Seattle's waterfront
By: Joy Keniston-Longrie
Series: Images of America
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Charleston, South Carolina
Language: eng
Number of pages: 127
ISBN-13: 9781467130523
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: Waterfronts; Pictorial works; History; Indians of North America; Coastal engineering; Economic development
Description: Seattle's waterfront has served as a central hub for people, transportation, and commerce since time immemorial. A low natural shoreline provided the Duwamish-Suquamish people with excellent canoe access to permanent villages and seasonal fishing camps. High bluffs served as a sacred place for tribal members final journey to the spirit world. When the first settlers arrived in the 1850s, Seattle's shoreline began to change drastically. Emerald hills covered with dense forests were logged for timber to make way for the new city. As time passed, Seattle constructed a log seawall, wooden sidewalks, wharfs, buildings, streets, railroad trestles, and eventually, a massive concrete viaduct over the original aquatic lands, changing the natural environment to a built environment. Today, Seattle's shoreline continues to change as the city demolishes the viaduct, rebuilds the seawall, and creates an inviting new waterfront that all will enjoy for generations to come.
Table of contents: title: The Whulge -- Pioneer days -- Sails and rails -- Environmental landscape change -- Working waterfront -- Seattle's seawall -- Alaskan Way Viaduct -- World's largest bored tunnel -- Visions of 2020 and beyond.