Big Creek, Kentucky


Big Creek is a long creek in Kentucky, United States whose headwaters are in Leslie County and that flows into the Red Bird River in Clay County.
A postoffice and village are named for it.
Its own name is likely purely descriptive of its frequent flooding and high water levels, as it is not otherwise one of the biggest tributaries of Red Bird River.

Tributaries and post offices

The mouth of Big Creek is upstream on Red Bird River at an altitude of above sea level.
Both the Daniel Boone Parkway and Kentucky Route 80 parallel its course from its mouth to where it splits into Halls and Collins/Couch Forks.
  • Its major tributaries are:
  • * Granny Branch upstream at altitude, mouth at headwaters at
  • * Smith Branch upstream at altitude
  • * Bear Branch upstream at altitude and long, mouth at upper forks at
  • * Ulysses Fork upstream at altitude, mouth at
  • ** Schoolhouse Branch upstream at altitude, mouth at upper forks at
  • ** Right Fork upstream at altitude, confluence at upper forks at
  • ** Left Fork upstream at altitude, mouth at
  • *** Meadow Fork upstream at altitude, mouth at headwaters at
  • * Chandler Branch upstream at altitude, mouth at headwaters at
  • * Collins Fork upstream at altitude paralleled by the Daniel Boone Parkway
  • ** Hollins Fork upstream at altitude, mouth at upper forks at
  • *** Bob Fork upstream at altitude, mouth at headwaters at
  • ** Half-way Branch upstream at altitude
  • ** three forks upstream at altitude, at
  • * Halls Fork upstream at altitude, which U.S. 421 parallels, confluence with Collins Fork at
  • ** Old McHenry Fork upstream at altitude, mouth at
  • *** McFadden Branch upstream at altitude
  • *** Patton Branch upstream at altitude
  • *** Poplar Gap Branch upstream at altitude

Big Creek village and post office

The post office named after it was established by James Marcum on January 10, 1871.
Originally located one mile up from the Red Bird River, it has moved several times up and down the creek, and as of 2000 was located three quarters of a mile up from the Red Bird, serving the Big Creek village.
The village is located on U.S. Route 421, east of Manchester.
Big Creek postoffice has ZIP code 40914.

Bear Branch post office

A Bear Branch post office was established by William Britton on November 10, 1923, named after the branch.
Originally located a mere across the county line into Clay, it was moved on February 12, 1924, to Ulysses Creek by postmaster Thomas T. Hensley.
It moved again when U.S. 421 was built, to a point next to the highway, and a further time in 1936 to its present location just below the branch from the Clay county line.

Jason post office

A Jason post office was established by postmaster Billie Jones to serve Hollins Fork on September 1, 1937.
During its lifetime from then until July 1965, it was located in three different places along the fork, above the Bear Branch post office, ending up less than from the original site of Obed post office.
The postmaster's original choice of name, Elim, was disregarded because of potential confusion with an Elem post office in Rockcastle County.

Obed post office

Couch Fork used to be named Collins Fork, and the Obed post office, founded on January 26, 1903, by postmaster Levi Couch, used to lie between Collins and Hollins Forks.
Obed was in 1936 moved downhill to the Twin Branch tributary of Collins/Couch Fork and closed in 1938.

General

In 1918, P.D. Marcum had a mine upstream on Granny Branch, and Thomas A. Bird had one on a minor fork of Bear upstream.
Lee Crawford had two mines, one upstream and one upstream on Bear Branch.
Thomas Hensley had one on a minor fork of Ulysses Fork upstream, Felix Roberts had one on a minor fork of Right Fork Ulysses Fork upstream, and J. M. Finley had one at the mouth of Meadow Fork and one upstream on Left Fork Ulysses Fork.
H.B. Collins's mine was on a minor fork of Half-Way Branch upstream.
Wesley McFadden's was on McFadden Branch upstream.
Hiram Collins lived upstream on Halls Fork where there had been an older Collins mine.
On Big Creek itself, Wiley Spurlock had a mine upstream, and Hiram Sizemore had one on a minor fork opposite the mouth of Collins.