Since time immemorial the lower end of Piute Creek naturally flooded. Where today’s Memorial Park is located there were two channels of the creek. In 1920s, this area was purposely flooded in the winter to allow for ice-skating. With the construction of Lassen High School, fill was brought in to start filling the low lying bottom areas near the creek. As more development continued in that area, saw more fill, thus obstructing the natural flow of the creek. When Memorial Park was created in 1947, it eliminated one of the natural channels of the creek.
In 1916 the bridge across Piute Creek on Main Creek was replaced with a culvert. During the winter and spring time. when the water was high debris would find its way down the creek and block the culvert, thus flooding the area of Memorial Park and vicinity. It was not until 1998 that the culvert issue modified and no more flooding.