Lake Youngs

Lake Youngs
Lake Youngs Show map of Washington (state) Lake Youngs Show map of the United States
Location	King County, Washington
Coordinates	47°25′11″N122°7′27″W / 47.41972°N 122.12417°W / 47.41972; -122.12417
Type	reservoir
Basin  countries	United States
Surface area	700 acres (280 ha)
Max. depth	72 ft (22 m)
Surface elevation	502 ft (153 m) [1]

Lake Youngs is a reservoir in King County, Washington, United States. It is located between Maple Valley and Renton along the route of pipelines carrying water from the Cedar River to Seattle (the most recent of these is the Bow Lake pipeline, which was built in 1954 ^{[2] [3]} ) and is accessible only to Seattle Public Utilities staff and authorized visitors. ^[4]

Originally the site of 548 acres (222 ha) Swan Lake, ^[3] construction of the Lake Youngs reservoir began in earnest in the early 1920s and was completed by 1926. Lake Youngs has a surface area of 700 acres (2.8 km²) and a maximum depth of 72 feet (22 m). ^[5] It was named for longtime Seattle Water Department head L. B. Youngs, who died in 1923. ^[3] Lake Youngs is used as a visual checkpoint for pilots flying into and out of Renton Municipal Airport. ^[6]

Lake Youngs is drained by Little Soos Creek.

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake Youngs
2. Stein, Alan. "Seattle awards contract for construction of Cedar River Pipeline Number Four on March 21, 1951". HistoryLink. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
3. Stein, Alan J.; Oldham, Kit (2000). "Water from Lake Youngs reservoir is used in Seattle for the first time on August 7, 1927". HistoryLink. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
4. "Seattle Public Utiltities: Lake Youngs" . Retrieved May 20, 2025.
5. "Lakes of King County" . Retrieved 2017-09-10.
6. "Renton Municipal Airport Pilot Info 2021" (PDF). Retrieved November 14, 2023.