Nancy Run

Nancy Run begins near the Green Pond Golf Course in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania. It flows southwest for several tenths of a mile before turning south-southwest for several tenths of a mile, where it crosses Easton Avenue. The creek then receives an unnamed tributary from the left and turns west for some distance before entering the census-designated place of Middletown. It then flows south for a while before turning south-southwest and entering Freemansburg, Pennsylvania, where it flows south for a few tenths of a mile before reaching its confluence with the Lehigh River.

The elevation near the mouth of Nancy Run is {{convert|220|ft|m}} above sea level.{{citation|author = Geographic Names Information System|url = https://gnis.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:3:0::NO:3:P3_FID,P3_TITLE:1211971,Nancy_Run|title = Feature Detail Report for: Nancy Run|accessdate = March 5, 2017}} The elevation near the source of the stream is approximately {{convert|382|ft|m}} above sea level.

The Lehigh Canal crosses Nancy Run.{{citation|author = Mallory Vough|url = https://patch.com/pennsylvania/nazareth/are-you-ready-for-trout-fishing-season-915c00a8|title = Trout Season Starts Saturday in Nazareth Area|date = March 29, 2013|accessdate = March 5, 2017}}

Near Nancy Run, "one of the best" beds of stromatolitic Limeport beds in eastern Pennsylvania is exposed.{{citation|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Li4QAAAAIAAJ|title = Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, Volume 66, Part 2|page = 825|year = 1955|accessdate = March 6, 2017| last1=Miller | first1=Benjamin Leroy }}

The watershed of Nancy Run has an area of {{convert|6.14|sqmi|km2}}. The part of the watershed that lies above its unnamed tributary has an area of only {{convert|1.40|sqmi|km2}}.{{citation|author = Federal Emergency Management Agency|url = https://www.rampp-team.com/county_maps/pennsylvania/northampton/northampton_pa_fis_tables1.pdf|title = Flood Insurance Study Volume 1 of 2 Northampton County, Pennsylvania|page = 27|date = December 14, 2011|accessdate = March 6, 2017}}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Nancy Run is entirely within the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of Nazareth.

At its mouth, the peak annual discharge of Nancy Run has a 10 percent chance of reaching {{convert|3605|cuft/s|m3/s}}. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching {{convert|4019|cuft/s|m3/s}} and a 1 percent chance of reaching {{convert|4291|cuft/s|m3/s}}. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching {{convert|4547|cuft/s|m3/s}}.

Above its unnamed tributary, the peak annual discharge of Nancy Run has a 10 percent chance of reaching {{convert|1022|cuft/s|m3/s}}. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching {{convert|1153|cuft/s|m3/s}} and a 1 percent chance of reaching {{convert|1216|cuft/s|m3/s}}. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching {{convert|1297|cuft/s|m3/s}}.

Nancy Run was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 30, 1990 due to its presence on a 1975 county highway map published by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1211971. The stream is also known as Nancys Run. This variant name appears in a 1939 geological survey of Northampton County by Benjamin L. Miller et al..{{citation|author = Geographic Names Information System|url = https://gnis.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:4:0::NO:4:P4_FID,P4_OBJECTID,P4_FNAME:1211971,27842913,Nancys%20Run|title = Variant Citation|accessdate = March 5, 2017}}

Nancy Run was named for an old woman named Nancy who historically lived in a log cabin on the creek and was well known as a fortune teller.{{citation|author = Bethlehem Township|url = https://www.bethlehemtownship.org/history.html|title = History|accessdate = March 5, 2017}}{{citation|url = https://archive.org/stream/historyofnortham02hell/historyofnortham02hell_djvu.txt|title = Full text of "History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh under supervision and revision of William J. Heller, assisted by an advisory board of editors.."|year = 1920|accessdate = March 5, 2017}} In the early 1800s, there was a large tavern on the stream.{{citation|author = Philip Columbus Croll, Henry Addison Schuler, Howard Wiegner Kriebel|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ztMwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA603|title = The Pennsylvania-German, Volume 11|page = 603|year = 1910|accessdate = March 5, 2017}} The community of Freemansburg, which is located at the mouth of the stream, was incorporated in 1856.{{citation|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uNENAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA994|title = An Illustrated History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania|page = 994|accessdate = March 6, 2017| last1=Egle | first1=William Henry | year=1876 }}

Two steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridges carrying Washington Street and Keystone Street were built over Nancy Run near Freemansburg in 1930. In 1938, a concrete culvert bridge carrying State Route 3007 was constructed over the stream. A steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge carrying Middletown Road was constructed over the creek in 1958, and in 1960, a prestressed box beam or girders bridge carrying State Route 3007 was built over the creek. Three concrete culvert bridges were built over Nancy Run in 2000; one carried Tenth Street in Nancy Run Estates and the other two carried Bridge Lane and Washington Street in the Emerald Hills Development.{{citation|url = http://uglybridges.com/pa/northampton/|title = Northampton County|accessdate = March 5, 2017}}

In 2014, the Northampton County Conservation District received a $5000 grant from the Coldwater Heritage Partnership to develop a Coldwater Conservation Plan for the watershed of Nancy Run.{{citation|author = Northampton County Conservation District|url = https://www.northamptoncounty.org/CTYADMN/CONSVC/Documents/Annual%20Report.pdf|title = 2014 Annual Report|page = 7|accessdate = March 5, 2017}}

Wild trout naturally reproduce in Nancy Run from its headwaters downstream to its mouth.{{citation|author = Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission|url = http://www.fishandboat.com/trout_repro.pdf|title = Pennsylvania Wild Trout Waters (Natural Reproduction) – February 2016|page = 57|date = February 2016|accessdate = March 5, 2016|url-status = bot: unknown|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20160331164840/http://www.fishandboat.com/trout_repro.pdf|archivedate = March 31, 2016}} Upstream of a State Route 3007 bridge, the creek's watershed is designated as a Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Below this point, it is designated as a High-Quality Coldwater Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.{{citation|url = http://northamptoncd.org/Administrative/Watershed%20Designation.pdf|title = Watershed designations in Northampton County|accessdate = March 5, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160220171734/http://northamptoncd.org/Administrative/Watershed%20Designation.pdf|archive-date = 2016-02-20|url-status = dead}} The stream is designated as Class A Wild Trout Waters for brown trout in its lower {{convert|1.6|mi|km}}.{{citation|author = Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission|url = http://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/Trout/Documents/classa.pdf|title = Class A Wild Trout Waters|page = 18|date = February 13, 2017|accessdate = March 15, 2017|archive-date = December 11, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171211054504/http://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/Trout/Documents/classa.pdf|url-status = dead}}

In the 1990s, Nancy Run was found to support a benthic ecosystem of high biodiversity, including one sensitive species. The stream also supported a number of fish species. However, a proposed highway extension was believed to potentially impact biodiversity by releasing organic and inorganic pollutants into the stream, although they would not have been directly impacted by the construction.{{citation|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RMM1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA19-IA19|title = Route 33 Extension, Route 22 Interchange to Route 78 Interchange|year = 1993|accessdate = March 6, 2017}}

Macroinvertebrate taxa found in Nancy Run in the 1970s include Oligochaeta, sowbugs, scuds, mayflies, caddisflies, beetles, Diptera (flies/midges), blackflies, and snails.

• Saucon Creek, next upstream tributary of the Lehigh River
• List of rivers of Pennsylvania

{{Reflist|30em}}

Category:Rivers of Northampton County, Pennsylvania

Category:Tributaries of the Lehigh River