The creek is not designated as an impaired waterbody and its pH is close to neutral, although it has experienced some problems with acid rain.

Historically, industries in the creek's watershed included lumbering, agriculture, tanneries, gristmills, and ice harvesting.

A short distance later, it turns roughly east for a couple of miles, receiving the tributary Wolf Run.

The creek then turns roughly east for a few miles and its valley widens as it passes through the community of Noxen.

In this township, it picks up the tributary South Run and turns north, flowing parallel to Pennsylvania Route 29.

[3] However, in the creek's middle or upper reaches, 0.3 miles (0.48 km) of streams are impaired by atmospheric deposition.

[5] John Levitsky, a member of the Luzerne County Conservation Association, has sprinkled limestone on roads to raise the pH of the creek.

The maximum flow time from the creek's headwaters to a point in its middle reaches is 23 hours and 19 minutes.

[10] In the mid-1970s, the concentration of dissolved oxygen in Bowman Creek near Tunkhannock ranged from 11.0 to 11.6 milligrams per liter (0.0110 to 0.0116 oz/cu ft).

Further to the west, there is a sizable band of the Huntley Mountain Formation, which also occurs in a few small patches further to the east.

[4] The mouth of Bowman Creek is in the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of Tunkhannock.

[12] The first of these variant names appears in a county highway map published by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

[29] By 1794, Thomas Pickering and a group of fifty others were raising money to build bridges over Bowman Creek.

[18] A surveyor named Josiah Newberry was one of the first settlers to arrive in Monroe Township, Wyoming County; he settled on the creek in 1813.

In 1876, the Lehigh Valley Railroad purchased 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) of timbering land in the vicinity of the creek.

The creek and its tributary Hettesheimer Run were used as an industrial supply in the community of Noxen during this time period.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad passed through the watershed of the creek and ran parallel to it in its upper reaches in the early 1900s.

[13] The Noxen railroad depot was constructed in 1893 in the creek's watershed and is now owned by the North Branch Land Trust.

[15] In the early 1900s, the major communities in the watershed of Bowman Creek included Noxen, Beaumont, and Eatonville.

[33] A steel truss bridge carrying Church Drive crosses Bowman Creek 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Tunkhannock and is closed to traffic.

A steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge carrying State Route 3002 was built over the creek in Noxen Township, Wyoming County in 1933.

A steel truss bridge carrying Pennsylvania Route 29 across the creek was built in 1936 in Eaton Township, Wyoming County and was repaired in 1985 and a two-span steel girder and floorbeam system carrying the same road over the creek was built in 1937 in the same township.

In 1975, a two-span prestressed box beam or girders bridge carrying State Route 2007 was constructed across in Eaton Township.

In 1992, a two-span steel stringer/multi-beam or girder bridge carrying Pennsylvania Route 29 was built across the creek in Monroe Township, Wyoming County.

A prestressed box beam or girders bridge carrying State Route 3003 was built over Bowman Creek in 1994 in Eaton Township.

In 1996, a bridge of a similar type was built over the creek in Monroe Township, carrying Pennsylvania Route 292.

Another prestressed box beam or girders bridge, this one carrying Pennsylvania Route 29 was built over Bowman Creek in Monroe Township in 2006.

[39][40] In the 1800s, the Luzerne County Sportsmans' Association stocked thousands of California salmon in Bowman Creek.

Wild rainbow trout occur in the lower reaches, primarily due to natural reproduction and escapes from private hatcheries.

[26] Acid rain once adversely impacted the native brook trout population in the creek, but they have made a comeback.