Skagit County Public Utility District 1 Judy Reservoir

Skagit County Public Utility District 1 Judy Reservoir Municipal Water Report Info
Historic Silverdale was initially called Dickeyville, established with a Post Office in 1889. This name didn't last. The area isn't known by its original Suquamish name either, Sa'qad, meaning "to skewer it" - referencing fishing activities at Clear Creek's mouth. The earliest remaining name, Dyes Inlet, comes from the ship's taxidermist on the 1841 Wilkes expedition. When "Goldendale" was proposed to replace Dickeyville in 1890, residents discovered it was already taken. Following the precious metals theme, they settled on "Silverdale."

Between the 1850s and 1880s, logging dominated the regional economy, beginning along the Tracyton shoreline and expanding northward into Clear Creek Valley. This industry provided economic stability and cleared land for settlers to establish properties and farms. By the 1880s, agriculture had become established in the area, eventually leading to the Washington Co-operation, an egg cooperative that distributed locally-produced eggs nationwide. In 1930 alone, they shipped 48,500 cases of eggs.

On December 13, 1929, Silverdale Water District formed to provide water services to what is now called "Old Town Silverdale." Within its first year, the District purchased the privately-owned water system serving Silverdale for $750, secured water rights, constructed an earth and timber dam on Woods Creek, and installed two miles of wooden water main from the dam to Silverdale. Today's Silverdale Water District utilizes advanced telemetry systems that monitor all aspects of water distribution, including wells, pumps, and reservoir levels.

Steamboats played a crucial role in the area's development. Indeed, without access to marine waterways, early Silverdale might not have existed. As early as the 1850s, before roads and bridges, shallow-draft paddlewheelers and wooden-hulled steamboats began replacing rowboats and Native canoes as primary freight carriers on the Sound. For over 150 years, people have brought their aspirations to this fertile land at the head of Dyes Inlet, and for nearly 90 of those years, the Silverdale Water District has been anticipating and meeting community water needs, providing water for yesterday, today, and tomorrow.