Chambers Creek (Washington)

Chambers Creek
Location of the mouth within Washington Show map of Washington (state) Chambers Creek (Washington) (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location
Country	United States
State	Washington
Counties	Pierce
Cities	Lakewood, University Place, Steilacoom
Physical characteristics
Source	Lake Steilacoom
Mouth	Puget Sound
• coordinates	47°11′33″N 122°34′25″W

Chambers Creek is a creek in Washington. It is fed by Lake Steilacoom in Lakewood, Washington.

Name

Chambers Creek was named for Thomas M. Chambers, who settled near Olympia, Washington, in 1846 and later built a sawmill on the creek.[1]

The creek was also known as Steilacoom Creek, for the Coast Salish tribe whose territory on its north side.[2]

History

Abitibi Consolidated Inc. owned a paper mill along the south side of the lower reaches of the creek until 2010.[3] The creek is dammed just upstream from the mill to provide water for the now-defunct mill, which began to be demolished in 2011 after the land was purchased by Tim Ralston.[4]

Much of the lower reaches of Chambers Creek is part of the Chambers Creek Properties, a series of recreational sites owned and operated by Pierce County.

The creek is a popular location for fishing, walking, and skimboarding.

References

1. Meany, Edmond S. (1923). Origin of Washington geographic names. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 42.
2. Indian Claims Commission (1978). Indian Claims Commission Decisions, Volume 11, Part 1. Washington, DC: Native American Rights Fund. pp. 332–33.
3. "More on former Abitibi mill site in Steilacoom | Word on the Street". Archived from the original on 2012-01-13. Retrieved 2014-12-19.
4. "Smurfit-Stone: Frenchtown mill site is clean, safe for development".