The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-01
LAKES WASHINGTON AND UNION.
Fresh Water Bodies That Combine
Beauty and Utility.


The environment of Seattle is made of
especial interest and beauty by the vicinage
of Lakes Washington and Union. The
former is body OF fresh water of great
depth and from twenty-five to thirty miles
in length and about i've in width. The
latter is in the northern part of the city,
about two miles long (north and south) by
one in width. 1t is connected with the
Sound by a small canal, navigable for logs
and lesser craft. The level of water of
Lake Union is about hfteen feet above the
Sound, and that of Lake Washington nine
teen feet. The canal from the Sound to
Lake Union likewise extends to Lake
Washington.
Lake Union was formerly a very pictur-
esque little body of water, being sur
rounded on three sides by heavy woods
and touched on the fourth (the south) by
the suburbs of Seattle But the advancing
population of the city has stripped it
largely of its wooded shores, which have
been supplanted by dwellings. On the
north are the thriving suburban towns of
Fremont, Edgewater and Latona, and
along the western shore is Ane drive-a
"boulevard,' so called-built on trestle
that reaches from Fremont to the southern
sawmill and furniture factory, and on the
east are number of dwellings on bluff
overlooking and giving very pretty view
of the lake.
East of Lake Union, and separated from
it by an isthmus of less than half mile,
is Lake Washington. The view from the
lake is one of the best on the Sound, and,
indeed, one of the hnest on the Pacihc
'ba tol- 10 NJ Cih Co oh
twenty miles north and south, surrounded
by fringe of magnificent forests. At
calm times these are rejected with charm
ing effect. Mount Baker is visible in the
northeast, and a number of handsome
lake shore residences are in sight both east
and west. The broken line of evergreen
Cascades finally eliminates in the south in
that grandest of all American peaks,
Mount Rainier. The great mountain is
outlined against the sky with an impress
siveness and distinctness that are abso-
lutely startling. To see Mount Rainier
from Lake Washington on clear day is to
behold one OF the most wonderful of Amer
lean scenic attractions.
The utility of Lake Washington does not
lie in its picturesqueness. The adjacency
of a great body of fresh water like this has
commercial advantages and gives the city
adouble water front, the like of which is,
perhaps, possessed by no other city on the
continent. A project for construction of
a ship canal from the sound through to
Lake Union and Lake Washington is on
foot, and will llunquestionably be ultimately
carried out. When it is the lake WILL from
the nature of things, be the scene of great
manufacturing and shipbuilding enter
prises. Fresh water has an advantage
over salt as a site for industries, in the way
of steam making. that is alone sufficient
to induce the location of factories there
The lake has a shore line of nearly 100
miles, and is surrounded by a rich
agricultural and fruit region. A
neet of steamers and sailing
vessels now navigate its waters, which
are entirely free from currents
or obstructions. Since the operation of
cable lines the shores of the lake have be-
come a popular place of. recreation, and
pleasure steamers do a profitable business.
Many suburban homes have been built
here, and several important suburbs have
grown on the eastern shore. 4 summer
hotel has been erected on Mercer island.
The town of Kirkland. at which the great
Kirkland iron works are located, is
thriving young city in embryo.