Goose Creek (Potomac River tributary)

Goose Creek
Goose Creek
	Goose Creek Bridge
Location
Country	United States
State	Virginia
Region	Loudoun County, Fauquier County
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Linden
• coordinates	38°54′53″N 78°04′13″W / 38.9148335°N 78.0702756°W
• elevation	1,040 ft (320 m)
Mouth	Potomac River
• location	Leesburg
• coordinates	39°06′04″N 77°28′38″W / 39.1012177°N 77.4772109°W
• elevation	187 ft (57 m)
Length	55 mi (89 km)

Goose Creek is a 53.9-mile-long (86.7 km)^[1] tributary of the Potomac River in Fauquier and Loudoun Counties in Northern Virginia. It comprises the principal drainage system for the Loudoun Valley.

Course

Goose Creek rises somewhere near Linden, VA in the Manassas Gap. The creek initially flows eastward down the mountain, falling 600 feet (180 m) in its first 10 miles (16 km). Once in Loudoun, the creek continues in a northeastward direction for 15 miles (24 km) to the western foot of Catoctin Mountain, where it turns to the north briefly, before reaching the confluence of the North Fork and then turning to the east and cutting through a gap in the mountain. On the east side of the mountain, the creek again turns northeast, joining with the Little River. The creek flows for 15 miles (24 km) through central Loudoun County, reaching the Potomac just east of Leesburg, south of Harrison Island, and west of Selden Island. Goose Creek is partially dammed north of State Route 267. The dammed part is called Goose Creek Reservoir. The dam may be portaged through the woods on the eastern shore. There is also Beaverdam Reservoir, which comes from a source of water called Beaverdam Creek, as said creek branches off of Goose Creek.

North Fork

The North Fork of Goose Creek rises at the east end of Sleeter Lake in Round Hill and flows 13.3 miles (21.4 km)^[1] in a southeastward direction, joining with the main branch in the water gap of Catoctin Mountain.

Conservation

The Goose Creek Association works to protect the watershed and landscape.^[2]

Map of Goose Creek

In 1849, construction began on a system of locks and dams to render the creek navigable up to three large mills in the Loudoun Valley on the Little River, North Fork and main creek bed. Across the Potomac from the mouth of a creek, a special lock on the C&O Canal was constructed to allow canal boats from Goose Creek to enter the canal. By 1845, the Goose Creek and Little River Navigation Company canal system had been completed on Goose Creek to Ball's (Evergreen) Mill, 12 miles (19 km) upstream from the mouth. Due to financial concerns it was decided that the canal would not be built any further upstream. Though the lower portion of the canal saw significant usage, only one boat was ever known to have traveled the whole stretch, and by 1857 the canal was put out of business by the completion of the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad to Leesburg. Most of the locks and dams were destroyed by the Union Army during the Civil War.

Goose Creek Bridge on the Ashby's Gap Turnpike was the site of a Civil War battle in the Loudoun Valley during the Gettysburg Campaign in 1863. (See Battle of Upperville#Goose Creek for details.) The bridge was built between 1801 and 1803 and is the longest remaining stone turnpike bridge in the state of Virginia.

In The Water Dancer, a slave narrative style novel by Ta-Nehisi Coats, the Goose serves as both a water symbol and the geographic location of the fictionalized tobacco farm, Lockless, Virginia.^[3]

Tributaries

Goose Creek Bridge from the site of the battle

Tributaries are listed in order from the source of Goose Creek to its mouth.

Mitchell's Branch
Bolling Branch
Gap Run
Panther Skin Creek
Cromwell's Run
Wancopin Creek
North Fork Goose Creek
- Jacks' Run
- Crooked Run
- Beaverdam Creek
Big Branch
Little River
Tan Branch
Black Branch
Beaver Dam Creek
Sycolin Creek
Tuscarora Creek
- Dry Mill Branch
Cattail Branch

Variant names

According to the Geographic Names Information System, Goose Creek has been known by the following names throughout its history:

Cokongoloto
Cokongoloto Anglice
Goes Creek
Goes Flug
Gohongarestaw
Gooscreek
Goose River
Lee's Creek
Tiber River

References

^ ^a ^b U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 15, 2011
^ "Janet G. Whitehouse, conservationist, historic preservationist". Washington Post. 16 January 2014.
^ Coates, Ta-Nehisi (2019). The water dancer : a novel (1st ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-399-59059-7. OCLC 1085585289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

External links

U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Goose Creek
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. VA-39, "Goose Creek & Little River Navigation, Double Lock, Mouth of Goose Creek at Potomac River, Leesburg, Loudoun County, VA", 3 measured drawings, 2 data pages

[NHD-1] U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 15, 2011

[php-2] "Janet G. Whitehouse, conservationist, historic preservationist". Washington Post. 16 January 2014.

[3] Coates, Ta-Nehisi (2019). The water dancer : a novel (1st ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-399-59059-7. OCLC 1085585289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

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