Ballard Locks and Montlake Cut – An Engineering Marvel

By, Karen I. Treiger

(Photo: Cherry Blossoms at the Park next to the Ballard Locks).

I can feel spring in the air. The cherry blossoms have popped and the air is fragrant.  I love spring and (especially) summer in Seattle.  

I have a favorite summer bike ride (30 miles) that goes from our home in Seward Park, along Lake Washington, cuts up and over the hills, through the I-90 bike tunnel and down to the waterfront. It continues along the waterfront and through Myrtle Edwards park to the old railroad tracks. This railroad path leads to Magnolia.  Here there is a slow climb and then a steep drop down through the woods to the Ballard Locks.

At the Locks, I dismount and walk across.  This gives me the opportunity to rest for a few minutes and watch the boats, large and small, as they enter the locks.  The huge gates are closed and the water level rises or falls as the vessels prepare to enter either Puget Sound or Lake Union.

The Ballard Locks connect Puget Sound with Lake Union.  And the channel under the Montlake Bridge connects Lake Union and Lake Washington.    

(Photo: Montlake Cut)

Before the white settlers arrived, the Duwamish had ways of navigating the waterways of the area, but it was not easy passage.  The white settlers asked themselves, how can we make it easier and profitable to move vessels goods from the Sound to the Lakes?

The idea of a man-made channel was first floated by Thomas Mercer in 1854.  There were two questions: (1) how to do it? and (2) how to pay for it?

One main obstacle was that the water levels of these various bodies were different.   Lake Washington used to be 29 feet, Lake Union – 20 feet, and Puget Sound was 10-12 feet (depending on the tides). So, how to unite these bodies of water and make for smooth sailing?

Well, at the time, there were no good answers to either question.  Then, in the early 1900’s, Hiram Chittenden, for whom the Ballard Locks are named, became the director of the Federal Army Corps of Engineers in the Seattle area.  He took a stab at uniting the bodies of water.  

(Photo: Hiram Chittenden (1858-1917), HistoryLink.org).

His idea was to make two channels – one – The Fremont Cut between Salmon Bay and Lake Union and a second, the Montlake Cut between Lake Washington and Lake Union.   At the west end of Salmon Bay, locks would be built to move the traffic.  This construction,” writes David Williams on HistoryLink.Org, “lowered the water level of Lake Washington by nine feet and raised that of Salmon Bay behind the locks, changing it from a tidal inlet to a freshwater reservoir.”

Chittenden realized that they needed to pour concrete into the locks to make them truly workable.  Concrete retaining walls also had to be built in the canals and in the Montlake Cut.  These were huge projects. They had to first build dams to stop the water.  After the water stopped flowing, they excavated tons of soil and poured concrete into molds that created the walls that we see today. The final stage was to remove the dams and let the water flow return.

(Photo: Water flowing from Lake Union into Montlake Cut, August 25, 1916 MOHAI (1983.10.10325)).

Chittenden’s army of men built two locks between Puget Sound and Lake Union – one for smaller boats and one for larger boats.  The canal from the locks to Lake Union, states C. H. Hanford in his 1924 book Seattle and Environs, “is 36 feet deep, 100 feet wide at the bottom and 250 feet wide at the top.” (Hanford, 424)

Chittenden dreamed of building a second set of locks between Lake Union and Lake Washington.  This, however, was never realized due to the cost.   This resulted in Lake Washington being lowered to the level of Lake Union to allow the waters to flow and boats to pass smoothly.  This channel, taking boats from Lake Union to Lake Washington is “26 feet deep, 80 feet wide at the bottom and 200 feet wide at the top.” (Hanford, 424)

This amazing engineering feat was completed in 1916 and 1917.  On October 12, 1916, the canal between Puget Sound and Lake Union was opened and on May 8, 1917, the canal between Lake Union and Lake Washington was completed. (Photo: Water flowing from Lake Union into Montlake Cut, August 25, 1916 MOHAI (1983.10.10325)).

Chittenden’s army of men built two locks between Puget Sound and Lake Union – one for smaller boats and one for larger boats.  The canal from the locks to Lake Union, states C. H. Hanford in his 1924 book Seattle and Environs, “is 36 feet deep, 100 feet wide at the bottom and 250 feet wide at the top.” (Hanford, 424)

Chittenden dreamed of building a second set of locks between Lake Union and Lake Washington.  This, however, was never realized due to the cost.   This resulted in Lake Washington being lowered to the level of Lake Union to allow the waters to flow and boats to pass smoothly.  This channel, taking boats from Lake Union to Lake Washington is “26 feet deep, 80 feet wide at the bottom and 200 feet wide at the top.” (Hanford, 424)

This amazing engineering feat was completed in 1916 and 1917.  On October 12, 1916, the canal between Puget Sound and Lake Union was opened and on May 8, 1917, the canal between Lake Union and Lake Washington was completed. 

(Photo: People Watching Opening of Lake Washington Ship Canal, July 4, 1917, Webster & Stevens, MOHAI (1983.10.10570)).

The grand opening of the Locks and canals was held on July 4, 1917.  Citing the daily newspaper, the P-I, Williams writes that “more than half the city’s population lined the shores. The great day consisted of the SS Roosevelt locking through to Salmon Bay, stopping for series of speeches, then leading a parade of more than 200 boats through the cuts and Lake Union into Lake Washington.”

The next time I cross the Ballard Locks I will think about their construction and the opening day.  I will pause and contemplate the fact that during the years of design and construction (1900 to 1917), most of my ancestors settled in Seattle.  

Victor Staadecker arrived in 1905. Sam and Augusta Friedlander arrived in 1906 (with two children).  Finally, the Steinberg family arrived in 1910/11.  By the time the Locks opened, Paul and Jenny Singerman had been in Seattle for some time (came in 1870’s) and were well established in the Seattle business, civic, and Jewish communities. 

(Photo: Victor Staadecker)

Did any of these Seattle relatives go to watch the grand opening?  If half the city was there, surely at least one of them must have attended.  Too bad there are no diaries left behind. This surely would have merited a diary entry.  

Perhaps they discuss how much the project cost and who paid for it, around their dinner tables.   They may have been delighted with the good deal the citizens of Washington State got.  The Federal Government footed most of the bill, spending $3,345,500 ($83,397,564.92 in today’s dollars).  In contrast, Washington State put out a mere $246,187 ($6,137,018.78 in today’s dollars) and King County a piddling $142,000 ($3,539,815.94 in today’s dollars). (Hanford, 424).

To finish the bike ride, I head into Ballard traffic until I reach the Burke Gilman trail.  This trail goes along the Montlake cut through Freemont and then on to the University of Washington. From there it’s a 40-minute ride home along Lake Washington Blvd.

I call this ride the “Tour of Seattle.”  

(Photo: Karen Treiger and Sheldon (Shlomo) Goldberg on Tour of Seattle bike ride).

Karen Treiger is the author of My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story (2018) and author of the upcoming book, Standing on the Crack: The Legacy of Five Jewish Families from Seattle’s Gilded Age.

Her website is: Homepage – Karen Treiger – Author

Her weekly blog about the history of Seattle and stories about her ancestors can be found here: Ancestry, Genealogy, Legacy, History: Stories of Five Jewish Families in Seattle

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SOURCES:

Hanford, C.H.,  Seattle & Environs: 1852-1924, Pioneer Historical Publishing Co, Chicago & Seattle (1924).

Williams, David, “Lake Washington Ship Canal (Seattle), HistoryLink.org Essay 1444, Posted February 5, 2017.  

Lake Washington Ship Canal (Seattle) – HistoryLink.org