residential areas. Additionally, there are some agricultural lands in the upper reaches of the watershed. Much of the rest of the watershed is forested land. Some of the most downstream parts of the watershed are urban. History and etymology West Creek has been known by its current name since at least the late 1830s. The creek was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1192054. In 1799, a schoolhouse was constructed on West Creek near Benton. It was one of the first schoolhouses in the vicinity of Benton. During the 1864 elections, at least two Union soldiers were stationed on the creek, guarding the polling venues. A mill called the Thomas Mill was built on the creek in 1865 and remained operational in 1914, when it was owned by N.B. Cole. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was a timber-producing business on the creek, run by J. Harvey Creveling. In 1881, J. J. McHenry constructed a queen truss covered bridge over West Creek for $348.00. The bridge was moved to South Branch Roaring Creek when it was sold to H. H. Knoebel in 1936. A two-span concrete tee beam bridge carrying Pennsylvania Route 239 was built over the creek in 1934. It is long and is located north of Benton. Another bridge of the same type, but with only a single, was built north of Benton in the same year. This bridge is long. A two-span steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge was constructed over the creek in Benton in 1951. It is long and carries State Route 4030. A bridge of the same time, was built north of Benton in 1958. It is long and carries T-720. A prestressed box beam or girders bridge carrying Pennsylvania Route 239 was built in 2004. It is located north of Benton and is long. In 1914, the Benton Water Supply Company constructed a dam on West Creek upstream of Benton. A private campground called the West Creek Gap Campgrounds was established at the headwaters of West Creek in 1979 by the wife of George Mikulski. Biology There are 41 macroinvertebrate taxa that have been observed in West Creek, more than have been observed in all of upper Fishing Creek. The number of macroinvertebrates per square meter in West Creek at the site WC1 (in the lower reaches of