Although the name was chosen by local school children last fall, the formal naming process took nearly 13 months of effort by Kathleen Mathews and other members of the Mud Run Conservancy.
The conservancy is a local non-profit organization that watches over the Mud Run Watershed. The area of the watershed encompasses the Mad River Twp. land that is south, east, and west of Enon.
The source of Mud Run is in the fields and wooded areas beyond the Rocky Point Chapel. Mud Run flows under the historic stone arch bridge on Rocky Point Road, and past the Partington Spring House on South Tecumseh. When it is seen again, it has grown considerably as it flows under bridges on Hagen and Fowler roads. That is Mud Run in the valley between the VFW and Stine Road where the fireworks show is each July. It then flows behind Hunters Glen and Holiday Valley before it joins the Mad River near the intersection of I-70 and I- 675.
The watershed includes Mud Run, Clear Creek and their tributaries, cool freshwater springs, and different kinds of low-lying wetlands as well as fens, which are important to the quality of local ground water and wells.
Members of the Mud Run Conservancy announced the contest to name the stream at the Enon Independence Day celebrations in 2019.
Credit: Pam Cottrel/Contributor
Credit: Pam Cottrel/Contributor
Over the next few weeks, 14 names were proposed. The board of the Mud Run Conservancy narrowed the field to five that reflected the history, and the plants and animals found that area of the township.
1. “McDonald Brook” remembers a farmer who once lived along that creek.
2. “Coyote Run” pointed out that the area has “an abundance of coyotes.”
3. and 4. “Redside Run” and “Dacey Creek” were both picked because the redside dace minnow has been found in this creek which indicates the cold spring fed stream is environmentally healthy.
5. Finally “Hustead Run” was selected because the creek is “parallel to Hustead Road,” and flows through the Hustead area and behind the old Hustead Elementary, now known as Hustead School House Farm Market.
Last November, 757 kindergarten through fourth-grade students at Enon Primary studied the map and the names, and then voted.
Coyote Run got nearly half the votes with 365, followed by McDonald Brook with 126, Hustead Creek with 116, Redside Run with 87 and Dacey Creek with 63.
In the following months, the name was presented to the Mad River Twp. Trustees and Clark County Commissioners. An application was sent to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, a part of the US Geological Survey. The application proposed that Coyote Run be the official name for this unnamed waterway.
After studying the proposal, the board approved the name on July 9.
Credit: Pam Cottrel/Contributor
Credit: Pam Cottrel/Contributor
When word was received of the approval, Mathews, Carol Culbertson and Paul Rizzo set up a row of brightly colored cutouts of coyotes wearing cloth bandanas along Garrison Road to celebrate.
Name signs for Coyote Run have also been placed where the stream flows through a pasture then passes under the road on South Tecumseh, and in a wooded area on Fairfield Pike.
It might be fun for students who took part in the name selection vote to take a drive with the family along Garrison Road, Fairfield Pike and South Tecumseh to see how they have left their mark on the township.
Coyote Run should be on the next set of local maps that the USGS prints. I’ll be looking for it.