, 2015.
- ^ Nescopeck Township: Nescopeck Township ( English ) Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ^ A b c d e William Darby: Universal gazetteer: a dictionary, geographical, historical, and statistical, of the various kingdoms, states, provinces, seas, mountains etc., in the world ( English ) 1845, p. 509: " The Nescopeck mountain on the N side of the Nescopeck creek is a range nearly of similar height with those of Wyoming, and parallel to them. The Nescopeck forms a regular unbroken ridge, nearly destitute of timber on its summit, and reaches from the Susquehannah nearly to the Lehigh. (Tear-out) "
- ^ A b c d Thomas Francis Gordon: A Gazetteer of the State of Pennsylvania ( English ) 1832, pp. 54,317: “Nescopeck mountain, Luzerne co. on the N side of the Nescopeck creek, is a range about 850 feet high, parallel to the Wyoming mountain. It forms a regular and almost unbroken ridge of about 20 miles, nearly destitute of timber on its summit, and extends from the Susquehannah nearly to the Lehigh, forming the southern boundary of Nescopeck, Newport, and Hanover t-ships. ( Tear-out ) "
- ^ A b John Gosse Freeze: A History of Columbia County, Pennsylvania: From the Earliest Times ( English ) 1888, p. 51.
- ↑ Jon D. Inners: Bedrock geologic map of the Berwick quadrangle, alfalfa and Columbia counties, Pennsylvania ( English ) 1978. Retrieved on January 6, 2015.
- ↑ a b c I. W. Hartman: IRON ORE FURNACE AT MAINVILLE First in Columbia County, Was Built in the Year 1815 Southsider's Prosperous Residents Supposed Hidden Coal in the Mountain Still unmined ( English , PDF): Democratic Sentinel . May 2, 1912. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ^ Charles B. Trego: A geography of Pennsylvania 1843, p. 51.
- ^ A b Edward Higginson Williams: Pennsylvania Glaciation, First Phase: Materials for a Discussion of the Attenuated Border of the Moraine Described in Volume Z of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania ( English ) 1917.
- ^ Jeff Mitchell: Paddling Pennsylvania: Canoeing and Kayaking the Keystone State's Rivers and Lakes ( English ), 89.
- ↑ General Geology Report, Volumes 70-72 ( English ) 1978, p. 56.
- ^ A b c Robert S. Grumet: Manhattan to Minisink: American Indian Place Names of Greater New York and Vicinity ( English ). University of Oklahoma Press , pp. 107-108.
- ↑ a b J. H. Beers: Historical and biographical annals of Columbia and Montour counties, Pennsylvania ( English ) 1915.
- ↑ a b c d e Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (Western Pennsylvania Conservancy): A NATURAL AREAS INVENTORY LUZERNE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA Update - 2006 ( English ) 2006. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
- ^ Department of Conservation and Natural Resources: Interactive Geological Map of Pennsylvania , accessed February 17, 2015
- ↑ USGS: Spechty Kopf Formation , accessed February 17, 2015
- ↑ USGS: Pocono Formation , accessed February 17, 2015
- ↑ USGS: Mauch Chunk Formation , accessed February 17, 2015
- ↑ Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey: Mineral Resource Report M ( English ) 1941.
- ↑ USGS: Pottsville Formation , accessed February 17, 2015
- ↑ Manufactures of the United States in 1860 ( English ).
- ^ Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, Volume 15 ( English ) 1835, p. 139.
- ^ Pennsylvania House of Representatives : Journal, Volume 49, Part 1 ( English ) 1838, p. 232.
- ↑ Pamela C. Turfa: A place of cool retreat: an area resort widely known in late 19th century offered escape to the mountains (English) . In: Times Leader , July 13, 2003. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015 Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ↑ Tom Ragan: Gypsy moth infestation on Nescopeck Mountain (English) . In: Standard-Speaker , October 5, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
