Oatka Creek

Several small streams, some of which ultimately rise to the north at elevations of almost 1,600 feet (490 m), come together to create the main stem of the creek amid the fields and woodlots on the high plateau in Gainesville just south of the Warsaw town line, a short distance west of Silver Spring Road. The new stream flows first south a mile, then turns northwest paralleling the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks toward the small hamlet of Rock Glen. There it crosses for the first time New York State Route 19 (NY 19), which it will parallel closely for much of the rest of its length.

To the west of Rock Glen, it passes through the narrow gorge that gave it its name, emerging at another hamlet, Newburg, at the head of the Oatka Valley it follows for the rest of its run. Again crossing under Route 19, it has descended 280 feet (85 m) since its rise. From Newburg it meanders northwest, then north, staying close to the highway on the valley floor.

Several miles further downstream it enters Warsaw, the county seat. It goes under Route 19 again and trends to the west, flowing under U.S. Route 20A to pass to the west of Warsaw High School and its athletic fields. North of the village the valley widens, staying generally level. The creek and NY 19 cross again amid large cultivated fields.

The valley begins to angle northeasterly towards Wyoming, which the Oatka bypasses to the southeast into a large wooded area. It then passes through the largest wetlands along it course. North of that it crosses Route 19 again as that road turns eastward briefly. The two return to each other when they cross into Genesee County at Pavilion, where NY 63 crosses as they resume a northward heading, and there is another significant wetlands area.

In another small wood two miles (3.2 km) north of Pavilion, US 20 crosses. The creek bends west, reaching its greatest distance from Route 19, then north-northeast back to the highway's vicinity. It enters the village of Le Roy on a northeast course, crossing Route 19 again as it widens into a 26-acre (11 ha) reservoir behind the dam just south of NY 5.

It narrows again north of the village towards Buttermilk Falls and the section that flows underground in warm, dry weather. The valley here is broad, its walls now long and gently sloped instead of steep and short. After going over the 60-foot (18 m) falls, marking the Onondaga Escarpment, it turns east, leaving NY 19 a mile south of the New York State Thruway. This geologically distinct section is known as the lower Oatka. It dips south, north and then south again through a largely wooded area as it approaches Genesee Country Village and enters Monroe County near Mumford.

After bypassing that hamlet to the north, NY 383 parallels on the north and the CSX rail line across New York on the south, as the creek reaches Oatka Creek Park, a large tract of former farmland to its south. Here both road and rail are to the north of the stream, widening again. Beyond the park it enters an area of predominantly farmland again as it passes south of Scottsville, where NY 251 enters the village by bridging the Oatka. A mile further along, it empties into the Genesee.

External image
Map of the Oatka watershed

The Oatka's basin is relatively narrow and does not extend far from the Oatka Valley or the towns through which the creek itself flows. Almost all of the towns of Warsaw, Pavilion and Le Roy are within the watershed, along with large portions of Covington, Gainesville, Middlebury and Wheatland. Most of the eastern half of Stafford is in the Oatka basin even though only a small portion of the creek flows through it.

In Livingston County Caledonia is the only town with land in the watershed, consisting mostly of its northeastern corner and most of the village of Caledonia. Other towns with no portions of the creek itself having large sections within its basin are Perry, Orangeville, and Bethany. Small portions of Castile, Wethersfield, Byron and Bergen also drain into the Oatka.

There are five villages wholly or partially within the watershed. The former are Warsaw, Wyoming and Le Roy. Closer to its mouth are Scottsville and Caledonia. These are the only concentrated areas of development and population within it. The majority (73%) of the watershed is active or inactive agricultural land. Forests cover another 21%. Most of the remainder is residential or commercial land, with industrial use accounting for just 1%.[1]

The watershed's highest point of 1,990 feet (610 m) is located in southeastern Orangeville;[2] its lowest point, 525 feet (160 m), is the Oatka's mouth. Including the Oatka itself, there are 425 miles (684 km) of stream in the watershed.[3]

There are few significant lakes or ponds within the watershed. The largest is Lake Le Roy, near the headwaters of Mud Creek in Pavilion. It is a 59-acre (24 ha) reservoir that once served as the main water supply for the village of Le Roy.[4] The only protected area in the Oatka watershed besides Oatka Creek Park is the 2,580-acre (1,040 ha) Carlton Hill Wildlife Management Area in Middlebury, north of Warsaw.[5]

There is limited data on the fish and plant species that thrive in and around the creek as no comprehensive survey has been done. The state has identified several communities of species it lists as rare, threatened or endangered. To protect them more effectively it has limited publication of the exact species or location of the communities.[11]

More specific data exists on benthic macroinvertebrates, or larger organisms that depend on the sediment on the stream floor. These are primarily the immature forms of insects that live on land as adults. Many of these species, such as caddisflies and stoneflies, are pollution-intolerant and thus their presence is an indicator of good water quality. They were found during a 1989–90 survey of the lower Oatka, but in lower numbers than expected. The stream is thus considered "slightly impacted" by pollution.[12]

A brown trout taken from the Oatka

Many of those insects constitute the food supply for various trout species. The lower Oatka is considered a blue-ribbon brown trout fishery, with some brook trout populating the water as well. The state fish hatchery on Spring Creek near Caledonia stocks the stream annually, and there is also evidence of a wild trout fishery on the stretch between Bowerman and Wheatland Center roads. A 1999 survey estimated the creek's total trout biomass at 30 pounds per acre (33 kg per hectare) bass, walleye and northern pike have also been taken near the Genesee.[12]

Buttermilk Falls divides Oatka Creek into two distinct geological regions. The upper stream's bedrock is local sedimentary rock formations, with the shales and sandstones of the Sonyea Group, shale-limestone Genesee Group and Tully Limestone dominating from the headwaters to Pavilion. Between there and Le Roy the shales and thin limestones of the Hamilton Group underlie the creek.[13]

North of Le Roy, the Oatka becomes a losing stream, with water disappearing into the ground. In the warmer months this results in the creekbed drying up above Buttermilk Falls, and slowly re-emerging further down from springs and seeps.[14] After it does, and turns to the east, it flows over the Akron Formation, Bertie Group of dolomitic shales, and the Salina Group. The latter is diverse, including evaporites such as halite and gypsum in addition to its limestones and shales.[13]

In the lower section of the creek there is significant groundwater entering the creek. As it discharges, it weathers the gypsum and limestone. This results in increased sulfates in the water, and bicarbonates and calcium have also been found near the falls. These concentrations are in winter and spring, when heavier precipitation and runoff offsets the impact of the groundwater.[13]

As the glaciers retreated 12,000 years ago the landscape they left behind on the Allegheny Plateau was a rolling expanse of drumlins and depressions in which meltwater and precipitation could accumulate. It was ideal topography for stream formation, and these bodies of water eventually combined and became the Oatka, eroding the Oatka Valley. Fertile soil from the highlands accumulated in the valley, and the land eventually reforested.[15]

The Native Americans who would become the Seneca nation eventually came and settled in the area. They established a few small communities at the clearings in the forest where they found good hunting, and were first to farm the lands in the valley. The network of trails that connected them eventually became part of today's road network in the area. The Senecas eventually became part of the Iroquois Confederation, where the Oatka was at the very westernmost extent, giving them the honorific "Keepers of the Western Door" within the Confederation.[15]

In 1779, during the Revolutionary War the Continental Army's Sullivan Expedition came into Western New York to suppress Senecas who had professed loyalty to the British or might do so. Many of the troops came from farms in New England and recognized the quality of land in the Oatka watershed. After the war they agitated for it to be opened to settlement. After the war, New York and Massachusetts resolved the latter's claim to the area, and the 1797 Treaty of Big Tree (today Geneseo) extinguished all Native land claims.[15]

The first settler along the Oatka was Ebenezer "Indian" Allan, who established himself near the mouth of the stream, in today's Wheatland, in 1786. The creek would be known as Allan's Creek for years afterwards. After he moved further down the Genesee, other settlers came, the beginnings of what became Scottsville. In the 1790s settlement progressed upstream with the establishment of Le Roy where the stream intersected an old Indian trail that later became New York State Route 5. Settlement moved quickly afterwards, with all present communities as far south as Gainesville seeing their first settlers in the opening years of the 19th century, when the Holland Land Company owned much of it.[15]

Dam and reservoir at Le Roy

The only significant change made to the river by human engineering is the dam at Le Roy near where Route 5 crosses the creek. It creates a 25-acre (10 ha) lake in the center of the village. Other dams or diversions that were created for milling purposes in the 19th century have been abandoned and/or removed. There are no power plants or flood control projects along the creek.

There are 32 bridges currently spanning the creek, built between 1915 and 2003. The oldest carries Union Street in Wheatland; the newest is the NY 251 bridge into Scottsville above the creek's mouth.[16] Seven of them carry NY 19 over the creek. These include both the longest, the 227-foot (69 m) crossing over the lake created by the Le Roy dam,[17] northernmost along Route 19, and the shortest and southernmost, its 29-foot (8.8 m) bridge south of Rock Glen.[18] Most are steel or concrete stringer or box girder structures, with the US 20 bridge in Pavilion and one of the Route 19 bridges north of Warsaw being steel truss designs.[16]

In the early days of settlement the creek contributed directly to the local economy through the mills established along it. They were removed in later years when industrialization elsewhere made them less profitable. Today the creek's direct economic value comes from its role as a water supply and discharge for the wastewater of the two most populous villages along it, Le Roy and Warsaw.

The narrow and deep Oatka Valley was a preferred transportation corridor through eastern Wyoming and Genesee counties. First came the road that became Route 19 in 1930. In 1874 it was paralleled by the Rochester and State Line Railroad; today operated by Norfolk Southern after many ownership changes. Intersections with major east–west routes that became NY 5 and US 20A prompted the development of Le Roy and Warsaw around them.

• Relyea Creek
• Stony Creek
• Pearl Creek
• White Creek
• Mud Creek
• Spring Creek

• List of New York rivers

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oatka Creek.

• Oatka Creek Watershed Committee
• USGS Real-Time Water Data for Oatka Creek