OAK CREEK (Nolan County). Oak Creek rises twelve miles south of Sweetwater in central Nolan County (at 32°18' N, 100°23' W) and flows forty miles southeast, through southern Nolan, northeastern Coke, and western Runnels counties. The streambed passes through thinly populated oilfields. It enters Coke County one mile west of Blackwell and becomes a main drainage for Oak Creek Reservoir, two miles south of Blackwell on State Highway 70. After bordering old Fort Chadbourne, the stream crosses into Runnels County and continues south to its mouth on the Colorado River, three miles south of Maverick (at 31°48' N, 100°13' W). Oak Creek contains little surface water. During the 1870s the area surrounding the creek became a popular hunting ground and rendezvous point for buffalo hunters. At the creek's origin the flat terrain with local shallow depressions is surfaced by clay and sandy loam that supports water-tolerant hardwoods, conifers, and grasses. In the lower reaches the terrain is flat to rolling, surfaced with sandy and clay loam that supports hardwoods and grasses.