The creek was known as Popemetang until the late 1700s. However, several maps were referring to it as Roaring Creek as early as 1792. Its name appears as Roaring Creek in even the earliest survey warrants in the area. The Centre Turnpike was constructed in 1770 and provided access to the valley of Roaring Creek, roughly following the current course of Pennsylvania Route 487 and Pennsylvania Route 54. The Reading Road was later constructed in the watershed and ran in a southeasterly direction. Quakers were living in the valley of the creek by the 1770s and land on the creek was patented to Samuel Shakespeare in 1773. A number of settlers arrived in the valley from the Philadelphia area via the Reading Road. Soon after the end of the American Revolutionary War, farms were appearing along the creek's banks. The second-oldest mill in what is now Columbia County was built in a gorge on Roaring Creek, near its mouth, in the 1780s. This mill was known as the Cleaver Mill. A second mill, which was similar to the first, was later constructed at the site. John Hauch constructed a furnace on the creek in 1816. It was the first furnace in the area. The first iron furnace in Montour County was built near the creek's mouth in 1839 or 1840. The furnace was known as the Roaring Creek Anthracite Water Power Furnace. It was altered in 1854. In 1856, the furnace produced 2350 tons of iron from ore on Montour Ridge, despite low water. The only post office in Mayberry Township up to 1915 was built at the mouth of the creek in 1895. It was known as Howelsville, after W.B. Howell, its first postmaster. In the early 1900s, major industries in the watershed of Roaring Creek included agriculture. However, the creek was also used as water power for a small gristmill. During this time period, major communities in the watershed included Roaring Creek and Bear Gap. Their populations were 407 and 124, respectively. In the early 1900s, the only major industries in Franklin Township were gristmills on the creek on the border between it and Cleveland Township. There were historically proposals to use the creek as a water supply for Danville, transferring the water via pipes under the Susquehanna River. Andrew Trone once constructed a hotel on the creek. Many bridges have been constructed across Roaring Creek and a