Coal Creek is a
creek
A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet.
Creek may also refer to:
* Creek people, a former name of Muscogee, Native Americans
* C ...
in
Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French.
Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Bellevue, Queensland
* Bellevue, Western Australia
* Bellevue Hill, New South Wales
Canada
* Bellevue, Alberta
* Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...
,
Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
, United States, on
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
's
Eastside. It is named for the
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
industry prominent in the area in the 19th century. There is a popular trail which parallels the creek, allowing views of defunct coal mining equipment and even some bits of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
sitting on the ground in spots.
The source of Coal Creek is 1,400 feet (425 m) above sea level on
Cougar Mountain
Cougar Mountain is a peak in the Issaquah Alps in King County, Washington. It is part of the highlands in the Eastside suburbs of Seattle, and at it is the lowest and westernmost of the Alps. About two-thirds of Cougar Mountain has experienc ...
. It flows approximately 7 miles (11 km) to the northwest, emptying into
Lake Washington
Lake Washington () is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States.
It is the largest lake in King County, Washington, King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington (state), Was ...
at Newport Shores.
Coal mine
The surveyors Philip H. Lewis and Edwin Richardson first discovered coal along the creek in 1863. This coal was better located for transport to Seattle than the mines further east at
Squak Mountain, and in the 1870s the mining of this coal led to the founding of
Newcastle, Washington
Newcastle is an Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside city in King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 13,017 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
Although Newcastl ...
.
In 1983, the
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is a branch of the United States Department of the Interior. It is the federal agency entrusted with the implementation and enforcement of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamatio ...
reclaimed entries to the mine, and by 1984 fenced off 16 "extremely hazardous" openings, contracting work to permanently seal them by 1986.
In 1987, King County and the City of Bellevue produced a
hydrological model and subsequent
watershed management
Watershed management is the study of the relevant characteristics of a watershed aimed at the sustainable distribution of its resources and the process of creating and implementing plans, programs and projects to sustain and enhance watershed f ...
plan for the creek. The earlier mining activity included mine tailings dumped along the stream bank, creating steep slopes which would collapse and create landslides, contributed to ''"extensive sedimentation problems"'' in Coal Creek. Additionally, it was found that 10% of base flows were from mine tunnels.
As of sampling in 2007, concentrations of
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
,
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...
, and
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, diethylhexyl phthalate, diisooctyl phthalate, DEHP; incorrectly — dioctyl phthalate, DIOP) is an organic compound with the formula C6H4(CO2C8H17)2. DEHP is the most common member of the cl ...
were still higher concentrations than the sediment cleanup objectives set forth in the watershed management plan.
Aquatic life
As part of the Bellevue city
watershed management plan, Coal Creek
salmon escapement is monitored annually. Populations of adult
coho salmon
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon (or "silvers") and is often ...
stock
Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
were re-introduced into the creek in 2014, 2019, and 2021 from the
Issaquah
Issaquah ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 40,051 at the 2020 census. Located in a valley and bisected by Interstate 90, the city is bordered by the Sammamish Plateau to the north and the " Issaquah ...
hatchery, as well as "''9,000 - 13,800 zero age coho into Coal Creek from 1994 - 1997''".
Other species of fish observed include
sockeye salmon
The sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also called red salmon, kokanee salmon, blueback salmon, or simply sockeye, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it. This species is a ...
,
chinook salmon
The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...
,
steelhead
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the Fish migration#Classification, anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout (''O. m. gairdneri'', also called redband steelhead). Steelhead are native to cold-wa ...
, and
trout
Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...
.
See also
*
List of rivers of Washington (state)
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Washington.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin. Respective tributaries are indented under each larger stream's name and are ordered downstream to upstream.
Strait of Georgia ...
References
External links
USGS gage 12119705 Coal Creek USGS Water-Date Report 2008
*
King County Stream Report for Coal Creekand its cite
technical references
Rivers of King County, Washington
Geography of Bellevue, Washington
{{Washington-river-stub