Killbuck Creek is a tributary of the Walhonding River,[1] 81.7 mi (131.5 km) long,[2] in north-central Ohio in the United States. Via the Walhonding, Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. It drains an area of 613 mi² (1588 km²).[2]

Map of the Walhonding watershed showing Killbuck Creek
A bridge over the creek near its headwaters west of Creston

Killbuck Creek rises in northern Wayne County and initially flows in a counter-clockwise loop northward into southern Medina County and past the town of Burbank before turning to a southward course through Wayne, Holmes and Coshocton Counties to its mouth at the Walhonding River,[3] 5 mi (8 km) west of the city of Coshocton.[1] Along its course it flows to the west of the city of Wooster and passes the towns of Holmesville, Millersburg and Killbuck.[3]

A USGS stream gauge on the creek at Layland recorded a mean annual discharge of 502 cubic feet per second (14.2 m3/s) during water years 1924-1930.[4] According to a US Environmental Protection Agency estimate, the mean annual discharge of the creek at its mouth is 625.34 cu ft/s (17.708 m3/s).[5]

Name edit

Killbuck Creek and the town of Killbuck are named for the Lenape war chief Bemino (fl. 1710s–1780s) — known as John Killbuck, Sr, to the whites.[6][7] According to the Geographic Names Information System, the stream has been known and spelled variously over the years:[8]

  • Kilbuck Creek
  • Killbuck Run
  • Killbucks Creek
  • Kilbuck River
  • Kill-Buck River

The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "Killbuck Creek" as the stream's name in 1963.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry". Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2006-05-08.
  2. ^ a b Ohio Department of Natural Resources. A Guide to Ohio Streams. Archived 2005-09-04 at the Wayback Machine Chapter 10: Major Ohio Watersheds (pdf) Archived 2007-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b *DeLorme (1991). Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-233-1
  4. ^ "USGS Surface Water data for Ohio: USGS 03139500 Killbuck Creek at Layland OH". waterdata.usgs.gov. Archived from the original on 2020-08-07. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  5. ^ United States Environmental Protection Agency. "Watershed Report: Killbuck Creek". Archived from the original on 2020-08-07. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  6. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 175.
  7. ^ Hunt, William Ellis (1876). Historical Collections of Coshocton County, Ohio: A Complete Panorama of the County, from the Time of the Earliest Known Occupants of the Territory Unto the Present Time, 1764-1876. R. Clarke & Company. p. 14.
  8. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Killbuck Creek

40°19′44″N 81°56′21″W / 40.3290°N 81.9393°W / 40.3290; -81.9393