Bear Creek (Red Bird River tributary)

Bear Creek is a stream Clay County, in the U.S. state of Kentucky.[1] It is a tributary of Red Bird River.

Bear Creek
Location
CountryUnited States
StateKentucky
CountyClay
Physical characteristics
MouthRed Bird River

Bear Creek received its name after a bear was shot there, according to local history.[2]

Tributaries and post offices

Barcreek was established on 1900-03-07 by Elijah Herd, and remained in operation until March 1969.[3] It was half a mile upriver on Bear Creek from its confluence with the Red Bird River.[4] Its name was most likely a corruption of Bear Creek, but could also have been a reference to a large local sandbar.[3] Herd's first choice of his own name had been rejected by the USPS because it clashed with an already existing postoffice in Boyd County.[5]

Green L. Langdon moved it upriver in 1914, close to, or possibly at, the site of what was later to be Spurlock post office.[3] It was relocated back to Bear Creek in the 1920s, and was 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) up the creek when it closed.[3]

Spurlock post office was established on 1928-10-02, Silvania Herd's first choice of "Herd" similarly being rejected by the USPS because it then clashed with an already existing postoffice by that name in Jackson County.[6] Named after the Spurlock family, descendants of settler William Spurlock (1815–1855) from North Carolina who had arrived at Bear Creek in 1835, it lasted until July 1988.[6] It was located 1 mile upstream of the mouth of Banks Branch, a tributary of Red Bird River to the south of Bear Creek, to replace Barcreek post office after it moved back to Bear Creek.[6]

See also

Cross-reference
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bear Creek (Red Bird River tributary)
  2. Rennick, Robert M. (28 August 2013). Kentucky Place Names. University Press of Kentucky. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-8131-4401-6.
  3. Rennick 2000c, p. 29.
  4. Rennick 2016b, BARCREEK.
  5. Rennick 2000c, p. 43.
  6. Rennick 2000c, p. 32.

Sources

37.2287016°N 83.6354704°W / 37.2287016; -83.6354704

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