Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-09-02
Seattle's Great Ship Canal.

While the great Chicago drainage canal,
which is to turn the waters Of the lakes
into the Mississippi has been attracting
the attention Of the engineers of the
world, says the New York Mail and Ex-
press,a work has been quietly commenced
on the border OF Puget Sound, hardly less
important from a commercial and naval
point of view, which may make Seattle
the Chicago of the Pacific Northwest.
Seattle has topography in many
respects unique among the cities of the
world. 1t Is situated upon the east shore
of the great American Mediterranean, it's
streets rising tier on tier, facing the
sound, and the majestic snow clad Olym-
pics on the western shore. -Four miles
back from the sound is Lake Washington,
q beautiful inland fresh water lake,
twenty miles long, and from three to five
miles wide, lying nearly parallel with the
sound. Already Seattle has reached out
until it covers nearly the whole territory
intervening between the salt water and
the fresh, and a limo of electric cars runs
to Lake Washington, on which many of
the residents of Seattle have built sum-
mer homes.
A ship canal connecting Lake Washing
ton with the sound has been the dream of
Seattle from its infancy. 1t has even been
made the issue of a State campaign, and
for more than forty years the general
government has been recommended to
construct the waterway as the approach
to a splendid inland harbor, where the
nayies Of the world might ride at anchor,
and where the dreaded and destructive
teredo would drop harmlessly from the
hulls, which in salt water are cleaned
only by dry docking. Congress did finally
make an appropriation of S25, 900 for pre-
liminary surveys, but meantime Seattle
and King county impatient of delay,
raised a subsidy of $500, 600, while Eastern
capitalists subscribed 81, 900, 900 for the
great work which has now been actually
commenced.
In front of Seattle is Elliott bay, whore
lies an Immense area of tide flats useless
alike for docks or for building purposes
When the water way was really deter
mined upon, an ingenious engineer figured
out that the material excavated for the
canal would exactly suffice to reclaim
these tide flats and make them available
for commercial purposes. The two enter
prises, therefore, supplement each other
almost perfectly and are being operated
together.
Lake Washington lies sixteen feet
above high tide In Puget sound. The
canal will run through neck of land
10, 225 feet wide, and will be extended
through the flats An additional 10, $50
feet, so that its length from deep water
In the sound to deep water in the lake
will be 20, 7So feet, or 3.93 miles. The
hill section is projected through the high
lands due east Of the flats. 1t plupges
into hill of glacial drift where cut OF
3o8. feet viii be required; then it enters
a valley in which the lowest point will be
81. feet; then Into another hill rising
l41.6 feet above the bed of the canal, and
finally through slough into the lake.
The canal will be eight feet wide on the
bottom and twenty-six feet deep at low
water. Near Elliott bay, on the west,
a lock will be built 400 feet long and so
feet wide
The completion of the canal will open
up to Improvement the entire shore of the
inland lake, while the filing of the tide
Hats will contribute large and convcn
lent acreage for manufactures, for rail
road yards and docks, increasing greatly
the deep water frontage of the CITY. 1t
will furnish safe and accessible fresh
water barbor for war ships, merchant
vessels and steam craft of very descrip-
tion, and will endow the city of Seattle
with facilities for commerce enjoyed by
few of the most favored staports of the
world.