According to Stansbury’s 1852 map, some indigenous tribes referred to Big Cottonwood Creek as we-en-de-quint. The Goshute tribe named the creek, pi’a-bai-gwi-ci, meaning “big stream” [01]. Colonial settlers changed the name to reflect the “bigness” of canyon width and the cottonwood groves along its banks.
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.
The creek is one of four protected watersheds in Salt Lake County. It provides the largest source of drinking water to Salt Lake City. The water treatment plant diversion seasonally dewaters four miles between the canyon mouth and Cottonwood Lane. To satisfy water rights, Utah Lake water is pumped into the creek from April to October. This has degraded water quality and the riparian ecosystem.
