But, in fact, it is a very unique landscape and the better the fly fisherman understands its topography, the better his fishing experience. Potter County is the source of three great watersheds: the Allegheny (to the Ohio R. at Pittsburgh, thence to the Mississippi); the Genesee (to Lake Ontario at Rochester, thence to the St. Lawrence River) and the Susquehanna (Pine Creek to the Susquehanna and Chesapeake Bay). Some believe the Allegheny to be, in fact, the beginning of the largest river in North America. These three streams all rise on a farm located near Gold, Pa. (Township Road 408 to be exact). It is said that there is a spot on the farm where rain falling but a few yards one way or the other will eventually end up in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico or the Chesapeake Bay. Nowhere else in the Eastern U.S. does such a situation exist. The early settlers referred to this phenomenon as "The Watershed of the Nation" while geologists call it the "Triple Divide."
In general the Allegheny and Genesee watersheds are most closely aligned with the larger Appalachian Uplands province that extends from western New York in a south-southwestern direction all the way to central Alabama. The Susquehanna watershed in Potter County marks the very first approaches to the prominent scarp referred to by geologists as the Allegheny Front. To the layman, the differences are not that obvious, the most prominent feature being that the Susquehanna watershed tends to contain steeper mountains and more sharply defined water courses. Travel west to McKean County and beyond and the landscape is more obviously "tilted" towards Lake Erie in a series of gentle folds. Travel east to Tioga County down through the Pine Creek country and it becomes apparent that you are approaching the distinctive Valley and Ridge system that is sharply dominated by folding and thrust faulting.
The height of most of the mountains is in the range of 2100 to 2200 feet above sea level and is uniformly consistent throughout the county. The elevation of the valley bottoms, however, exhibits a wider range of variation: those in the Allegheny and Genesee watersheds are approximately 1600 feet, while river bottoms in the Susquehanna watershed descend more rapidly from about 1300 feet at Galeton to less than 1000 feet in Wharton and other locations in the extreme southeastern part of the county. Thus the mountains appear to be steeper and higher in this watershed. Pine Creek at Slate Run, for example, flows across a valley floor 700 feet above sea level.
Glaciation also has contributed to the shaping of parts of Potter County. During the Wisconsin Advance (about 70,000 years ago) the Genesee and northwestern portion (Pine Creek to the New York state border) of the Susquehanna watersheds were scoured by glacial forces. Indeed, the Pine Creek canyon in neighboring Tioga County was created as a result of the glacier blocking the stream's original course.
For fisherman the obvious differences among the three watersheds is in the resulting land use and general appearance of the streams. The Allegheny and Genesee watersheds were settled first and lent themselves more readily to the plow. Consequently, over the years the streams tended to broaden, become somewhat warmer and, of course, experience more instances of man-made pollution. It was these streams that received the first stocking of European brown trout in the early years of this century. The gradient of these streams is not quite as pronounced as those of the Susquehanna system. The Susquehanna system, in turn, was seriously ravaged by the saw. Fortunately, time has healed most of these wounds, and many of these streams, though now lacking the towering stands of hemlock and pine, are, nevertheless, much as the were before settlement. Called the "Black Forest", this part of the county justifiably attracts thousands of hikers, photographers, hunters and fishermen.
To the visiting
fisherman
it should be
apparent that
most of the access in the Allegheny and Genesee watersheds will be over
private property. Occasionally, visitors to Potter County form the
mistaken
impression that "its all state land," and find themselves in trouble.
Nothing
irritates a hard working farmer more than a fisherman who blatantly
marches
across his fields and homestead without first inquiring! Most will
readily
grant permission, but they steadfastly (and legally!) insist upon their
right to know who is traipsing around their land. Ask first! And be
prepared
to spend a little time listening. I have picked up some very good "fish
dope" by not being in too much of a hurry to get to the stream.
Landowners
almost universally like to think that theirs is the best part of the
stream.
It goes without saying that blocking driveways and farm outlets with
your
vehicle will bring out the wrath of even the most even-tempered
landowner.
