View source for Panther Creek (Little Schuylkill River tributary)

{{Short description|River in Pennsylvania, US}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{more footnotes|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox river
| name              = Panther Creek
| image             = PANTHER CREEK RISES=Schuylkill Drainage Divides USGS, Hazelton-Mauch Chunk &Mountain Quads,NW+NE-4.JPG
| image_caption     =
| source1_location  = Over the Lehigh Valley [[drainage divide]] due west of [[Palmerton, Pennsylvania]] below [[Mount Pisgah, Carbon County, Pennsylvania|Mount Pisgah]] (below the join of [[Pisgah Ridge]] with [[Nesquehoning Mountain]] and [[Mauch Chunk Mountain]]).
| mouth_location    = [[Little Schuylkill River]] at [[Tamaqua, Pennsylvania]]
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|40.79600|-75.96613|format=dms|region:US-PA|display=inline,title}}
| basin_countries   =
| length            = {{circa| {{convert|8|mi|km|abbr=on}} }}
| source1_elevation = <!-- {{convert|840|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name= "USGS West Point">U.S. Geological Survey. West Point quadrangle, Ohio. 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series. Washington D.C.: USGS, 1992.</ref> -->
| mouth_elevation   = <!-- {{convert|665|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name= "USGS East Liverpool North">U.S. Geological Survey. East Liverpool North quadrangle, Ohio. 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series. Washington D.C.: USGS, 1994.</ref> -->
| discharge1_avg    =
| basin_size        = <!-- {{convert|605|sqmi|km2|abbr=on}}<ref>{{cite web| title = Map of Ohio watersheds | url = http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/water/watersheds/Basins72PDI_40x40_OnScreen.gif}}</ref> -->
}}
'''Panther Creek''' is a 2 branch creek running through parts of Schuylkill and Carbon County. The west-draining branch  [[tributary]] of the [[Little Schuylkill River]]'s [[drainage basin]] and rises in the vicinity of the east side of [[Lansford, Pennsylvania|Lansford]] and [[Coaldale, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania|Coaldale]] in the plateau-like nearly flat terrain of the complex three-way [[col|saddle]] between [[Mount Pisgah (Carbon County, Pennsylvania)|Mount Pisgah]]. It continues to flow through the towns of Coaldale into Tamaqua where it meets the Little Schuylkill River. The Panther Creek branch to its east, [[Nesquehoning Mountain|Nesquehoning Ridge]] to the north and [[Pisgah Ridge]] to the south, both ridgelines flanking its entire course as it makes its way east-northeast to west-southwest. Starting in Nesquehoning it eventually runs into the Lehigh River just outside of [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania|Jim Thorpe]].
The creek's valley to the west is historically and industrially important having been mostly owned by the historically significant [[Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company]] which eventually built the Panther Creek Railroad from Lansford to [[Tamaqua, Pennsylvania|Tamaqua]] and the [[Hauto Tunnel]] to haul coal from the copious anthracite deposits, [[colliery|collieries]], and [[coal breaker]]s along an easier route than up and over the mountains to [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania|Jim Thorpe]] and the [[Lehigh Canal]] via [[Summit Hill, Pennsylvania|Summit Hill]] and the [[Mauch Chunk & Summit Hill Railway]], North America's second-oldest operational railroad and its first [[Gravity railroad|Gravity and Switchback railroad]]s. The west branch of Panther Creek (Lansford/Coaldale) has been heavily polluted with acid mine drainage over the years and mysteriously has even gone dry in the last few months of 2024, which should not happen by any act of nature. While no care has ever been given to the high potential west branch of Panther Creek. Great care has gone into cleaning the acid mine drainage of the east branch of Panther Creek in Nesquehoning and it has turned into a prime trout fishery over the years as it makes it's way to meet the Lehigh River.
The coal seams of the valley were the first deposits discovered and exploited by any company beginning with surface deposits along the south ridge leading to the founding of Summit Hill, then Lansford in western [[Carbon County, Pennsylvania|Carbon County]], then the downstream towns of Coaldale and Tamaqua in eastern [[Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania|Schuylkill County]].
The new company, a leaned-down and reorganized [[Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company]] still mines the coal deposits in the valley and owns all of its mineral rights.
==See also==
*[[List of rivers of Pennsylvania]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170925125737/http://littlebeavercreek.com/ Little Beaver Creek Land Foundation]
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Rivers of Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Rivers of Carbon County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Rivers of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Tributaries of the Schuylkill River]]
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{{SchuylkillCountyPA-geo-stub}}
{{Pennsylvania-river-stub}}