Carkeek Park is an urban oasis with a salt water beach, a salmon bearing stream, wetlands, forest, picnic tables, play areas, and miles of trails. The land, once occupied by early Salish peoples, was known as K'aalab, or "leave it alone," by the Shilshole band of the Duwamish. By the 1920s, the park's forests had been cut and the remaining land was left as meadows or used for dairy farming. Erosion and sewage polluted the creek, sickened homesteaders downstream, and exterminated the Piper's Creek salmon population. The Piper family sold their property to Morgan J. Carkeek, who donated it to the city as part of a land exchange. In 1929, this section of the Piper's Creek watershed was dedicated as Carkeek Park.