Fish returning to Piper's Creek, circa 1996
A public waterworks was created by City Charter Amendment in 1875. However, Seattle was served primarily by small private water companies for the next decade and a half. Following the Great Fire of 1889, citizens voted to fund creation of a municipally owned water system. The City purchased the private systems, and since 1891, has owned and operated a municipal water system. The City began developing the Cedar River Watershed and contracting with outside communities (such as Ballard and Renton) for the sale and provision of water to those communities. The system was administered by the Superintendent of Water under the auspices of the Board of Public Works. In 1905 the Department of Lighting and Water Works was created. Five years later, the Water Department became a separate entity. In 1952, development of the Tolt River as a secondary water source was recommended; this development took place in the 1960s. In 1997 the Water Department was consolidated with the utilities of the Engineering Department to form Seattle Public Utilities.
During the 1990s, biologists at the Seattle Water Department undertook the photo-documentation of Seattle's Creeks. Represented in this collection of 10 binders are North Seattle Creeks such as Thornton Creek located in the Lake City neighborhood, and Venema and Piper's creeks located in Carkeek Park. South End and Central Seattle creeks such as Taylor, Fauntleroy, and Lowman's creeks are also represented. This collection is an in depth look at subjects concerning Seattle's numerous watersheds such as erosion, water quality, drainage, construction, the state of tributaries and detention ponds, dams, bridges, and culverts. Also, this collection offers a look at creek maintenance, slide damage, equipment, soil testing, and other activities undertaken by the utility department to keep Seattle's watershed functioning and serving the citizens of the city.
Records are open to the public.
[Title of image, date. Item number.] Seattle Water Department Creek Photographs and Slides , Record Series 2613-27. Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection. These images form a discrete series within the larger institutional photograph collection. This inclusion in the latter is reflected by the first container of this series being number 250.
Longfellow, Thornton, Piper's, and Venema creeks, Lake Washington, fish, water monitoring, drainage, construction, erosion control, education.
Fauntleroy, Lowman's, Puget Ridge, Schmitz, and Taylor creeks, 46th Ave SW culvert, Duwamish River, Me-Kwo-Mooks Park, South Seattle Community College, detention ponds, landslides, wetlands, erosion.
Piper's, Thornton, Ravenna, and Willow creeks, Meadowbrook Pond, Burlington Northern Railroad, Inverness Ravines, Lake City Way, Nathan Hale High School, Sand Point Golf Course, Shilshole.
Thornton and Victory creeks, Lake City Way, Nathan Hale High School, Sand Point, bridges, culverts, erosion, sludge, erosion.
Ashworth Pond, Duwamish River, West Seattle, 47th Street, asphalt & paving, dredging, erosion control, pumps, repairs, slide damage, soil testing, drainage, flow meters, maintenance.
Little Soos, Pigeon, and Thornton creeks, Cedar River, Everett, Kent, detention ponds, drainage, heavy equipment, pipes, salmon, wetlands.
Piper's, Muhlendorf, and Venema creeks, Viewland School, caves, ponds, salmon, wetlands, backyards, erosion control.
Piper's, Taylor, Schmitz Park, and Longfellow creeks, bridges, erosion, detention ponds, debris, culverts.