Simpson Creek is a tributary of the West Fork River, 28 miles (45 km) long, 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 (190 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."
Simpson Creek rises approximately 5 miles (8.0 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 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of Shinnston.
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.
The water quality of Simpson Creek has been impacted by runoff from mining operations in the region, but conditions have slowly improved in some areas; a section of the creek in Bridgeport was stocked with rainbow trout in 2006.
Read more about Simpson Creek: Variant Spellings, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words simpson and/or creek:
“I’m afraid this man will kill me some day.”
—Nicole Brown Simpson (1957–1994)
“It might be seen by what tenure men held the earth. The smallest stream is mediterranean sea, a smaller ocean creek within the land, where men may steer by their farm bounds and cottage lights. For my own part, but for the geographers, I should hardly have known how large a portion of our globe is water, my life has chiefly passed within so deep a cove. Yet I have sometimes ventured as far as to the mouth of my Snug Harbor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)