Whatcom Creek ( North Straits Salish: ''X̌’wótqwem'' /χˈʔwotqəm/) is a waterway in Bellingham, Washington, United States. Approximately long, it drains Lake Whatcom through Whatcom Falls Park and through the city of Bellingham to Bellingham Bay. The creek starts at the control dam for Lake Whatcom, 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 (dimens ...

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 logging, 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 ...

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 (: 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 ...

and

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

, 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 ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

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 British imperial units and United States customary units. The imperial gallon (imp gal) is defined as , and is or was used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including Ireland, Canada, Australia ...

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

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