Martins Creek (Kentucky)

Martins Creek Martin Creek
Physical characteristics
Source	Martin Creek headwaters
• coordinates	37°03′36″N 83°37′33″W
Mouth	Goose Creek
• coordinates	37°04′33″N 83°41′13″W
• elevation	830 feet (250 m)[1]

Martins Creek (a.k.a. Martin Creek) is creek that is a tributary of Goose Creek in Clay County, Kentucky that used to have a Martins Creek post office.^[2][1] It is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) long and named for early settler Salathiel Martin.^[2]

Tributaries and post offices

The Creek is 9.5 miles (15.3 km) from Manchester at altitude 830 feet (250 m) above sea level.^[1]

• Its major tributaries are:
  • Moses Branch 1.75 miles (2.82 km) upstream at an altitude of 905 feet (276 m)^[1]

Martin Creek post office

Its eponymous postoffice was established on July 10, 1876, by postmasters Marshall Corum and George D. Mahan, and closed on September 20, 1878.^[2] It was located just downstream on Goose Creek from the mouth of Martins.^[2]

Wages post office

The Wages postoffice was established on February 6, 1884, by William Wages, and closed in November 1885.^[2] It was located 3 miles (4.8 km) upstream along the creek from its mouth. His first choice of name had actually been Martins Creek.^[2]

In 1918, Silas Wages had a mine 0.25 miles (0.40 km) upstream on Moses Branch.^[1]

Plank post office

The Plank postoffice was established on December 7, 1906, by postmaster George W. Walker, and closed in September 1992.^[3] It was located 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream along the creek from its mouth.^[3] It served several lumber mills and the store of J. B. Walker, and local oral history is that its name was taken from a plank of wood propped against the wall of one of the aforementioned mills, a lumbermill practice that was used to boast that it had sawn the longest plank in the area.^[3]

General

J. B. Walker's mine was 0.5 miles (0.80 km) upstream on Moses Branch, and his house was 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream on Martin Creek itself.^[4]

See also

• List of rivers of Kentucky

References

1. Hodge 1918, p. 61.
2. Rennick 2000c, p. 25.
3. Rennick 2000c, pp. 25–26.
4. Hodge 1918, p. 62.

Sources

• Hodge, James Michael (1918). The coals of Goose Creek and its tributaries. Reports of the Kentucky Geological Survey 4th series 1912–1918. Vol. 4. Frankfort, Kentucky: The State Journal Company. (The coals of Goose Creek and its tributaries at the Internet Archive)
• Rennick, Robert M. (2000c). "Clay County — Post Offices". County Histories of Kentucky (176). Morehead State University.

Further reading

• Rennick, Robert M.; United States Geological Survey (January 1954). "Ogle Quadrangle (1954)". Robert M. Rennick Topographical Map Collection (560). Morehead State University.