The Swamp That Was: How a Drainage Project Threatened to Reclaim King County’s Wetlands

The alluvial soil formed in the single bed of White and Black rivers in this county is mostly a fen that becomes nearly dry in the fall and consequently is of some present utility for pasturage, but during the most of the year is submerged under the overflow waters of the rivers and Lake Washington. The tract includes several thousand acres of land in sections 10, 20, and 31 of Township 24 North, Range 4 East, and if properly drained would constitute one of the most productive districts in the Territory.

Its condition has been an eye-sore to the farmers in the locality ever since the settlement of the country, because, beside lying idle and unproductive, it is a prolific breeder of malaria, mosquitoes, and is a hiding covert for straying cattle, and an obstruction of travel. They have hitherto done nothing towards its improvement, in the hope that the long talked of canal into the Sound and lowering of the lake, which it was hoped would effect its reclamation, would ere long be commenced, and for the further reason that no single settler has been able, unaided, to undertake a scheme of such magnitude.

Two things, however, have transpired which render it an eligible undertaking at the present time. One of these is the fact that the greater part of this tract is much higher than the ordinary level of Lake Washington, into which it has an outlet, and the swampy condition is caused mainly by obstructions to the free off-flow of the water. The other is the act passed by the legislature at their last session of a charter for a similar one in force in New York, which prescribes that ditches for draining lands must be placed and carried through as public enterprise by procedure similar to that prescribed for the laying out or construction of district roads.

In accordance with the provisions of this statute, Mr. Tibbitts and other farmers in the neighborhood have posted legal notices of a petition to present to the County Commissioners at their next session in August, for the authorization of the draining of the tract in question and the appointment of viewers and appraisers. The plan is to run a catchment drain along the bottom of the bluff, past the outlet of the Talbot mine, which will intercept the enormous inflow from the surrounding hills, and to clear out and deepen the obstructed drain slough which runs through the swamp from White into Black river.

We regard this as one of the most practical and promising efforts in the way of the exploitation of our local resources that has been undertaken for some time. It is one in which not only the public health and convenience and the prosperity of the country are concerned, but also an addition of a permanent thousand dollars to the wealth and annual business of the county.