Silver Creek

A short chronicle

Since the formation of the cindered ridges and glacier coated peaks of Oregon’s High Cascades, snowmelt and rainwater have trickled and seeped fervently downhill forming small brooks of fresh water.  Overtime these well-traveled rivulets of cold clean water slip in and out of the layered basalts and charred cinder cones of Oregon’s ancient and tempestuous volcanic landscape. Here an icy collection of water droplets comes together, as if in opposition to the fire and heat forming factors once experienced by its neighbors, and triumphantly emerges from the lower flanks and foothills to form the head of several small first order streams. Amongst them, three unassuming creeks known as the North Fork, Little North Fork and South Fork of Silver Creek seep from the western toeslopes of Mt. Jefferson and the Douglas-fir dominated Santiam State Forest; springing out from the base of House Mountain just below an area known as Wildcat Ridge. These small mountain becks confined to their tapered rock-walled channels travel downslope; speed depending on the season. Winter rains on snow and spring snowmelt generate wild, care-free and swift waters and when the climate is dry water runs low, lingering more tame and leisurely. As the streams continue to traverse, each channel sliding by each other they leave sinuous trails of varying lengths and depths scattered with waterfalls, step pools, log jams, and eddies until they join together and converge forming the mainstem of Silver Creek.

 

Silver Creek now portlier and more robust as a result of the cooperative efforts upstream descends from the confluence at Silver Creek State Park traveling downslope through several miles of a gently graded canyon and valley complex until it encounters the Silverton Reservoir where it circles the banks, forming a lake and waits for its release.

Once the waters of Silver Creek are allowed to move on it travels through the City of Silverton surging through its hardened channel confined by landscaped streambanks and the brick and mortar of modern day; flowing under bridges until it outpours into the lower alluvial bottomlands of the vast Willamette Valley eagerly poised to join the braided community of rivers, wetlands, agricultural lands and urban development. 

At this point in its journey Silver Creek, now moderately lined with cottonwoods, alders, cedars, and dogwoods starts to slow down as it tries to meander weakly back and forth across the deep silt and sandy loams of Silverton’s farm lands until it joins the sluggish waters of the Pudding River. Finally the remnant waters of Silver Creek, although now comingled with what remains of the all the streams and rivers of western Oregon will find itself hunkering down in the estuaries and sloughs lining the Pacific coast preparing for its journey through the hydrologic cycle all over again.