Cattaraugus Creek, PA

Cattaraugus Creek is a stream, approximately 68 miles (109 km) long, in western New York in the United States. The creek drains a wooded rural portion of western New York southwest of Buffalo into Lake Erie. In its lower course it flows primarily through the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca tribe.

The creek rises in Java Lake in Wyoming County. In the Village of Arcade it joins Clear Creek. As it flows westward out of Wyoming County to the hamlet of Yorkshire, the creek forms the boundary between the south part of Erie County and the northern borders of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties.

A tributary known as the "South Branch of the Cattaraugus Creek" originates in Cattaraugus, New York and flows northwest to the main Cattaraugus Creek along the Persia-Otto town line, joining the main creek just east of the village of Gowanda.

It flows through the Village of Gowanda, which straddles the creek and is thereby in two counties. To the east of Gowanda, the Cattaraugus Creek passes through the Zoar Valley Multiple Use Area. This conservation zone is a favorite recreation area for fishing and rafting. Along its lower course it flows past the hamlet of Versailles, on the south bank of the creek in Cattaraugus Reservation. It flows into Lake Erie by Sunset Bay in the Town of Hanover in Chautauqua County.

Each year around October to November, thousands of fishermen descend on the lower course of Cattaraugus Creek to take advantage of the annual steelhead trout runs.