#1 on Map

Marion Wilcox Case, wife of Des Moines pioneer Rollin A. Case, Jr. and herself a pioneer of the Des Moines area, moved to Des Moines in 1918 and lived there until November, 1993, when she passed away. She made the quilt square depicting the Flume since she was one of the few who remembered when it was operating.

The Flume

"Mr. Engeset, who had come to Des Moines in 1904, bought many acres north of S. 216th St. He built a flume ['an artificial channel, usually an inclined chute or trough, for carrying water to furnish power, transport logs down a mountainside, etc.'] in Des Moines Creek (which ran through his property) and made his own water wheel to run a small mill. From this lumber he built many tomato crates.”

—from One Hundred Years of the “Waterland” Community: A History of Des Moines, Washington