The $7 Million Gamble to Dig Seattle’s Canal

St. Louis, Mo., capitalists arrived in the city yesterday evening for the purpose of consulting with the Seattle & Lake Washington Waterway Company with reference to the excavation of the waterways and construction of the canal from the head of the bay to Lake Washington, and the filling in of the tide lands lying south of the city.

In an interview, Mr. Ames stated that a committee of St. Louis capitalists who are interested in this enterprise, together with their engineer and attorney, had completed reports with reference to the proposition, which reports were exhaustive and satisfactory, and that nothing now remains to be done to commence work except the compliance on the part of the waterway company with certain requirements to be performed by it, prominent among which are obtaining rights-of-way and subsidies sufficient to cover the cost of the locks and right-of-way; that he was very much pleased to learn, upon his arrival in the city, of the passage of the law under which the waterway company could, if found necessary, condemn rights-of-way for the canal, as this removes one of the principal obstacles in the way of the enterprise; that the excavation of the waterways through the tide flats, the construction of the Lake Washington canal and the filling in of the tide flats are made by the St. Louis people all necessary parts of the one great enterprise, which means that, when the conditions required of the waterway company have been complied with, the work will be carried steadily on until the canal into Lake Washington is completed and ready for operation.

The gentlemen from St. Louis who visited this city expressed themselves as highly pleased with the city of Seattle and its enterprising citizens, and with the hospitality extended to them while here, and were unanimously of the opinion that the impetus that will be given to the city by the carrying out of this enterprise will insure the supremacy of Seattle over the other cities of the Northwest.

Mr. Ames expects to remain in the city until all the requirements are complied with by the waterway company, so that when he returns to St. Louis all matters can be finally closed.

The carrying out of this enterprise as a whole, according to the intention of the St. Louis people, will involve an expenditure in this city of about $7,000,000 in the next four or five years. This includes the estimated cost of filling in the tide lands covered by the three contracts with the state, the excavation of the lake and Duwamish waterways and the construction of the locks in the canal waterway.