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The Ohio River, or "La Belle Riviere," as the French explorers called it, is one of the most economically significant rivers in the world, and probably is why most of us live in Beaver County today.
Ohio is an Indian name which traditionally is interpreted to mean "beautiful river", agreeing with the opinion of the French. The Ohio flows 981 miles from Pittsburgh to the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois and winds some 24 miles through Beaver County, reaching its northernmost point at Rochester, and forming the boundaries of 25 different communities of the county.
Our other river is the Beaver, for which the county was named. The name Beaver is applied to only the last 20 miles of the river system, formed by the Shenango and Mahoning Rivers at Mahoningtown. Thus it was at one time wholly with Beaver County, until Lawrence County was formed in 1849.
Today, the 13 miles of the Beaver River in Beaver County forms the boundaries of 13 communities.
The rugged topography of the county area has created a complex drainage pattern, with small streams flowing off in every direction. All of the drainage ends up in the Ohio, sooner or later. The larger of the minor streams are typically called creeks, while the smaller ones are called runs. This varies in different parts of the country. In the South, the terms "branch" or "fork" often replace "run".
Today's map shows ten creeks in the county, and century-old maps generally agree although some add a creek or two. The Beaver River has been referred to as Big Beaver Creek off and on, to distinguish it from Little Beaver Creek which threads its way in and out of the county's western boundary (and which has been called Little Beaver River, as well!) To add to the confusion, Ohioans refer to their part of the smaller stream as Beaver Creek.
This problem was created by the French a couple of centuries ago, when a map was published showing: (in translation) " 1st Creek of Beavers" (Beaver River); "2nd Creek of Beavers" (Beaver Creek or Little Beaver); and "3rd Creek of Beavers" (Yellow Creek at Wellsville, Ohio). At any rate, there must have been a surplus of beavers in all these streams to rate so much recognition by the mapmakers.
Another inhabitant of Penn's Woods, the raccoon, has a stream named for it. Raccoon Creek is the biggest stream on the county's south side. It is in the third of the county that most of the "creeks" are found. Traverse Creek (called "Travis" or "Trevice" on early maps) and Service Creek ("Sarvis") are major branches of Raccoon Creek. In addition, Little Service Run and Little Traverse Run were both called creeks in the past.
In the northeast corner of the southside, Mill Creek flows into the Ohio River at the lowest point (in elevation) in the county. Its tributary, Little Mill Creek, is called Little Mill Run on some maps. And finally, a creek that rises from humble beginnings in southwestern Beaver County but becomes a good sized stream in West Virginia is King's Creek.
On the east side of the county, the three remaining creeks on our list are located. Connoquenessing Creek is named for an Indian word meaning "a long way straight," and it's anything but that in Beaver County. The Connoquenessing was named as one of the most beautiful Indian names in America in a Reader's Digest article many, many years ago. Its chief tributary in the county is Brush Creek.
The last of the creeks is Big Sewickley Creek, which claims special recognition as the only stream of any size to form any part of the boundaries of Beaver County. It flows into the Ohio at Ambridge, and is shared by Allegheny County.
Beaver County boasts one "brook", named by a developer in the 20's to enhance his "Sunny Brook Gardens" in Hopewell Twp., a subdivision that didn't sell and is buried in the land records in the courthouse. Sunny Brook is a branch of Logstown Run.
Early land maps show a Raccoon Branch flowing into Laycock Run in Rochester Twp. This name didn't stick either, as the term "branch" referring to a separate stream never caught on in this area. Another uncommon term is "fork," but we do have Aunt Clara's Fork, a branch of King's Creek in Frankfort Springs.
The remaining 100 named streams in the county are all "runs," ranging from tiny Rock Run, which forms the boundary between Beaver Falls and Patterson Twp. while tumbling down over a steep hillside into the Beaver River, to Brady's Run, which, with its many branches drains a large portion of the county.
We would bore you if we listed the names of all the runs, but a quick review shows that there are four streams named Pine Run. One of these is a result of an error on an early USGS topographical map which has been repeated on subsequent maps until it's more or less accepted today. The correct Pine Run is half a mile away and still called by that name by local residents (in New Sewickley Twp.) The others are in another part of the county (Marion and South Beaver Twps.)
Most runs were named by or for the farmers through whose fields they flowed. Such names were quickly accepted, but the spellings weren't. That's why different maps show variously Bealer's Run, Beeler's Run and Bieler's Run for the stream in Ohioville. Names are easily transposed from one stream to another. The stream flowing through old Logstown, the Indian village (Harmony Twp.) was called Logstown Run on the earliest maps. Today, it's called Legionville Run, while the stream across the Ohio (in Aliquippa) is called Logstown Run.
Clark's Run in Big Beaver flows east from Summit
Cut into the Beaver River, but recent topographic maps show the
stream flowing west from Summit Cut into Little Beaver as Clark's
Run.
An interesting series of streams are Two mile Run, Four mile Run
and Six mile Run, which enter the Ohio 2.7 miles, 4.3 miles and
7.2 miles from the mouth of the Beaver River, respectively.
Tomlinson's Run, on the West Virginia line,
is called Tumbelson's Run on one early map. Other interesting
streams are Rag Run, Gum's Run, Buck and Doe Runs (Franklin Twp.),
Poorhouse Run and Potato Garden Run. Other streams named for animals
include Squirrel Run and Pike Run, but not Crow's Run, which was
named for an Indian who lived in Crow's Town at the mouth of the
run. Painter's Run in South Beaver was called Panther Run on several
old maps, and "painter" was a colloquial term for the
wild mountain lion, so the true original name was probably "Panther
Run."