The History of Pigeon Creek Tributary
- May 13, 2025
- 6 min read
The Pigeon Creek tributary offered solace and adventure for people growing up by the waterway. It was also a dumping ground for tires, acid mine drainage, and raw sewage. The Pigeon Creek Watershed comprises mostly agricultural lands (56%) with large areas of forestland (29%), a small portion of urban or developed land (12%), and water storage making up the remaining land usage dedicated to water storage. Today, watershed groups work to restore the beautiful tributary and land for recreational use and water health.
History
Settlement Along Pigeon Creek
Encompassing western Pennsylvania, the Monongahela people settled along the Ohio River system, including the Monongahela River. They lived in small settlements and frequently relocated throughout the river system from 900 to 1600 A.D. Their villages followed a circular layout with a central plaza, and the surrounding houses varied in size and insulation. The Monongahela stowed their trash in a midden (disposal area) between the outer housing perimeter and the stockade (a large fence). From animal bones to stone fragments, the trash artifacts reflect the Monongahela's use of natural resources.
They made clothes from deer skin and created tools from stone, bone, clay, and wood. The Monongahela life followed the seasons, so these items assisted with farming and hunting. Through spring and summer, the Monongahela cultivated and harvested corn, squash, beans, and sunflowers; gathered wild fruits, nuts, and plants; and hunted fish and game. By early autumn, they finished building houses from tree bark and preserved the meat for the winter. Natural resources cultivated Monongahela daily life practices and they're burial rituals. They followed a consistent mortuary pattern and placed burials within the village stockade or homes. The women and children's graves held marine shells embroidered on clothing or headdresses. The men were laid with personal shell, bone, and stone adornments in addition to pipes and medicine bundles.
The Monongahela population and territory peaked by the 1300s, but by the 1500s, the population began to decline. As the arctic air swept from the Himalayas into the Alleghenies, the Monongahela were met with shorter agricultural seasons, malnutrition, and disease. Competition for food and territories along the crowded river valleys instigated internal conflict. In addition to the inter-warfare, other regional native groups started dominating the region. As European settlers "arrived in the Alleghenies, the campfires of the Monongahela had been extinguished, and they were gone."
By April 17, 1769, Monongahela City became the oldest and most historic settlement in the Monongahela Valley. Nestled at the mouth of Pigeon Creek, William Nowland, Peter Froman, and James Linnes purchased land and divided up the tracts into three areas. From south of the city line to Factory and Walnut Streets, Nowland established "Eden" as Monongahela's first ward; Linnes' "Paradise" sat north of "Eden" and Pigeon Creek; and Froman settled "Gloucester" in a trifecta between Fourth Street, Dry Run Road, and the riverfront. "Eden" fell into Major James Warne's ownership, and his father-in-law, Joseph Parkinson, built and operated competing ferries with the DeVore brothers in 1771. While the DeVore brothers operated on the east bank of the Monongahela River, Parkinson's operation lived on the west bank. Parkinson established a post office in 1782, and Parkinson's Ferry was the first official name for the town. The town name was transformed to Williamsport in 1833, and then, finally, on April 1, 1837, to the city of Monongahela.
Further inland, Bentleyville sits along Pigeon Creek. Sheshbazzar Bentley Jr. recognized that the natural advantages of the valley could provide wealth not only to himself but to future generations. He moved his family to the claimed area in 1812, and four years later, cabins clustered around Pigeon Creek. In 1864, Bentleyville was incorporated as a borough, and by the twentieth century, the Pennsylvania Railroad built a railway connecting the town with Monongahela. Bentleyville became an automobile center with its location next to modern-day I-70 and Pennsylvania State Route 917. Next door to Bentleyville sits Ellsworth. In the late 1890s, James W. Ellsworth bought coal lands near present-day Ellsworth. He worked with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to run a branch line, the Monongahela-Washington Branch, to the coal fields. Following the railway line construction, Ellsworth continued to run the coal fields before selling the operation to Bethlehem Steel. The town, Ellsworth, was named in honor of James.
Source Water
Ellsworth Borough residents receive their water from Pigeon Creek, while Bentleyville and Monongahela City residents receive their source water from the Monongahela River. Pollutants and contamination entering the raw water source are a big risk to the health of Pigeon Creek, the Monongahela River, and the towns sitting along these waterways. For Pigeon Creek, significant potential water contamination sources include hard infrastructure (roads, bridges, railroads); farms and mining areas; and septic systems and runoff. Accidents on roads, railroads, and bridges can also release pollutant substances into the creek. Pesticides and herbicides can come from golf courses, field croplands, and lawns. Pathogens, nitrates, and nitrites may enter stormwater from animal grazing or feedlots. Stormwater runoff can pick up contaminants from industrial facilities and roadways. For the Monongahela River, by-products of chlorination, water additives used to control microbes, and household plumbing corrosion create a high risk of significant contamination. Coal and oil contamination from boat accidents and barge traffic can pollute the river. Auto repair shops can release petroleum products like BTEX and MTBE, and "wildcat" (or makeshift) sewers and combined sewer overflows (CSO) can release raw sewage.
Tributary Today
Pigeon Creek Watershed Association
The Pigeon Creek Watershed Association (PCWA) inspires people to protect, restore, enjoy, and learn about the land and waterways of the Pigeon Creek watershed. PCWA monitors the creek's water quality and develops creek restoration projects to clean up the land and water. In June 2024, PCWA and Washington County Conservation District representatives joined efforts to help restore a creekfront property in Bentleyville following spring floods. Tire removal, creek fish surveys, and live stake planting are recent cleanups, projects, and collaborations happening in Pigeon Creek.
On March 15, 2025, in Bentleyville's Richardson Park, PCWA planted two species of Willows and Dogwood shrubs and one of each Viburnum, Buttonbush, Ninebark, and Elderberry along Pigeon Creek. These plants can stabilize the creek's moderately eroded bank streams, create a habitat for birds and pollinators, and tolerate the wet soil lining the water's edge and high-water flooding. The projects to fix erosion can help sustain the fishing sport in the watershed. In spring and fall of 2024, PCWA President Ken Yoken collaborated with PennWest, California students in an e-fishing survey that could lead to water quality metric baselines for Pigeon Creek. The number of species and total of fish caught were higher in the fall than in the spring with a final count of 2 Bass species, 3 Panfish species, 4 Sucker Fish species, and a wide variety of forage fish. The higher number indicates lower stream levels during the summer, and Dr. David Argent of PennWest California suggests against stocking the habitat and leaving things as they are.
Three Rivers Waterkeeper
On October 14, 2024, Three Rivers Waterkeeper (3RWK) teamed up with Dan from PCWA in a shoreline cleanup along the Monongahela River in Monongahela, PA. From prohibition bottles to plastic grocery bags, we got to explore the beautiful history along the Monongahela River. As a seasonal AmeriCorps member, I received wonderful insight in a riverside cleanup. The 3RWK team worked in tandem to tell the story of this ancestral waterway. As the river level receded from the shoreline, we uncovered a timeline of the Monongahela River’s connection to the people of Monongahela, PA. We discovered adolescent bikes and toys left forgotten by the river, and even cars and boats left to rust from decades past. We identified acid mine drainage seeping into the hillside and down into the river. Stories were shared about the dam taken out of the Monongahela River and of people who remember running through the brush along the river as children. 3RWK will continue to partner with organizations in cleanup efforts along our waterways.
Tributary Future
Looking forward, Pigeon Creek will continue to grow as a common ground for recreational use and habitation for wildlife and forestry. PCWA works to keep residents in touch with the land and water through events and learning opportunities. The municipal authorities for Bentleyville, Monongahela, and Ellsworth continue to publish annual water reports on pollutant source impacts and proposals to manage pollutant treatment and levels. For environmental groups like PCWA and 3RWK, we'll keep stewarding the Monongahela River and Pigeon Creek Watershed. Slowly but surely, Pigeon Creek's restoration will continue to provide habitat and recreation for generations to come.
Comments