Simpson Creek

Geobox River
name = Simpson Creek

---

image_size = 290
image_caption = Simpson Creek in Bridgeport in 2006
image_first =
country = United States
state = West Virginia
length =
length_imperial =
length_note =
watershed =
watershed_imperial = 73
watershed_note =cite web |url= http://www.dep.state.wv.us/watershed/ |pages = [http://web.archive.org/web/20060523112232/www.dep.state.wv.us/watershed/w5020002.html West Fork River] | title= Watershed Atlas Project. | author= West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection | accessdate=2007-02-26 |archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20050404165853/www.dep.state.wv.us/watershed/ |archivedate=2006-05-07]
discharge_location =
discharge_average =
discharge_average_imperial =
discharge_max =
discharge_max_imperial =
discharge_min =
discharge_min_imperial =
discharge1_location =
discharge1_average =
discharge1_average_imperial =
source_name =
source_location = northwestern Barbour County
source_location_note =
source_lat_d = 39
source_lat_m = 11
source_lat_s = 51
source_lat_NS = N
source_long_d = 80
source_long_m = 06
source_long_s = 10
source_long_EW = W
source_coordinates_note =cite web |url=Gnis3|1546817 |title=Geographic Names Information System entry for Simpson Creek (Feature ID #1546817) |author=Geographic Names Information System |authorlink=Geographic Names Information System|accessdate=2007-02-12]
source_elevation =
source_elevation_imperial = 1522
source_elevation_note = [Google Earth elevation for GNIS source coordinates. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.]
source_length =
source_length_imperial =
source1_name =
source_meet =
mouth_name = West Fork River
mouth_location = northeastern Harrison County
mouth_location_note =
mouth_elevation =
mouth_elevation_imperial = 902
mouth_elevation_note =
mouth_lat_d = 39
mouth_lat_m = 20
mouth_lat_s = 58
mouth_lat_NS = N
mouth_long_d = 80
mouth_long_m = 19
mouth_long_s = 08
mouth_long_EW = W
mouth_coordinates_note =
tributary_left =
tributary_left1 =
tributary_right =
tributary_right1 =


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Simpson Creek is a tributary of the West Fork River in north-central West Virginia in the United States. Via the West Fork, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 73 square miles (189 km²) on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau. The stream is believed to have been named by an 18th century hunter and trapper named John Simpson, who called it "Simpson's Creek." [cite book| author=Kenny, Hamill |title= West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains |year=1945 |publisher=The Place Name Press |location=Piedmont, West Virginia |pages= p.579]

Simpson Creek rises approximately five miles (8 km) northwest of Philippi in northwestern Barbour County and flows generally northwestwardly through southeastern Taylor County and northeastern Harrison County, passing through the communities of Flemington and Bridgeport; it flows into the West Fork River approximately four miles (7 km) south-southwest of Shinnston. [DeLorme (1997). "West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer". Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. pp. 25, 36. ISBN 0-89933-246-3.]

According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, approximately 69% of Simpson Creek's watershed is forested, mostly deciduous. Approximately 26% is used for pasture and agriculture, and approximately 3% is urban.

In the 1970s, Mayf Nutter, a musician from Bridgeport, WV, recorded a hit song entitled "Simpson Creek" in which he sang the lyric "Simpson Creek won't ever run clean again, sulfur water runs red where the big fish used to swim." Happily, his song did not turn out to be a prophecy. Trout have once again returned to Simpson Creek.

Variant spellings

According to the Geographic Names Information System, Simpson Creek has also been known historically as:
*Simpson's Creek
*Simpsons Creek
*Simpsons Crick
*Simsons Creek
*Simsons Crick

ee also

*List of West Virginia rivers

References