Cattaraugus Creek

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The mouth of Cattaraugus Creek on Lake Erie near Sunset Bay, New York

Cattaraugus Creek is a stream, approximately 68 miles (109 km) long, in western New York in the United States. The creek drains a wooded rural portion of western New York southwest of Buffalo into Lake Erie. In its lower course it flows primarily through the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca tribe. The word "Cattaraugus" means "foul-smelling river bank." This name is a result of the natural gas that oozes from the river mud.

Description

The creek rises in Java Lake in Wyoming County. In the Village of Arcade it joins Clear Creek. As it flows westward out of Wyoming County to the hamlet of Yorkshire, the creek forms the boundary between the south part of Erie County and the northern borders of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties.

It flows through the Village of Gowanda, which straddles the creek and is thereby in two counties. To the east of Gowanda, the Cattaraugus Creek passes through the Zoar Valley Multiple Use Area. This conservation zone is a favorite recreation area for fishing and rafting. Along its lower course it flows past the hamlet of Versailles, on the south bank of the creek in Cattaraugus Reservation. It flows into Lake Erie by Sunset Bay in the Town of Hanover in Chautauqua County.

Each year around October to November, thousands of fishermen descend on the lower course of Cattaraugus Creek to take advantage of the annual steelhead trout runs.

See also

• List of New York rivers