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157 stories matching waterway
- Mapping the Waterfront: The Battle for Seattle's Harbors
A critical report by the Chamber of Commerce warns that without a proactive plan for public waterways, the city's future commerce will be throttled by legal gridlock.
- The $7 Million Gamble to Dig Seattle’s Canal
St. Louis capitalists arrive with plans for the Lake Washington canal and tide-flat fill, promising a transformed city—if Seattle secures the rights-of-way.
- Tacoma Fights the Railroad for Its Own Waterfront
At a state land commission hearing, city officials and citizens demand a wider public harbor line to keep the Northern Pacific and Tacoma Land Company from controlling the waterway.
- The Machine That Would Make Land: Dredging of the Tide Flats Begins
Surveyors break ground this morning on the bulkhead along Railroad Avenue, the first step in the Seattle and Lake Washington Waterway Company's scheme to fill the tide flats and carve an east waterway.
- Puget Sound Iron and Steel Works to Relocate
The railway expansion forces a major industrial relocation near the city waterway.
- Drafting the Future of the Duwamish
Prominent citizens and engineers gathered at the Chamber of Commerce to debate the future of Seattle's tide flats, laying the groundwork for the modern industrial harbor.
- State Supreme Court Upholds Lake Washington Canal Contract, Clearing the Way for Tide-Land Transformation
The Washington Supreme Court rules that the Lake Washington Waterway Company's contract to dig a canal and fill tide lands is constitutional, rejecting a landowner's challenge and affirming the state's power to remake the waterfront.
- Olympia Insists on a Harbor Line Big Enough for Its Future
After a correspondent misreports local opinion, Olympians say they back Capt. Symons' harbor plan—but want the state to extend a broad waterway all the way to Fourth Street.
- The State Draws a Line Along Seattle’s Waterfront
In 1896, Olympia fixed the harbor boundary from West Seattle to Meadow Point, mapped new Duwamish and Salmon Bay waterways, and cleared the way to sell tide lands.
- Seattle Wagers Half a Million on a Canal — and a Fortune on Mud
Hoping to unlock $2 million in St. Louis money, the city scrambles for a $500,000 subsidy for the Lake Washington waterway — with the dredged earth destined to turn Elliott Bay's tide flats into gold.
- The $3 Million Scheme to Turn Seattle's Tide Flats into Dry Land
A private company plans to dredge the Duwamish and fill Elliott Bay's mudflats — paid not in cash but in land and liens — while St. Louis money waits to see the ground before it bets.
- Seattle Asks Congress for $200,000 Lake Washington Canal
Seattle city officials formally lobby Congress for the massive canal and waterway project linking the harbor to the inland lakes.
- San Francisco Capitalists Plan a New Waterway at Smith's Cove
A newly incorporated dredging company asks the state for the right to dig out and fill Seattle's northern tide flats, promising wharves, railroad yards and mills.
- Stolen Automobile Found Burned Near Waterway
A Ford runabout stolen from a local garage was discovered as a charred wreck on the city waterfront.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- The Dirt Will Fly: Seattle's Tide Flats Get a Date With the Dredge
A company backed by Eastern money says filling the Duwamish tide flats and excavating the waterway will begin within six weeks—if the canal right-of-way can be secured.
- Olympia’s Fight for a Deep-Water Harbor
Citizens tell the harbor-line commissioners to claim Budd Inlet’s tide flats for public wharves—not a narrow waterway that would hand the waterfront to private owners.
- Pushing for the Ship Canal
Senator Watson Squire proposes an amendment to the river and harbor bill to fund the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
- Dredging Up the Past in the City Waterway
Human remains and a rusted knife are unearthed from the Tacoma waterfront, likely belonging to a sailor from a ship that capsized years prior.
- Seattle’s Tide-Flats Canal Clears the Court
The state Supreme Court upholds the Seattle Lake Washington Waterway Company’s contracts, leaving only a $500,000 subsidy before dredging begins.
- Seattle Bets $7 Million on a Canal Through the Tide Flats
St. Louis capitalists will dredge a waterway from Lake Washington to the Sound and fill the flats with new ground — if the subsidies come through. The paper calls it the making of the city's commercial supremacy.
- The Columbia River Finally Opens to Navigation
Steamers Teal and Empire meet in the new waterway basin, signaling a new era for Kennewick trade.
- The Struggle for an American Canal
A 1885 editorial dissecting the political tensions of the era and the push for an American-controlled interoceanic waterway.
- The Canal That Would Invent South Seattle
At meetings in Georgetown and River Park, property owners pledged land, cash, and labor to a waterway scheme they promised would drain the Duwamish and turn tide flats into gold.
- A Desperate Pact at the East Waterway
A tragic attempt at a double suicide on the Seattle waterfront leaves one woman rescued and another missing.