# Lost Creek (Kentucky)

Lost Creek is a creek that is mainly in Breathitt County, Kentucky in the United States. It a tributary of the Troublesome Creek tributary of the North Fork Kentucky River that it joins over the county line in Perry County slightly more than 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream of the mouth of Troublesome, at an altitude of 810 feet (250 m). It is 10 miles (16 km) long. The junction of Kentucky Route 476 with Kentucky Route 15 about 6 miles (9.7 km) south-southeast of Jackson is nearby.
The name "Lost" is associated anecdotally with people getting lost or losing things, from hunters and early travellers getting lost having strayed too far from the route of the Creek, through a family losing all of their possessions on a part of the Creek that was frozen, to famous local people such as Ned O'Grady, Colby Haddix, and Barney Russell becoming lost there.

## Tributaries and other locations

* Its major tributaries are:
** Mill Branch 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream, mouth at 37°27′40″N 83°19′00″W﻿ / ﻿37.46124°N 83.31666°W﻿ / 37.46124; -83.31666﻿ (mouth of Mill Branch) headwaters at 37°26′10″N 83°19′51″W﻿ / ﻿37.43609°N 83.33090°W﻿ / 37.43609; -83.33090﻿ (Mill Branch headwaters)
** Leatherwood Branch, mouth at 37°26′34″N 83°18′44″W﻿ / ﻿37.44291°N 83.31236°W﻿ / 37.44291; -83.31236﻿ (mouth of Leatherwood Branch) headwaters at 37°23′50″N 83°17′45″W﻿ / ﻿37.39733°N 83.29595°W﻿ / 37.39733; -83.29595﻿ (Leatherwood Branch headwaters)
** Cockerell's Fork (also Cockrell Fork) 8.75 miles (14.08 km) upstream, mouth at 37°24′44″N 83°16′19″W﻿ / ﻿37.41215°N 83.27203°W﻿ / 37.41215; -83.27203﻿ (mouth of Cockerell's Fork) headwaters at 37°23′02″N 83°13′20″W﻿ / ﻿37.38397°N 83.22212°W﻿ / 37.38397; -83.22212﻿ (Cockerell's Fork headwaters)
** Ten Mile Creek 10 miles (16 km) upstream at an altitude of 815 feet (248 m), mouth at 37°23′56″N 83°16′10″W﻿ / ﻿37.39886°N 83.26948°W﻿ / 37.39886; -83.26948﻿ (mouth of Ten Mile Creek)
*** Rock House Fork, mouth at 37°23′17″N 83°16′23″W﻿ / ﻿37.38794°N 83.27308°W﻿ / 37.38794; -83.27308﻿ (mouth of Rock House Fork) headwaters at 37°21′35″N 83°15′32″W﻿ / ﻿37.35975°N 83.25895°W﻿ / 37.35975; -83.25895﻿ (Rock House Fork headwaters)
**** Hollybush Branch, mouth at 37°23′08″N 83°16′10″W﻿ / ﻿37.38551°N 83.26955°W﻿ / 37.38551; -83.26955﻿ (mouth of Hollybush Branch) headwaters at 37°22′02″N 83°16′39″W﻿ / ﻿37.36729°N 83.27758°W﻿ / 37.36729; -83.27758﻿ (forks at Hollybush Branch headwaters)
** Collins Branch 11.25 miles (18.11 km) upstream
** Low Gap Branch 12.25 miles (19.71 km) upstream at an altitude of 890 feet (270 m), mouth at 37°22′49″N 83°14′25″W﻿ / ﻿37.38014°N 83.24030°W﻿ / 37.38014; -83.24030﻿ (mouth of Low Gap Branch) headwaters at 37°22′33″N 83°14′52″W﻿ / ﻿37.37593°N 83.24769°W﻿ / 37.37593; -83.24769﻿ (Low Gap Branch headwaters)
** Fifteen Mile Creek 15 miles (24 km) upstream at an altitude of 910 feet (280 m), mouth at 37°21′56″N 83°14′14″W﻿ / ﻿37.36564°N 83.23735°W﻿ / 37.36564; -83.23735﻿ (mouth of Fifteen Mile Creek)
** Sixteen Mile Creek 16 miles (26 km) upstream at an altitude of 925 feet (282 m), mouth at 37°21′47″N 83°13′43″W﻿ / ﻿37.36316°N 83.22859°W﻿ / 37.36316; -83.22859﻿ (mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek)
*** Strong Branch 1.25 miles (2.01 km) upstream at an altitude of 995 feet (303 m), mouth at 37°20′56″N 83°13′20″W﻿ / ﻿37.34888°N 83.22213°W﻿ / 37.34888; -83.22213﻿ (mouth of Strong Branch) headwaters at 37°20′22″N 83°13′51″W﻿ / ﻿37.33950°N 83.23094°W﻿ / 37.33950; -83.23094﻿ (Strong Branch headwaters)
*** Hiram Branch 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream at an altitude of 1,060 feet (320 m), mouth at 37°20′03″N 83°12′47″W﻿ / ﻿37.33415°N 83.21297°W﻿ / 37.33415; -83.21297﻿ (mouth of Hiram Branch) headwaters at 37°20′15″N 83°12′19″W﻿ / ﻿37.33749°N 83.20528°W﻿ / 37.33749; -83.20528﻿ (Hiram Branch headwaters)
** Low Gap Branch 16.5 miles (26.6 km) upstream at an altitude of 945 feet (288 m), mouth at 37°21′56″N 83°13′15″W﻿ / ﻿37.36559°N 83.22084°W﻿ / 37.36559; -83.22084﻿ (mouth of Low Gap Branch) headwaters at 37°22′14″N 83°12′44″W﻿ / ﻿37.37053°N 83.21227°W﻿ / 37.37053; -83.21227﻿ (Low Gap Branch headwaters)
** Will Branch 17.25 miles (27.76 km) upstream
** Camp Branch 17.75 miles (28.57 km) upstream
** Bowman Branch 18 miles (29 km) upstream
** Rock Fork 18.5 miles (29.8 km) upstream at an altitude of 1,040 feet (320 m), mouth at 37°21′26″N 83°11′27″W﻿ / ﻿37.35709°N 83.19095°W﻿ / 37.35709; -83.19095﻿ (mouth of Rock Fork) headwaters at 37°21′27″N 83°11′01″W﻿ / ﻿37.35751°N 83.18348°W﻿ / 37.35751; -83.18348﻿ (Rock Fork headwaters)
** Laurel Fork 19.5 miles (31.4 km) upstream at an altitude of 1,110 feet (340 m), mouth at 37°20′41″N 83°11′22″W﻿ / ﻿37.34482°N 83.18949°W﻿ / 37.34482; -83.18949﻿ (mouth of Laurel Fork) headwaters at 37°19′17″N 83°11′18″W﻿ / ﻿37.32133°N 83.18834°W﻿ / 37.32133; -83.18834﻿ (Laurel Fork headwaters)
The Ten, Fifteen, and Sixteen Mile Creeks are straightforwardly named for their distances upstream from Lost Creek mouth, a common naming convention in Kentucky.

### in Perry County

Lost Creek has had two post offices in the parts of its watershed that are in Perry County.
Dice post office was authorized by William Campbell on 1903-05-09, but not established as the authorization was rescinded two months later. It was located near to the mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek. The local folklore is that it was named for someone named Dice, Dicie, or Dicey; although one recorded hypothesis that it was named for a Dicie Campbell, born in 1903, is clearly erroneous.
It was actually established on 1908-12-26 by postmaster Matt Combs, but only lasted until the middle of May 1911. It was established on 1923-02-15 by postmaster Andrew Jones, by which point there was a small village at Sixteen Mile Creek, but closed again in November 1936. It was established for a third time on 1942-08-13. It still exists today.
The Engle post office was established on 1959-03-07 by James B. Engle with his wife Frankie as the postmaster. Engle had originally wanted the name Oliver but that was already in use elsewhere in Breathitt. It started out on the Rock House Fork of Ten Mile Creek, moving 1 mile (1.6 km) along the creek to the Hollybush Branch of Ten Mile in 1938. It closed in 1980.

### in Breathitt County
#### General

The Ned post office was established on 1886-02-26 by postmaster Jeremiah Combs. Popular folklore is that it was named for Edward P. "Ned" Turner, his son-in-law who married Mary Elizabeth Combs, but at the time Edward was only 12, unmarried (the marriage being in 1891) and still living with his family on Middle Fork. It is more probable that Combs named it for his neighbour, Edward "Ned" Sizemore.
The post office was at Cockerell's Fork, and a village including two mills and three general stores (including Combs's) grew up in the 1890s. The post office was taken over by Jeremiah's son John W. Combs who moved it 0.5 miles (0.80 km) upstream to the mouth of minor tributary Perkin's Branch. When it closed in 1984 it had been re-located back to Cockrell's Fork.
The Leatherwood post office was established on 1913-06-18 by postmaster Lewis Watts. It closed in April 1919, to be re-established sometime in the winter of 1934–1935. It was renamed Watts after the Watts family in 1949, although its environs remained known as Leatherwood. It remained open as a rural branch office from 1965 to 1973.
In 1910 L. H. Noble had a mine and a house at Leatherwood Branch, owning the land there. There was a Noble farm on a minor fork of Cockerell's Fork. (See Rowdy and Stacy for the adjacent Noble Fork of Troublesome Creek.) Green Noble had a mine at Low Gap Branch.
John Collingsworth had a mine on Collins Branch. Mahlon Jones had a mine in 1918 on Will Branch, and owned land on Low Gap Branch.

#### Lost Creek post office in Troublesome village

The Lost Creek post office was established on 1848-10-11 by postmaster Joseph B. Haddix. The village that grew around it in the 1880s was known as Troublesome, and included general stores (Day's and Sallee's) and a steam-powered saw and grist mill owned by a later postmaster named F. M. Day. The post office still exists today, and has ZIP code 41348.

## Climate

Many homes along the Creek were destroyed in a flash-flood that hit Troublesome Creek and its tributaries in July 2022.