ORIGIN - Rush Creek - Rush Springs, OK - River Origins, Destinations and Confluences on Waymarking.com

The town of Rush Springs is located in an area with several natural springs. This area was a popular watering stop for drovers bringing cattle north on the Chisholm Trail. The most well known spring is located inside Jeff Davis Park on the east side of town. Water comes up to the surface and is piped out of a two-inch pipe. Water comes out the end of the pipe, as well as out numerous holes drilled along the pipe. The water then returns underground to the Rush Creek. Local citizens can often be seen filling empty milk gallon containers with this delicious, fresh water.

To locate the origin of Rush Creek, travel north on Business Highway 81 (North Rush Avenue) from the town of Rush Springs. Turn east at an unmarked road (N34 47.879 W97 57.672) which crosses the tracks and heads north to an oilfield lease . The gate is locked and this is as close as you can get to the actual creek beginnings. The photos shown are across the field by the oilfield lease. This area gathers precipitation and begins the creek flow.

The first spot at which you can see the creek as it crosses the gravel road, is slightly east of the oilfield gate (N34 47.985 W97 57.628). At this point, the creek travels north-south under the roadway. The primary source of water from the Rush Springs aquifer is precipitation. The Rush Springs aquifer underlies an area of about 1,400 square miles in west-central Oklahoma and supplies water for crop irrigation and town supplies. A sign at the spring in Jeff Davis Park (N34 47.134 W97 57.038) indicates that water is emitting at the rate of 72,000 gallons per day.

Rush Creek then flows southeast of town to Taylor Lake, which is the Rush Springs Watershed Dam No. 1. It exits the lake on the east side and flows east-southeast, eventually crossing I-35 and skirting the town of Pauls Valley on the south side. From there it turns south and joins the Washita River southeast of Pauls Valley. No official statistics could be found, but Rush Creek flows approximately 50 miles as the crow flies - much more of course, with its meanderings.

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