Big Cottonwood Creek
Authored by Jess Lofland
According to Captain Stansbury’s 1852 map, some indigenous tribes referred to Big Cottonwood Creek as we-en-de-quint [01]. The Goshute tribe named the creek, pi'a-bai-gwi-ci, meaning “big stream” [02]. Colonial settlers changed the name to reflect the “bigness” of canyon width and the cottonwood groves along its banks [03].
Industry has impacted the canyon--timber most severely. The first sawmills were built at the canyon mouth in the 1850s. Over the decades, mills moved further up the watershed as the forest down canyon was decimated [04]. Among other uses, timber was shaped into the railroad ties that eventually connected the United States at Promontory Point in 1869 [05].
The Stairs Station Hydroelectric Power Plant was built in 1895, near Stairs Gulch. It supplied all of Salt Lake City’s electricity needs, powering 145 miles of trolley lines [06]. At one point, it was the third largest power plant in the nation [07]. Recreational demands and development continue to impact the canyon.
The creek is one of four protected watersheds in Salt Lake County. It provides the largest source of drinking water to Salt Lake City, which owns 99% of the water rights. The water treatment plant diversion seasonally dewaters four creek miles between the canyon mouth and Cottonwood Lane. To satisfy water rights, Utah Lake water is pumped into the creek between April and October. This has seriously degraded water quality and the riparian ecosystem [08].
Facts
Native Name: We-en-de-quint or pi'a-bai-gwi-ci [Goshute]
Watershed Size: 81.6 square miles
Total Stream Length: 25.3 miles
Buried: 0.4 miles
Impaired: 24.9 miles
Water Quality Impairments: Cadmium, copper, E. coli, and degraded aquatic habitat condition (observed-to-expected bioassessments)
Average Peak Flow: 350 cubic feet per second
Average Low Flow: 31 cubic feet per second
Cities: Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Millcreek, and Murray
Population Count (2020): 84,238
Median Age (2020): 36
Diversity Index* (2020): 52
Housing Units (2020): 36,923
Owner-Occupied: 47%
Renter-Occupied: 47%
Median Household Income (2020): $60,977
Median Home Value (2020): $371,212
Housing Affordability Index** (2020): 95
My Big Cottonwood Creek
An interactive website to immerse yourself in the Big Cottonwood Creek watershed, and encourage exploration by reporting issues and publishing stories.
Sources
Stansbury, Map of the Great Salt Lake and Adjacent Country in the Territory of Utah (1852).
Chamberlin, Place and Personal Names of the Gosiute Indians of Utah (1913).
Bowman, From Silver to Skis: A History of Alta, Utah, and Little Cottonwood Canyon, 1847-1966 (1967).
Peterson, A History of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest (1980).
United States Forest Service, Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest History & Culture (2021).
Davidson, Whatever happened to... early Salt Lake City trolleys (2016).
Denton, Hidden Water - Salt Lake County Water Drainages (2009).
Salt Lake County, Stream Care Guide (2014).
Seven Canyons Trust, Creek Channel Alignment Data (2018).
Seven Canyons Trust, 100 Years of Daylighting (2014).
Utah Division of Water Quality, Beneficial Uses and Water Quality Assessment Map (2016).
Esri, Forecasts for 2020 and 2025 with converted Census 2000 data into 2010 geography using one-mile buffer to creek (2021).
*Likelihood two persons chosen at random belong to different race or ethnic groups, ranging from 0 (no diversity) to 100 (complete diversity).
**Ratio of median household income to median home value. A value of 100 means a typical family has exactly enough income to quality for a mortgage on a typical home. Above 100, the typical family earns more than enough and, below 100, they do not earn enough.
