Stonecoal Creek

{{Short description | Tributary of West Fork River in West Virginia}}

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox river

| name = Stonecoal Creek

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| image = Stonecoal Creek Right Fork.jpg

| image_caption = The Right Fork of Stonecoal Creek, downstream of Stonecoal Lake in 2006

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| map_size = 300

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| pushpin_map = USA West Virginia

| pushpin_map_size = 300

| pushpin_map_caption= Location of the mouth of Stonecoal Creek in Weston, West Virginia

| subdivision_type1 = Country

| subdivision_name1 = United States

| subdivision_type2 = State

| subdivision_name2 = West Virginia

| subdivision_type3 = Counties

| subdivision_name3 = Lewis, Upshur

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| length = {{convert|12.8|mi|km|abbr=on}}

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| source1_location = northwestern Upshur County

| source1_coordinates= {{coord|39|00|47|N|80|18|47|W|display=inline}}

| source1_elevation = {{convert|1453|ft|abbr=on}}Google Earth elevation for GNIS source coordinates. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.

| mouth = West Fork River

| mouth_location = Weston, WV

| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|39|02|36|N|80|27|43|W|display=inline,title}}

| mouth_elevation = {{convert|1010|ft|abbr=on}}

| progression =

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| basin_size = {{convert|41|sqmi|abbr=on}}

| tributaries_left = Right Fork Stonecoal Creek

| tributaries_right =

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Stonecoal Creek is a tributary of the West Fork River, {{convert|12.8|mi|km}} long,{{cite web |url=http://iaspub.epa.gov/waters10/attains_watershed.control?p_state=WV&p_huc=05020002&p_cycle=2008&p_report_type= |title=Watershed Assessment, Tracking & Environmental Results: Assessment Summary for Reporting Year 2008, West Virginia, West Fork Watershed |author=United States Environmental Protection Agency |authorlink=United States Environmental Protection Agency |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427180831/https://iaspub.epa.gov/waters10/attains_watershed.control?p_huc=05020002&p_state=WV&p_cycle=2008&p_report_type= |archivedate=2021-04-27 |url-status=dead |accessdate=2011-10-13}} 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 {{convert|41|sqmi|km2}}{{cite web |url= http://www.dep.state.wv.us/watershed/ |pages = [https://web.archive.org/web/20060523112232/http://www.dep.state.wv.us/watershed/w5020002.html West Fork River] | title= Watershed Atlas Project. | author= West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection | accessdate=2007-02-26 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20050404165853/http://www.dep.state.wv.us/watershed/ |archivedate=2005-04-04 }} on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau. The stream is believed to have been named in the late 1760s by a group of explorers and settlers (including Jesse Hughes), who found coal in nearby hills and mixed with pebbles in the stream.{{cite book| author=Kenny, Hamill |title= West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains |year=1945 |publisher=The Place Name Press |location=Piedmont, West Virginia |pages= 604}}

Stonecoal Creek rises approximately five miles (8 km) west-northwest of Buckhannon in northwestern Upshur County and flows westwardly into northern Lewis County, where it joins the West Fork River from the east in the city of Weston.DeLorme (1997). West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. p.36. {{ISBN|0-89933-246-3}}. Its principal tributary, the {{convert|9.7|mi|km|adj=on}} Right Fork Stonecoal Creek,{{cite web |url={{Gnis3|1545711}} |title=Geographic Names Information System entry for Right Fork Stonecoal Creek (Feature ID #1545711) |author=Geographic Names Information System |authorlink=Geographic Names Information System|accessdate=2007-02-19}} was dammed in Lewis County to form Stonecoal Lake in 1972 by Allegheny Energy for the purpose of providing water to a power plant in Harrison County. The {{convert|550|acre|ha|adj=on|lk=out}} lake is privately owned, but is managed by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, as is a Wildlife Management Area surrounding the lake.{{cite book| last= Winters |first= Kelly |editor= Ken Sullivan| title= The West Virginia Encyclopedia |year= 2006 |publisher= West Virginia Humanities Council |location=Charleston, W.Va. |isbn= 0-9778498-0-5 |pages= 684 |chapter=Stonecoal Lake}}

According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, approximately 77% of Stonecoal Creek's watershed is forested, mostly deciduous. Approximately 19% is used for pasture and agriculture, and approximately 2% is urban.