The Battle for Lake Union's Waters
As water levels drop, the rivalry between two companies turns into a legal and physical brawl over the future of the Lake Union outlet.
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 controversy has broken out between the Lake Washington Improvement Company and the Fremont Milling Company regarding the damming of the outlet from Lake Union to Salmon Bay. Last week, the improvement company began damming up the outlet to increase the depth of Lake Union, hoping to run logs and shingle bolts through from Lake Washington, where water levels have become too low. The same night, the Fremont Milling Company began tearing up the dam, claiming the outlet cannot legally be interfered with pending a court decision. Meanwhile, the Ferguson Cedar Shingle Company in Latona was forced to shut down its mill because the water had receded so far they could not maneuver their shingle bolts. Other manufacturing concerns report being handicapped by the low water levels.
“The Ferguson Cedar Shingle Company at Latona was forced to shut down its mill, because the water had receded from it so that it could not get shingle bolts out of the water.”
This 1893 dispute over Lake Union water rights and the ability to move logs reflects the ongoing, century-long struggle to manage Seattle's waterways—a battle that eventually reshaped the city's geography with the construction of the Ship Canal.
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