Troublesome Creek (North Fork Kentucky River tributary)

[2][1] The creek flows down to join the North Fork of the Kentucky River near Haddix in Breathitt County.

[2][1] Of its total length, 18 miles (29 km) are in Perry County, where it has had ten post offices over the years.

[58] Walter Campbell had a mine on a minor fork of Williams Branch, 0.25 miles (0.40 km) upstream.

[60] The earliest of the post offices, Tunell Hill was established on 1878-07-24 by postmaster Joseph Hall.

[2] The Dwarf post office still exists today, and is located a short distance up Combs Branch from Troublesome Creek.

[42] Albert Engle's two mines were on a minor fork of Laurel Lick, 0.375 miles (0.604 km) upstream.

[64] At the top of Russell Branch is Flint Ridge, 780 feet (240 m) higher than Troublesome Creek.

The USGS gaging-station (number 3-2785) for the North Fork Kentucky River at Noble is maintained at at 37°26′35″N 83°13′06″W / 37.44306°N 83.21833°W / 37.44306; -83.21833 (USGS gaging-station number 3-2785) on the left 14 miles (23 km) upstream from the mouth of Troublesome and 0.2 miles (0.32 km) downstream from Buckhorn Creek.

[71] It was originally located 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream from the mouth of Riley Branch, and was reportedly named for the "sticky blue clay" in the stream bed.

[72] It had a railway station and a post office, established on 1916-07-08 by postmaster Floyd Russell, both named Haddix.

[73] The post office was likely just downstream of Lick Branch, Boggs's country store being 3 miles (4.8 km) upstream of Emmalena (see below).

[73] In 1918 the Engle heirs had a mine on a minor fork of Trace Branch, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) upstream.

[44] Alexander Francis's was in a minor fork of Long Branch of Clear Creek, 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream.

[46] Bayliss Gearheart's mine was on a minor fork of Shop Hollow, 0.375 miles (0.604 km) upstream.

[80] It was, and still is, located on Troublesome Creek 8.5 miles (13.7 km) west of Hindman, and was established to serve an already existing small hamlet of roughly 300 people that had a store, church camp, and consolidated school.

[83] Benjamin Richie had a mine in a minor fork of Cockerel Trace, 0.625 miles (1.006 km) upstream.

[46] Joseph Richie's mine was on a minor fork of Dicks Branch, 1.375 miles (2.213 km) upstream.

[47] Edward Richie's two mines were one at the head of a minor fork of Clear Creek, 3.25 miles (5.23 km) upstream, which had a trail connecting to the Short Branch of Troublesome,[78] and another on Pushback Branch, 0.375 miles (0.604 km) upstream.

Jordan Combs had a mine on another minor fork of Trace, 0.75 miles (1.21 km) upstream.

[83] It was named for Clementina, the wife of John Wesley Combs, a state senator in the 1870s who lived on Irishman Creek.

[83] It ended up 3.5 miles (5.6 km) upstream on Montgomery, and closed in October 1978, because of Kentucky Route 80.

[85] The generally rocky terrain of the area causes rainwater to run off into many ephemeral creeks, that feed into the perennial ones, rather than being absorbed into the soil.

[86] Although the former mines along Troublesome may have contributed to the risk of flooding, by compacting the soil and making it further less able to absorb rainwater, they however also have flattened out parts of the terrain providing areas where there is less runoff channelled into ephemeral creeks.

[85] A further major flood occurred, again because of high rainfall over the preceding three days, on July 28, 2022, killing 39 people [clarification needed].

[87] Ongoing reforestation projects at former mine sites along the creek have the aim of ameliorating the effects of rainfall, as their tree canopy and root systems absorb water.

[86] The mines themselves also had retention basins, diversion ditches, and sediment ponds to catch rainfall run-off, although these are, like the considered reservoir, not large enough to ameliorate major floods.

[86] More significant effects may result from changing the land use practices, the construction of roads, deforestation, and farming, which increase sediment levels and raise the creek beds, leading to increased outflow during floods to the surrounding flood plains.

[86] The drainage of the basin covered by the aforementioned USGS gaging-station for the North Fork Kentucky River at Noble is 177 square miles (460 km2).

[70] The Creek's own name was, anecdotally, given to it by early settler Colby Haddix; it appears in the 1820 Act of the state legislature that created Perry County.

[90][91] The Troublesome Creek Times is a weekly newspaper for Knott County that is published in Hindman, and the first charter member of the Associated Press's Newsfinder service for Kentucky.