- 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.
- 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.
- 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)
- Lawton – East side of Magnolia – Named after the nearby Fort Lawton Army Base, now Discovery Park.
- 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)
- 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.
- 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)
- 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)
- Washington Park (Arboretum) – Creek running through Washington Park Arboretum. Named for park.
- 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.