Longfellow Creek is a tributary of the Duwamish River, and Camp Long's Pollywog Pond drains into Longfellow Creek. In the early 1850s, when Euro-American settlers arrived in Seattle, they found about 300 Duwamish Indians camped at the mouth of the river. Arthur Denny and a few pioneers (10 adults and 12 children) that he had led from the Midwest via the Oregon Trail to Portland, arrived on the schooner Exact in 1851. At Alki, where they landed, they met up with David Denny, John Low and Lee Terry. Charles Terry and John Low remained at the original landing spot on Alki, while the other settlers moved on to the east side of Elliot Bay.

At that time, Longfellow Creek was a wilderness described as "a dark, seemingly impenetrable forest, damp with moisture draining from the steep hillsides into the creek, whose waters teemed with fish." Originally, the Duwamish name of the creek was called 'to-AH-wee', meaning trout.

Another settler, John Longfellow, farmed the cove at the mouth of the creek and logged the hills and valley for a cash crop in the late 1800s. The creek was renamed Longfellow Creek after this European settler. Development soon followed with a steel mill opening on the natural tidelands around the mouth of the creek and Puget Mill began cutting of the forest. Development has continued at a steady pace ever since.

So we don't have natural forests anymore. And we continue clearing land, paving roads, building parking lots and driveways, and constructing houses and buildings with large roofs and gutters. This changes the ground's ability to soak up water. Falling rain has fewer places to soak in gradually. Runoff on hard surfaces occurs faster and in greater volumes. Increased stormwater runoff can worsen flooding, erosion, water pollution and can destroy stream habitat.

Longfellow Creek Watershed Council provides leadership in addressing watershed issues, cultivating partnerships, and sponsoring projects and events. They meet on the second Monday of the month at Camp Long. For more information call (206) 615-1443.