Bellingham, Washington

Bellingham is the county seat and capital of Whatcom County, the Northwesternmost county in the contiguous 48 states. It is situated around Bellingham Bay, which is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula. It lies west of Mount Baker and Lake Whatcom (from which it gets its drinking water) and Whatcom Creek runs through the center of the city.

The current boundaries of the city have grown to add the former cities of Fairhaven (now home to the southern terminus of the Alaska Marine Highway System), New Whatcom, and several others.

It is also home to Western Washington University.

The foothills around Bellingham were clearcut after the great San Francisco earthquake to provide the lumber for the rebuilding of San Francisco.

In June of 1999, the Olympic Pipeline, which carries gasoline and jet fuel from refineries near Ferndale to the Sea-Tac airport, ruptured in Bellingham in the Whatcom Falls Park near Whatcom Creek, leaking about 1 million gallons of gasoline into the creek. The vapor layer from this overcame an 18 year old young man who was fishing in the creek, and two younger boys who were playing with fireworks ignited the vapor, setting off an explosion that burned over a mile of the creek bed. Due to road closers and evacuations around the creek, although some buildings were destroyed, there were no further fatalities than these three (the younger boys died the next day from extensive burns over most of their bodies). At this writing, both criminal and civil cases are pending on this matter.