Waddell, William

William Waddell was a Kentuckian who arrived in Santa Cruz County in 1851. In the succeeding years, Waddell built four sawmills in four different lumbering areas. The last of these was built in 1861, along with a wharf, near what is today the northern boundary of the county, on the creek that commemorates his name. At one time there was a community along the creek named Waddell, but it disappeared with the decline of the timber industry, as did so many other small timber-related settlements. Today we know Waddell Creek as a good place for wind-surfing, bird-watching and hiking.