Tonawanda Creek is a small river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in Western New York

Western New York

Western New York is the westernmost region of the state of New York. It includes the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, the surrounding suburbs, as well as the outlying rural areas of the Great Lakes lowlands, the Genesee Valley, and the Southern Tier. Some historians, scholars and others...

, in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. William Bright

William Bright

William Bright was an American linguist who specialized in Native American and South Asian languages and descriptive linguistics....

 says the best that can be said of the name is that it is "probably from an Iroquoian

Iroquoian languages

The Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native American language family.-Family division:*Ruttenber, Edward Manning. 1992 [1872]. History of the Indian tribes of Hudson's River. Hope Farm Press....

 source, but of unclear derivation".

Description

The length of Tonawanda Creek is 90 miles (145 km). Its drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 is nearly 650 square miles (1,683.5 km²) in area. It flows on a meandering course for most of its length, first northerly until Batavia where a sweeping bend takes it westerly.

Tonawanda Creek rises in Wyoming County

Wyoming County, New York

Wyoming County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2010 census, the population was 42,155. The county seat is Warsaw. The name is from a modified Delaware Indian word meaning "broad bottom lands"...

 and enters the Niagara River

Niagara River

The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...

 between Niagara County

Niagara County, New York

Niagara County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 216,469. The county seat is Lockport. The county name is from the Iroquois word Onguiaahra; meaning the strait or thunder of waters. It is the location of Niagara Falls and Fort Niagara, and...

 and Erie County

Erie County, New York

Erie County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 919,040. The county seat is Buffalo. The county's name comes from Lake Erie, which in turn comes from the Erie tribe of American Indians who lived south and east of the lake before 1654.Erie...

, forming a boundary between them. Tonawanda Creek passes through the Village of Attica

Attica (village), New York

Attica is a village in Wyoming County, New York in the USA. The population was 2,597 at the 2000 census. It is named after a region in Greece.The Village of Attica is on the northern border of Wyoming County...

, the City of Batavia

Batavia (city), New York

Batavia is a city in Genesee County, Western New York, USA, located near the middle of Genesee County, entirely within the Town of Batavia. Its population as of the 2000 census was 16,256...

, and flows between the City of North Tonawanda to its north and to its south the Town of Amherst

Amherst, New York

Amherst is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 122,366. This represents an increase of 5.0% from the 2000 census. The town is named for Jeffrey Amherst, a British Army officer of the colonial period...

, the Town of Tonawanda, and the City of Tonawanda. Just after being joined by Ellicott Creek

Ellicott Creek

Ellicott Creek is a stream in Western New York, United States. It is a tributary of Tonawanda Creek, which in turn into the Niagara River.-Course:...

, it enters the Niagara River.

The creek has a small 30 foot high waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

 at Indian Falls

Indian Falls, New York

Indian Falls is a hamlet located closely within the northern border of the town of Pembroke and the western edge of Genesee County, Western New York, United States...

 where the stream descends from the Onondaga Escarpment. The Log Cabin Restaurant overlooks the falls from the south.

During the spring of each year, some sections of Tonawanda Creek flood to varying degrees. These floods are more of an inconvenience than a danger, but can be more serious, especially when ice jams dam up the water. The larger flooding can cause property damage.

Tonawanda Creek is also part of the Erie Canal

Erie Canal

The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...

, which joins the creek southwest of Lockport

Lockport (city), New York

Lockport is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 21,165 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a set of Erie canal locks within the city. Lockport is the county seat of Niagara County and is surrounded by the town of Lockport...

 and allows canal traffic to proceed into the Niagara River.
In its upper reaches, Tonawanda Creek and the Little Tonawanda, which is tributary, are trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

 streams.

History

Tonawanda Creek flows through the ancient lake bed of Glacial Lake Tonawanda

Glacial Lake Tonawanda

Glacial Lake Tonawanda was a prehistoric lake that existed approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, in Western New York, United States....

, a prehistoric lake that existed approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age; many of the swamp lands surrounding Tonawanda Creek also date back to this lake.

Downstream of Indian Falls, Tonawanda Creek flows through the Tonawanda Indian Reservation

Tonawanda Reservation

The Tonawanda Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation of the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians located in western New York, USA. The band is a federally recognized tribe and, in the 2000 census, had 543 people living on the reservation...

, and there is an NYS historical marker where George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

made a troop fording across the river.

When the Erie Canal was first built, the Tonawanda Creek was the source of water for the western section of the Canal

External links

• Flooding on the Tonawanda Creek