Cattaraugus Creek is a stream, approximately 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 word
Cattaraugus is derived from the
Seneca word
Gah-ta-ra-ke-ras, meaning "stinking shore" or "foul-smelling river bank." This name is a result of the natural gas that oozes from the river mud.