Lake Washington Ship Canal
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Chittenden Locks and Lake Washington Ship Canal
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| Location | Salmon Bay, Seattle |
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| Built | 1911–1934 |
| Architect | Bebb and Gould, others |
| Architectural style | Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Other |
| NRHP Reference # | 78002751 |
| Added to NRHP | December 14, 1978 |
| 1854 | Thomas Mercer proposes connecting lakes Union Washington to Puget Sound |
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| 1860 | Landowner Harvey L. Pike tries to dig a ditch by himself, to transport logs between Portage Bay and Union Bay |
| 1871 | Pike, Thomas Burke and Daniel Gilman incorporate the Lake Washington Canal Company, which builds tramway, not canal October Army recommends Naval base on Lake Washington with northern canal to Elliott Bay |
| 1883 | David Denny and Burke hire Chinese laborers to dig Portage Canal, a 16-foot (4.9 m) channel with a lock for floating logs |
| 1880s | Canal is dug from Lake Union to Salmon Bay, with a wooden lock near Fremont |
| 1893 | Eugene Semple attempts to build a canal across the southern end of Beacon Hill and fill the south Elliott Bay tidelands; what is Harbor Island today |
| 1900 | State Legislature endorses northern route, through Lake Union |
| 1901 | Due to delays, planned freshwater Navy base on Lake Washington scrapped in favor of Navy Yard in Bremerton |
| 1902 | Corps of Engineers rejects Semple's Canal route. Rivers and Harbors Act appropriates funds and assigns 3 officers to study possible canal in Seattle |
| 1904 | After financing dries up and Semple resigns, work on Beacon Hill canal stops, though filled tidelands are useful |
| 1906 | Developer James A. Moore gets Congressional approval for private canal project from Salmon Bay to Shilshole Bay April Hiram M. Chittenden is new Corps of Engineers Seattle District Commander; supports Moore's canal route but criticizes his plans as too modest and underfunded |
| 1908 | Chittenden retires but continues to lobby Congress for Ballard Locks |
| 1910 | Congress appropriates $2,275,000 for locks; King County is responsible for rest of canal |
| 1911 | November 10 construction of Locks begins |
| 1912 | July Locks close, turning Salmon Bay freshwater |
| 1916 | Temporary dam at Montlake is breached |
| 1917 | May 8 Government (or Ballard) Locks officially open for boat traffic |
| 1934 | Lake Washington Ship Canal complete |
| 1956 | Government Locks renamed in memory of Chittenden (d. 1917) |
The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the city of Seattle, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately 20-foot (6.1 m) difference in water level between Lake Washington and the sound. The canal runs east–west and connects Union Bay, Lake Union, the Montlake Cut, Portage Bay, the Fremont Cut, Salmon Bay, and Shilshole Bay, with the sound, which empties into the Pacific Ocean.
The ship canal project began in 1911 and was officially completed in 1934. Prior to construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, otherwise known as the Salmon Bay Waterway, water used to exit Lake Washington via the Black River which flowed from the south end of Lake Washington into the Duwamish River.
As early as 1854, there was discussion of building a navigable connection between Lake Washington and Puget Sound for the purpose of transporting logs, milled lumber, and fishing vessels. Thirteen years later, the United States Navy endorsed a canal project, which included a plan for building a naval shipyard on Lake Washington. In 1891 the US Army Corps of Engineers started planning the project. Some preliminary work was begun in 1906, and work began in earnest five years later. The delays in canal planning and construction resulted in the U.S. Navy building the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, which is located across the Sound from Seattle.
For centuries, people had been dragging boats between the lakes, giving names like "carry a canoe" sxWátSadweehL to the crossing points. In 1854 Seattle pioneer Thomas Mercer proposed canals connecting Lake Union and Lake Washington to Puget Sound in a speech at the first Independence Day celebration of the Seattle area's first permanent white settlement, shortly after its founding. Mercer gave the lakes the names they are presently called, over the original Lushootseed names used by the Duwamish, tenas Chuck or XáXu7cHoo ("small great-amount-of-water") for Lake Union and hyas Chuck or Xacuabš ("great-amount-of-water") for Lake Washington. Lake Union was chosen to suggest the future canals merging the waters, and Lake Washington for George Washington.
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