Whatcom Creek is a waterway in Bellingham,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, United States. Approximately long, it drains

Lake Whatcom Lake Whatcom (from the Lummi word for "loud water") is located in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. It is the drinking water source for approximately 85,000 residents in the city of Bellingham as well as Whatcom County. It is approxima ...

through Whatcom Falls Park and through the city of Bellingham to

Bellingham Bay Bellingham Bay is a bay of the Salish Sea located in Washington State in the United States. It is separated from the Strait of Georgia on the west by the Lummi Peninsula, Portage Island, and Lummi Island. It is bordered on the east by Bellingh ...

. The creek starts at the control dam for

, in Whatcom Falls Park, where the creek goes over many falls, from about to about 80 feet above sea level. It flows across a short plain to downtown Bellingham and over the falls where the first

lumber mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

that was powered by the falls was built in 1854. When two men, Henry Roeder and Mr. Peabody, went looking for a falls to power a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

back in the early 1850s, they learned of a creek up north that the Indians called Whatcom. In the local lingo this meant "noisy waters" by some accounts. The men canoed to Bellingham Bay and found a fairly large creek tumbling over a 35-foot fall and founded their mill. This was the start of the city of Bellingham. The creek has a small fishery, with

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera ''Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmonid ...

and

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus ''Oncorhynchus' ...

, but only minors are allowed to fish above the falls. During the fall, a large group of people fish below the falls, and large salmon can be spotted jumping the falls.

Olympic pipeline explosion

On June 10, 1999, a

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic com ...

pipeline operated by Olympic Pipe Line Company that passes over Whatcom Creek split a seam and dumped about 277,000

gallon The gallon is a unit of volume in imperial units and United States customary units. Three different versions are in current use: *the imperial gallon (imp gal), defined as , which is or was used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Austra ...

s into the creek, which then exploded. Before the explosion, an 18-year-old who was fly fishing on the creek was overcome with the noxious fumes and drowned. Minutes after the young man drowned, two 10-year-olds were caught in the explosion of the gasoline. Both boys died from severe burns the following day. After the fire, the Olympic Pipe Line Company pleaded guilty to a felony and paid $112 million in fines.

Olympic pipeline explosion

Course

References

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