Christmas Creek

Today is the 91st anniversary of the Boxley Burst. Boxley Creek is a small stream that is fed by Rattlesnake Lake via glacial moraine, it runs a couple miles down to the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River. Normally it is a small stream, but back in December of 1918, a series of events changed the creek into a 150 foot wide raging river of debris. In October 1918, the Cedar Falls Dam had been completed on the Cedar River, through the fall the water rose behind the dam and turn the water also started to rise in Rattlesnake Lake. Then in December it started raining heavily, which saturated the hillside above Boxely Creek. By December 23 there was just too much water and hillside gave way and when it did it sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of water rock down to the valley below. In its path was the town of Edgewick, which was completely destroyed by burst in the dark of night. But nobody died, thanks too Charles Moore the night watchman, you see Charles noticed that the water in the creek was rising a foot or two a minute and realized something bad was happening. Charles then tied down the mill's whistle and then went door to door waking the town's folk. All 60 residents managed to get to higher ground, thanks to Charles. If you spend some time in North Bend, especially during the Holiday season, you will see the name Christmas Creek around, some locals refer to Boxley as Christmas Creek because of the happens of December 23, 1918.

Tonight a couple photos of Boxley Creek from near the burst, if you ever get the chance go to the Cedar River Watersheld Education Center and check out the photos of aftermath of the burst. Sort of looks Mt. St. Helensque. Read more here: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?displaypage=output.cfm&file_Id=2426

Dan