Saltwater Creek is situated about eight miles from Kaiapoi, on the North Road, and twenty-two miles from Christchurch. The settlement was a busy place in the early days, when all the traffic was conducted by coaches and waggons. However, the opening of the railway to Sefton, some three miles distant, caused the business people to transfer their shops to that place. Saltwater Creek was also a port, at which, formerly, small vessels loaded and discharged cargo. There is a public school at the settlement, the postal business of which is transacted by the schoolmaster. Saltwater Creek is in the Kowai riding of the county of Ashley, and it has a population of about ninety.

The Post Office, Saltwater Creek, has been established for many years. It is said that the first mails were carried on bullock-drays from Kaiapoi. Mails are now received and despatched daily. Mrs Dickie is postmistress.

The Public School at Saltwater Creek was established about 1866. It is built of wood and iron, and contains a class room and a large porch. The school ground is about an acre in extent, and a teacher's residence, of about five rooms, adjoins the school, which has accommodation for ninety pupils. There are twenty-nine names on the roll, and the average attendance, in the first quarter of 1902, was twenty-four.