Swamp Creek was central to the
Mount Baker gold rush, which lasted from about 1897 to the mid-1930s. Many tent cities popped up along the creek, including Union City at the headwaters, and
Gold Hill and Trail City near its confluence with the Nooksack, and by 1898, so many prospectors and miners lived in the area that a new
voting precinct was created, called the Swamp Creek precinct.
Hydropower has been an interest on Swamp Creek since the 1940s. In 1941, a paper on water utilization in the Nooksack River was published by the
United States Geological Survey, in which was mentioned the possibility for hydropower on Swamp Creek. On April 29, 1981, Stephen J. Gaber filed an application for a preliminary permit for a project to be called the Swamp Creek Hydroelectric Project. The proposal included three rock and earth fill
diversion dams feeding a
penstock, leading into a powerhouse with a total capacity of 3.2
megawatts. Gaber estimated the project would produce an annual . On October 15, 2010, another application for a preliminary permit was filed, by Clean River Power, LLC. This new project would include a , concrete
diversion dam, and a
penstock, leading into a powerhouse with a total capacity of 3.5 megawatts, producing an estimated annual . In 2011, a coalition of environmental groups filed a formal objection in opposition to the hydroelectric project. no dams have been built. ==References==