The West Branch Schuylkill River (also known simply as the West Branch) is an approximately 12.9 miles (20.8 km) tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Schuylkill River

Schuylkill River

The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...

 in central Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

-Notable people:*Boxing heavyweight great Muhammad Ali had his training camp in Deer Lake.*Charles Justin Bailey, commanding general of the 81st Division in World War I, was born in Tamaqua on June 21, 1859....

, USA, with a watershed approximately 21 mi2 in size. Several small communities are located in the watershed, which include Buck Run

Buck Run, Pennsylvania

Buck Run is a census-designated place in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 203 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Buck Run is located at ....

, Glen Dower, Minersville

Minersville, Pennsylvania

Minersville is located in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, four miles west of Pottsville. Anthracite coal deposits are plentiful in the region. In 1900, 4,815 people lived here; in 1910, 7,240, people lived here; and in 1940, 8,686 people lived here...

, Pottsville

Pottsville, Pennsylvania

Pottsville is the only city in and the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 15,549 at the 2000 census. The city lies along the west bank of the Schuylkill River, north-west of Philadelphia...

, Cressona

Cressona, Pennsylvania

Cressona is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. Formed in 1857 from part of North Manheim Township, it was founded by and named for John Chapman Cresson, a Philadelphia civil engineer and manager of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, President of the Mine Hill and...

, and Schuylkill Haven

Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania

Schuylkill Haven is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, four miles south of Pottsville and north-west of Philadelphia, in the United States. The borough's population was 5,548 as of the 2000 census. Schuylkill Haven is situated along the Schuylkill River for which it is named...

. Mild amounts of acid mine drainage

Acid mine drainage

Acid mine drainage , or acid rock drainage , refers to the outflow of acidic water from metal mines or coal mines. However, other areas where the earth has been disturbed may also contribute acid rock drainage to the environment...

 affect the West Branch and its tributaries. From its headwaters near Interstate 81

Interstate 81

Interstate 81 is an Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island at the Canadian border, where the Thousand Islands Bridge connects it to Highway 401, the main freeway...

, the river flows southeast through several water gap

Water gap

A water gap is an opening or notch which flowing water has carved through a mountain range. Water gaps often offer a practical route for road and rail transport to cross mountain ridges.- Geology :...

s in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians

Ridge-and-valley Appalachians

The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending from southeastern New York through northwestern New...

, ending at its confluence with the Schuylkill River in Schuylkill Haven.

Course

The West Branch's source is several small ponds east of Interstate 81

Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania

Interstate 81 is an long north–south Interstate Highway, stretching from Dandridge, Tennessee to Fisher's Landing, New York at the US/Canadian border...

, near the small community of Buck Run

Buck Run, Pennsylvania

Buck Run is a census-designated place in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 203 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Buck Run is located at ....

. The river flows east-northeast, paralleling Valley Road and later the Heckscherville Road. Near Heckscherville

Heckscherville, Pennsylvania

Heckscherville is a census-designated place in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 76 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Heckscherville is located at ....

, it receives small tributaries Dyer Run, Wagner Run, and Wheeler Creek, all on the left bank. It then flows south and southeast past Minersville, and finally east through a narrow canyon, where it receives Indian Run on the right bank. After exiting the canyon, it turns south and enters an increasingly wide valley. At Cressona, it receives Panther Creek on the right bank and Beaver Creek on the left bank. As the river enters Schuylkill Haven it merges with the Schuylkill River on the right bank.