Larry, Just a quick note re: the suggestion that you dam up your creek! Something to consider could be the fish that might normally use the creek and be killed or not be given the chance to reproduce from a dam such as this, also the downstream neighbours might take exception to it also. Most jurisdictions take the eminently civilized view that a creek is not owned by anyone, but is a resource that could be used in various ways by all. Usually there is an agency regulating these things. I'm not one to promote government agencies, I think they often go waaaay beyond common sense in regulating things such as this, but then again so do some people!
It might be nice to keep a creek such as this in its natural state. There are power generating gizmos that use the flow of a stream to generate the power without building up a head. They are usually much less intrusive and damaging to the environment that dumping a bunch of fill into it, or dredging it up to make a dam, thus creating silting and sedimentation that could/would kill many denizens of the deep, some of whom might be crucial to the health of the creek for years to come.
Don't take everyone's advice without a grain of salt, including mine.
Stan