1. Location: pond in Hazle Township, Columbia
County, Pennsylvania.
2 Elevation: between 1,740 and 1,760 feet
(530 and 540 m).
Mouth
1. Location: Stony Creek in Hazle Township,
Columbia County, Pennsylvania.
2. Elevation: 1,460 ft (450 m).
3. Length: 4.4 mi (7.1 km).
Discharge
1. Average: 1,502.67 US gallons per minute
(0.094804 m3/s) near its mouth.
2. Progression: Stony Creek à Black Creek
à Nescopeck Creek à Susquehanna River
à Chesapeake Bay.
Tributaries
1. Left: Long Run.
Photo Credit: https://www.brodheadwatershed.org/oldsite/ParadiseCreek/page0009.htm
Researched and compiled by Carrie Birdsong
Cranberry Creek (also known as Grape Run) is a tributary of Stony Creek in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. It is approximately 4.4 miles (7.1 km) long and flows through Hazle Township. The creek is affected by acid mine drainage. Thus, it also contains metals such as iron, manganese, and aluminum. It is in the drainage basin of the Jeddo Tunnel. Major roads in the creek’s watershed include Pennsylvania Route 924, Pennsylvania Route 309, and Interstate 81. At least one bridge has been built over it, and the creek has undergone restoration and there are plans to build an area known as the Cranberry Creek Gateway Park in its vicinity.
Cranberry Creek begins in a pond in Hazle Township. It flows north for a short stretch, passing through the Grape Run Reservoir, and exits the reservoir on the eastern side, and continues flowing to the north. For about a mile, it turns east-northeast for a longer stretch turning north and then northwest, passing between the communities of Cranberry and Hollars Hill. Then the creek turns west and crosses Pennsylvania Route 924, continuing north for a while before turning north and passing between two mountains, flowing parallel to Interstate 81. Further on its journey, it receives an unnamed tributary and reaches its confluence with Stony Creek.
The elevation near the mouth of Cranberry Creek is 1,460 feet (450 m) above sea level, and the elevation of the creek’s source is between 1,740 feet (530 m) and 1,760 feet (540 m) above sea level.
The Grape Run Reservoir is located on the upper reaches of Cranberry Creek, which also flows through the Hazelton Basin. This is where it loses its flow due to strip mining, despite remaining intact until then. The creek’s channel is intact throughout most of its length, but nearly any of its water leaves the Hazelton Basin.
Cranberry Creek was added to the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979. The creek was rendered acidic by sulfur-containing mine drainage as early as the early 1900s. The pollution was coming from the Cranberry Mines and was also polluted by “strippings” from Hazelton. Thus, the creek was unsuitable as a water supply, and a sewer system also historically discharged into the creek.
Historically, coal mining, including strip mining, was done in the watershed of Cranberry Creek. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation has plans to restore the creek’s flow along its entire length. The Jeddo Highland Coal Company has an operation known as the Cranberry Colliery Bank in the vicinity of the creek. This operation has the purpose of reprocessing refuse. There is a 366-acre tract of land near the creek that was used for coal mining by the Hazelton Coal Company and the Lehigh Valley Coal Company until 1947. Pennsylvania Route 924 was constructed through this tract of land in 1965. The Community Area New Development Organization purchased the area in 2006 and plans to construct a recreational area called the Cranberry Creek Gateway Park.
During the restoration of Cranberry Creek, nearly 7,000 feet (2,100 m) of the creek was relocated and also reclaimed 135 acres of strip-mining land. In 1967, a concrete culvert bridge was constructed over Cranberry Creek, and is 37.1 feet (11.3 m) long and carries Pennsylvania Route 924.
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