Laurel Creek (Kentucky)
Laurel Creek is a creek that is a tributary of Goose Creek river in Clay County, Kentucky.
It is  long.
The name comes from the proliferation of mountain laurel on its riverbanks.

Tributaries and post offices 
The Creek mouth on Goose is  upstream of the mouth of Beech Creek, and  upstream from Oneida.

 Its major tributaries are:
 Skull Branch  upstream, mouth at 
 Mill Pond Hollow  upstream, mouth at 
 Chicken Branch  upstream at an altitude of  , mouth at 
 Orchard Branch  upstream at an altitude of , mouth at 
 Collins Branch  upstream, mouth at 
 Falls Branch (a.k.a. Morgan Branch)  upstream at an altitude of , mouth at 
 Hogskin Branch  upstream, mouth at

Fall Rock, Hubbardsville, and Laurel Creek post office 
Laurel Creek's eponymous post office was established by Joseph Hubbard on 1865-04-21, lasting until 1968.
It was originally located at the mouth of what is now named Morgan Branch, that used to be named Falls Branch, and primarily served the area of Hubbardsville.
It moved  downstream to the mouth of Collins Branch some time before 1902.
It was a rural branch of Manchester post office from 1966 until its closure.

Morgan Branch is also the location of the village, school, and post office of Fall Rock.
Fall Rock post office was established on 1924-05-22 by postmaster John Campbell, and named after the original name of Morgan Branch which was Falls Branch or Fall Rock Branch.
This in turn came from the name of the  high waterfall that powered a local grist mill and was also used for social events.

However, the village and school were originally named Pinhook, local oral histories stating that this was after a local fisherman who made fishing hooks out of safety pins bought in the local store.
Named John Campbell (not the aforementioned postmaster) he gained the name "Pinhook" Campbell.
The village and school were renamed from Pinhook to Fall Rock after the post office when schooling was consolidated in the county in the 20th century.

Hubbardsville's second post office was named Caution, from 1902 to 1918, although postmaster George Hall wanted to call it Clio after his 5-year-old daughter.
That clashed with an existing post office of the same name in Whitley County, however.

Millpond 
The Millpond post office was originally named Bessie by postmaster John L. Campbell, who operated it between 1907-11-15 and 1909-06-15, possibly after his wife Elizabeth.
Its second postmaster Oscar Hornsby, who reëstablished it on 1921-05-14 in his own general store near to Lower Laurel School, wanted to retain the name; but the name Millpond was assigned instead.
Local oral histories disagree as to the origin of this name.
It was either named after the pond of Joe Hornsby's flour mill that was built in the 1880s, or it was named after the pond of an old sawmill.
Either way, the mill has long since vanished; and at the time of closure in August 1963 the postoffice was located just downstream of Mill Pond Hollow.

General 
In 1918, on Laurel itself John Coldiron had a mine  upstream, Joseph L. Hornsby had one  upstream, James Barnett one  upstream, Hannibal Morgan one  upstream, Daniel Baker one  upstream, and George Hall one  upstream.

Mrs Hounschell had one  upstream on Chicken Branch.
John Howard's mine was  upstream on Orchard Branch.
Elijah Campbell's was  upstream on Falls Branch.

Kentucky Route 11 mostly follows the course of the Creek.

Connections 
A gap at the head of Hogskin Branch connects to the Rader Branch of Little Goose Creek.

See also
List of rivers of Kentucky

References

Sources

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Further reading 

 

Rivers of Kentucky
Rivers of Clay County, Kentucky