Water of Life

I’ve already told my kids that when I die I wish to be cremated. I also told them that I want them to quietly release my ashes into my hometown’s stream, Trout Creek.  It sounds like I am talking about a water of death rather than a water of life. But this place, or at least a certain section of it, helped form my life. It’s where many of my memories are.  It’s where I spent much of my childhood. It’s where I caught my first fish! It’s where I felt happiest.

Trout Creek (also known as Shit Creek, more on that later) starts as a trickle west of the village of Slatedale. It flows behind the Slatedale Baseball Field and under Lovers Lane. It makes its way behind the village of Emerald and gradually makes its way into Slatington’s western border.  It’s here that my section of the creek, or as we called it in Slatington…crick, begins.

Devil’s Rock, a giant arrowhead of rock bursts upward through the water. Shortly after that, the swimming hole of my older brothers and sister. It was only a few inches deep in my day! My first fish was caught, fishing with my dad, from the old wooden bridge that led from Seventh Street to the slate quarries. After the bridge, Seventh Street became The Old Road, dirt well until I was in my twenties.  The bridge is no longer there.

Next came the trestle bridge. As a kid, it was a big adventure to cross it on foot and not fall in between the railroad ties. In hindsight, it really wasn’t that hard. It was certainly nothing like the scene in the movie “Stand By Me”! The Coal Rocks were next. I am not sure why they had that name, but it was certainly one of the best places to catch fish on the creek.

Farther downstream is Around The World Island. Not much of an island, but an island nonetheless. In this area the Boy Scouts constructed a cable overhand bridge, two cables hung in parallel.  Hands were on the one cable and  feet on the other. We would cross this while our friends would be throwing big rocks into the creek below us trying to make us fall.

Kern’s Dam, or what was left of it, is farther downstream. I think there was some historical significance to Kern’s Dam, but to us it was a good place to fish or swim in the water just past the dam.

Remember when I said Trout Creek was also known as Shit Creek? Here is why. A bit past Kern’s dam and just under the Main Street Bridge, Slatington’s sewer system emptied into the creek. Yes, really! In the 1960s!  We could see the toilet paper waving to us from the water coming out of the big emptying pipes.  Yuck! Don’t eat any fish caught just below what we called, for some reason, the Shit Hooks! This was life before environmental regulations.

I didn’t know the creek much past this area. But it flows maybe another mile before emptying into the Lehigh River just south of the Slatington-Walnutport Bridge.

Water of Life indeed! So many great memories triggered by writing this post.  I hope you enjoyed my little trip Gently Down the Stream.  The Slate Heritage Trail, one of the valley’s many wonderful rails to trails, goes right along the creek in the area I wrote about. On a pleasant, autumn day you may want to take a walk along Trout Creek. Don’t worry, the Shit Hooks are long gone!