Seattle Streams – Pt. 2

Here’s part 2 of my Seattle Streams posting. Please do let me know if you find errors or want to help create a better map of Seattle streams.
Here’s a link to Part 1 of my Seattle Streams posts.
Here’s a link to Part 3.

West Central Streams
18. Mahteen – Queen Anne – Seattle Public Utility employees found a sign near the creek when doing work at the waterway. Name may be a corruption of a local Native American word.

19. Lawton – East side of Magnolia – Named after the nearby Fort Lawton Army Base, now Discovery Park. The base was named after Major General Henry Ware Lawton, who was known for his capture of Chief Geronimo in 1886.

20. Wolfe – When the organization Heron Habitat Helpers started asking neighbors in 2001 for a name of the creek, which flows into Salmon Bay, they were told it was known as Wolfe Creek. (Correspondence with Donna Kostka, co-founder of HHH.) Apparently, though, there were two creeks with similar names in Magnolia. Both flowed out of the bog that was formerly in Pleasant Valley. According to articles in the Seattle Times in 1911 (May 6) and 1912 (Nov. 15), Wolf Creek flowed south from the valley and drained into Elliott Bay. By 1946, the name had changed to Wolfe Creek (Seattle Times, April 7, 1946). Why there were two creeks with slightly different or the same name flowing in opposite directions from the same source is unclear.

21. Scheuerman – Discovery Park – In 1860, Christian Scheuerman homesteaded 160 acres in the Interbay area. He built the Scheuerman Block building at First and Cherry. When he died in 1907, he left an estate valued at $500,000. (Seattle Times, January 28, 1907)

22. Owl’s – Discovery Park – Unknown origin, though it seems logical to assume that some sort of owl was seen in the vicinity.

Ross Creek – Formerly the creek that ran from Lake Union to Salmon Bay, now the site of Lake Washington Ship Canal – John and Mary Jane Ross homesteaded the area in the late 1850s. He was a millwright and farmer. Eventually at least eleven families settled near by and the area became known as Ross. ( Historic Resources Survey Report: Fremont Neighborhood Residential Buildings)

East Central Streams
27. Washington Park (Arboretum) – Creek running through Washington Park Arboretum. Named for park.

28-30. Interlaken – Flows in park of same name – Interlaken has been around since at least 1905, though it is not known when the name was applied to creek. (Sherwood Files, Seattle Parks Department)

31. Madrona – Named for park, which was named in the early 1890s for a “few little (Madrona) sprouts” by J.E. Ayer, an early developer of the area. (Sherwood Files, Seattle Parks Department)

33. Frink – Flows into Lake Washington – John M. Frink arrived in Seattle 1874 and soon formed Washington Iron Works. In October 1906, he and his wife, Abbie, donated the land that became Frink Park to the city. At the time he was on the Board of Park Commissioners.

West Central and East Central Streams
West Central and East Central Streams

One thought on “Seattle Streams – Pt. 2”

  1. Regarding Wolfe Creek, Donna Kostka sent me the following note. David, I’ve always considered the Wolfe Creek in Magnolia to be one creek, both flowing north and south. Obviously Pleasant Valley was the high point and the bog area between the 2 bluffs of Magnolia. So the water ran downhill, probably fed by seeps, too, in both directions. You do not show the southbound Wolfe Creek on your map. It flowed out of Pleasant Valley, and mostly down what became 31st Ave. There is a big canyon there and at the end of it a “street end” where drain pipes empty into Elliot Bay. Donna

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