Mill Creek Wall - Wilkes-Barre PA

City:: Wilkes-Barre, PA
Site Type:: Infrastructure and Utilities, Flood and Erosion Control
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Description

“WPA’s legacy is visible today in those and many other ways. Among projects in Wilkes-Barre were … walls along Laurel Run, Mill and Solomon creeks.”

Source notes

Wilkes-Barre Times Leader: "Area still benefits from jobs program created during Depression," 2011. https://archive.timesleader.com/2011_7/2011_09_04_Area_still_benefits_from_jobs_program_created_during_Depression_-news.html

Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on September 16, 2015.

Location Info

Mill Creek
Wilkes-Barre, PA

Location notes: Approximate location

Coordinates: 41.265638, -75.851263

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One comment on “Mill Creek Wall – Wilkes-Barre PA”

David Sienkiewicz September 28, 2020

As to the location of this project, the accompanying map is showing a significant discrepancy. The end of the project is marked with what was a large boulder of stone coal at the end of Chilwick Street in WB. This coincides with the main purpose of the wall, to mitigate a mine cave-in that disabled an important underground inclined plane from the Prospect Colliery operation on North Main Street in Plains, Pa. The cave-in occurred under the original boundaries of Mill Creek and also a pond that existed west of the marker’s location. The marker was burned and is now a red ash clinker but the end of a shortened wall is visible in the undergrowth. Upstream, this project drained a mill pond for the Miner Hillard Milling Company through the removal of a dam. The creek originally turned southeast roughly following an alley way connecting to West Sidney Street (then West Sheridan). The creek then turned due south as it passed through the residential area where West Beatty and Chilwick Street are today. The creek entered a fen area where old texts suggest there were perhaps as many as 3 unnamed ponds. The wall relocated the creek to its present course, terminating with a small weir. The marker is just south of this weir. Older residences spoke of a waterfall in the area but the project backfilled the original streambed. Many houses have been built over this streambed since the completion of the project and often have wet basements.

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One comment on “Mill Creek Wall – Wilkes-Barre PA”

David Sienkiewicz September 28, 2020

As to the location of this project, the accompanying map is showing a significant discrepancy. The end of the project is marked with what was a large boulder of stone coal at the end of Chilwick Street in WB. This coincides with the main purpose of the wall, to mitigate a mine cave-in that disabled an important underground inclined plane from the Prospect Colliery operation on North Main Street in Plains, Pa. The cave-in occurred under the original boundaries of Mill Creek and also a pond that existed west of the marker’s location. The marker was burned and is now a red ash clinker but the end of a shortened wall is visible in the undergrowth. Upstream, this project drained a mill pond for the Miner Hillard Milling Company through the removal of a dam. The creek originally turned southeast roughly following an alley way connecting to West Sidney Street (then West Sheridan). The creek then turned due south as it passed through the residential area where West Beatty and Chilwick Street are today. The creek entered a fen area where old texts suggest there were perhaps as many as 3 unnamed ponds. The wall relocated the creek to its present course, terminating with a small weir. The marker is just south of this weir. Older residences spoke of a waterfall in the area but the project backfilled the original streambed. Many houses have been built over this streambed since the completion of the project and often have wet basements.