User:Glocke380/sandbox

Whatcom Creek is a waterway in ||Bellingham||, ||Washington||. Approximately 4 miles long that drains ||Lake Whatcom|| through ||Whatcom Falls Park|| and through the city of Bellingham to ||Bellingham Bay||. It starts at the dam near the fish hatchery in Whatcom Falls Park where the creek goes over many falls, (hence the name) from about 350 feet to about 80 feet above sea level across a short plain to downtown Bellingham and down the creek over the falls where the first lumber mill was powered built. When 2 men went looking for a falls to power a saw mill back in the early 1850's, some people told them of a creek up north, Indians called it Whatcom, which in the local lingo meant "noisy waters" by some accounts. This sounded good so the men canoed up north to Bellingham Bay and found a fairly large creek tumbling over a 35 foot fall and founded they're mill there. This was the start of the city of Bellingham, Wa. The creek has a small fishery, with trout and salmon, but only minors are allowed to fish above the falls. But during the fall a large group of people can be seen fishing below the falls, and some large salmon can be spotted jumping the falls. On June 5, 1999, for a reason not ever specified, a gasoline pipeline that passes over Whatcom creek over pressured and split a seam and dumped some 117,000 gallons of gasoline into the creek. When a a spark was added, by a couple of kids playing with fireworks, the gasoline exploded, killing the two kids and another teenager that was walking the creek. Since that time the pipeline company was fined and donated moneys to restore and improve the waterway and surrounding area.