Digging the Portage Canal
A progress report on the ambitious project to connect Lake Washington and Lake Union by a man-made waterway.
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.
A reporter made a trip over to the portage between Lakes Washington and Union to examine the progress of the canal now being cut by J. J. Cummings. The canal begins about 500 feet north of the old pier on the Lake Washington side and 800 feet north of the trestle on the Lake Union side. Twenty men are currently engaged in cutting down the bank. The excavation on the east side is nearly 100 feet long and 20 feet deep. The project aims for a canal 1757 feet in length with a depth of 10 feet below water level. The difference in elevation between the two lakes is 8 feet, with Lake Washington being the higher. Forty-five men and eight teams are currently employed to clear timber and excavate the sandy, gravelly soil.
“No more beautiful spot can be imagined than the little bays of the two lakes which bending into the shore form the isthmus now being penetrated by this canal.”
This early attempt at a canal predates the federal Ship Canal completed in 1917, which permanently altered the ecology of Seattle's lakes by lowering Lake Washington and permanently separating it from the Black River. This historical report captures the nascent stage of the city's obsession with transforming its geography for maritime commerce.
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