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Montlake Cut | |
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![]() The Montlake Cut, seen from the corner of E. Shelby St. and 10th Ave E. | |
![]() Map of Seattle with the Montlake Cut shaded in blue. | |
Location | Seattle, Washington |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 47°38′50″N122°18′15″W / 47.64722°N 122.30417°W |
Specifications | |
Length | 0.76 km (0.47 miles) |
History | |
Current owner | City of Seattle |
Original owner | Duwamish Tribe |
Construction began | 1860 |
Date completed | 1916 |
Geography | |
Start point | Portage Bay, Lake Union |
End point | Union Bay, Lake Washington |
The Montlake Cut is the easternmost section of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which passes through the city of Seattle, linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound. It opened in 1916 after 56 years of conversation and construction to create the manmade canal.
The path along the cut was designated a National Recreation Trail as Montlake Cut National Waterside in 1971. [1]
The cut provides a connection between Union Bay, part of Lake Washington, to the east and Portage Bay, an arm of Lake Union, to the west. It is spanned by the Montlake Bridge, a bascule drawbridge carrying Montlake Boulevard (State Route 513). Most of the land on the north shore of the cut is occupied by the University of Washington, its medical school to the west and its stadium parking lot to the east; residences and a recreational trail occupy the south bank, which is part of the Montlake neighborhood.
Before the creation of the Montlake Cut, the land was regularly used by the Duwamish tribe and the holds important history within the tribe, that is commonly overlooked.
Before the construction of the Montlake Cut, it was known by the Duwamish as "Carry a Canoe" (Lushootseed: sxWátSadweehL). Indigenous people had been portaging between the lakes for centuries, either carrying canoes or shoving them along an intermittent creek that appeared when Lake Washington overflowed. [2] This creek was known as the black river and was a large source of food and transportation for the Duwamish tribe. The black river often flooded and destroyed the crops nearby; however, it was clear that its use for transportation was very advantageous. [3] This utility sparked inspiration to create a larger-scale version of the black river that would link Lake Washington and Lake Union with Puget Sound, an idea that would benefit King County economically, allowing it to become a large shipping harbor.
Local landowners began digging a canal on their land, following the trail that the Duwamish tribe had created between the two lakes. However in 1903, after 30 years of discussion, it was decided by the Army Corps of Engineers that this plan would not be feasible because there would be a need for two locks to maintain the height of Lake Washington and Lake Union.
Ten years later, Major C. W. Kutz of the Army Corps of Engineers wished to move forward with the plan but with only one lock in Ballard. This resulted in great upset and lawsuits over the lowering of Lake Washington that would result from the excavation of the cut. On October 26, 1910, Kutz sent his assistant to set off dynamite at the head of the cut, forcing Lake Washington to be lowered.
The Montlake Cut's original name was Erickson Cut. Contractor C. J. Erickson commenced the big project in turning on his big steam shovel in celebration of the October 27, 1909, post A-Y-P Exposition era, in the final push to complete the Lake Washington Canal project. At the ceremony were Judge Roger S. Greene, Judge Thomas Burke, J. S. Brace and John H. McGraw, who turned the first shovel of dirt that day.
The creation of the cut lowered the water level of Lake Washington by 8.8 feet, drained the wetlands around the lake, and lowered the lake below the outflow at the Black River, leaving the Black River dry. [3]
The effects on the water level of Lake Washington also resulted in a great reduction of the salmon population in the lake. [4] The Black River gave the Duwamish people salmon, which was an important part of their diet and a major part of their spirituality.
Although the ecosystem of the Montlake Cut has since recovered, the damages were major at the time.[ citation needed ]
The industrial uses of the Montlake Cut have since decreased, and it is now primarily used for leisure boating and recreational uses. [3] The cut is a popular location of recreational swimming and sunbathing for University of Washington students during the spring and summer.
The cut is home to the University of Washington rowing team, serving as the final 500 meters of the 2,000-meter racecourse.
It is the site of the annual Windermere Cup crew regatta and the Seattle Yacht Club's Opening Day Boat Parade, both of which take place on the first Saturday in May.
The commercial uses of the Montlake Cut are still important. The Port of Seattle's Fisherman's Terminal, located in the west of Seattle on Salmon Bay, is the home of many commercial fishing boats that are required to pass through the Ballard locks and the Montlake Cut to travel to the coast and Alaska. [3]
Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, Bellevue and Kirkland on the east, Renton on the south, and Kenmore on the north, and encloses Mercer Island. The lake is fed by the Sammamish River at its north end and the Cedar River at its south.
The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the city of Seattle, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately 20-foot (6.1 m) difference in water level between Lake Washington and the sound. The canal runs east–west and connects Union Bay, the Montlake Cut, Portage Bay, Lake Union, the Fremont Cut, Salmon Bay, and Shilshole Bay, which is part of the sound.
Lake Union is a freshwater lake located entirely within the city limits of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a major part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which carries fresh water from the much larger Lake Washington on the east to Puget Sound on the west. The easternmost point of the lake is the Ship Canal Bridge, which carries Interstate 5 over the eastern arm of the lake and separates Lake Union from Portage Bay. Lake Union is the namesake of the neighborhoods located on three of its shores: Eastlake, Westlake and South Lake Union. Notable destinations on the lake include Lake Union Park, the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), and the Center for Wooden Boats on the southern shore and Gas Works Park on the northern shore.
The Duwamish River is the name of the lower 12 miles (19 km) of Washington state's Green River. Its industrialized estuary is known as the Duwamish Waterway. In 2009, the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center was opened on the west bank of the river as part of the tribe's reassertion of its historic rights in the area and its continuing struggle for federal recognition of tribal status.
The University District is a major district in Seattle, Washington, comprising several distinct neighborhoods. The main campus of the University of Washington (UW) is located in the district, lending its name to both the district as well as University Way NE.
The Duwamish are a Lushootseed-speaking Coast Salish people in western Washington, and the Indigenous people of metropolitan Seattle.
Union Bay is a body of water located in Seattle, Washington. Part of Lake Washington, it is bounded by the Laurelhurst neighborhood to the north and the Montlake and Madison Park neighborhoods to the south. The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, which carries State Route 520, crosses over a portion of the bay.
Shilshole Bay is the part of Puget Sound east of a line drawn northeasterly from Seattle's West Point in the southwest to its Golden Gardens Park in the northeast. On its shores lie Discovery Park, the Lawton Wood section of the Magnolia neighborhood, the neighborhood of Ballard, and Golden Gardens Park. It is home to the Shilshole Bay Marina on Ballard's Seaview Avenue N.W. and communicates with the Lake Washington Ship Canal via the Ballard Locks.
Portage Bay is a body of water, often thought of as the eastern arm of Lake Union, that forms a part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle, Washington.
The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, or Ballard Locks, is a complex of locks at the west end of Salmon Bay in Seattle, Washington's Lake Washington Ship Canal, between the neighborhoods of Ballard to the north and Magnolia to the south.
The Cedar River is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. About 45 miles (72 km) long, it originates in the Cascade Range and flows generally west and northwest, emptying into the southern end of Lake Washington. Its upper watershed is a protected area called the Cedar River Watershed, which provides drinking water for the greater Seattle area.
South Lake Union is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because it is at the southern tip of Lake Union.
The city of Seattle, Washington, is located on a narrow isthmus between Puget Sound on the west and Lake Washington on the east; water comprises approximately 41% of the total area of the city. It was founded on the harbor of Elliott Bay, home to the Port of Seattle—in 2002, the 9th busiest port in the United States by TEUs of container traffic and the 46th busiest in the world.
Matthews Beach is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington; it and Meadowbrook are the southern neighborhoods of the annexed township of Lake City (1954). Matthews Beach lies about 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of the University of Washington, about 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Downtown.
The Sammamish people are a Lushootseed-speaking Southern Coast Salish people. They are indigenous to the Sammamish River Valley in central King County, Washington. The Sammamish speak Lushootseed, a Coast Salish language which was historically spoken across most of Puget Sound, although its usage today is mostly reserved for cultural and ceremonial practices.
In the history of Seattle before white settlement, thirteen prominent villages existed in what is now the city of Seattle. The people living near Elliott Bay, and along the Duwamish, Black and Cedar Rivers were collectively known as the doo-AHBSH, or People of the Doo ("Inside"). Four prominent villages existed near what is now Elliott Bay and the (then-estuarial) lower Duwamish River. Before civil engineers rechanneled the Duwamish, the area had extensive tidelands, and had an abundance of seafoods.
The Black River is a tributary of the Duwamish River in King County in the U.S. state of Washington. It drained Lake Washington until 1916, when the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal lowered the lake, causing part of the Black River to dry up. It still exists as a dammed stream about 2 miles (3.2 km) long.
The Windermere Cup is a series of annual rowing races hosted by the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, United States. The event is open to international teams and takes place on the first Saturday in May, in the Lake Washington Ship Canal around Portage Bay, the Montlake Cut, and Lake Washington. It is sponsored by Windermere Real Estate.
In 1996, the city of Seattle, Washington adopted a resolution to preserve shoreline street ends throughout the city as public rights-of-way, to allow improvements for public uses and access. This resolution gave a broad outline of considerations that would apply to public access improvements to shoreline street ends and to removing private encroachments and severely limiting future permits for private uses of street ends. Three years later, this was enhanced with a statement, "Fees for use of shoreline street ends may take into consideration City policy of discouraging encroachments inconsistent with the public right of access to shorelines and may be included in the schedule of fees for use of public places under the jurisdiction of Seattle Transportation."