The $100,000 Gamble on a Seattle Ship Canal
A federal river-and-harbor bill would set aside money for locks linking Puget Sound to Lake Union and Lake Washington—if Seattle's right-of-way and liability problems could be solved first.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The river and harbor bill, as passed by the Senate and now in conference committee, carries larger appropriations for the state of Washington than the House version did. For Oregon it adds $43,000, and it adds money for the improvement of the Columbia River, which is charged to both states. The Columbia sum includes $338,150 to complete the jetties at the river's mouth, replacing the House's $180,000 for continuing the work. It also includes $250,000 to begin a boat railway from The Dalles to Celilo, a project estimated to cost $2,584,467; the Secretary of War is directed to use as much of the first appropriation as necessary to acquire a right-of-way and terminal facilities. Another $5,900 is added for the Upper Columbia and Snake rivers, and $50,000 for the Lower Columbia, to be spent anywhere between Portland and the sea to keep a channel deep enough for sea-going vessels at all seasons.
For Washington proper, Senator Squire secured additional appropriations for nearly every authorized improvement. Gray's Harbor and the Chehalis River remain at the House figure, but the Secretary of War is directed to survey the outer harbor and bar entrance and estimate the cost of improving its channels, with no limit on the cost of the survey. The Senate bill increased the House sums for the Lake Washington canal, Olympia harbor, Snohomish slough, Willapa harbor, Gray's Harbor, a snagboat in Puget Sound tributaries and the Cowlitz River; an appropriation for Everett harbor was secured on the Senate floor after the commerce committee refused to add it.
The Lake Washington canal paragraph reads: “For dredging Salmon Bay and the improvement of the waterway connecting the waters of Puget Sound at Salmon Bay with Lakes Union and Washington, by enlarging the said waterway into a ship canal, with the necessary locks and appliances in connection therewith, $100,000; provided, that no part of said amount shall be expended in the improvement of the waterway connecting the waters of Puget Sound with Lakes Union and Washington until the entire right-of-way and a release from all liability to adjacent property owners have been secured to the United States free of cost and to the satisfaction of the Secretary of War.”
“For dredging Salmon Bay and the improvement of the waterway connecting the waters of Puget Sound at Salmon Bay with Lakes Union and Washington, by enlarging the said waterway into a ship canal, with the necessary locks and appliances in connection therewith, $100,000.”
The Lake Washington Ship Canal finally opened in 1917, with the Ballard Locks becoming one of Seattle's defining pieces of infrastructure. The 1894 provision's insistence on free right-of-way and release from liability anticipates today's fights over who bears the cost of major public works and how waterfront access is secured.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.