If not for pioneer Thomas Mercer, Lake Forest Park would have waterfront on Lake hvas Chuck, or Lake Geneva, or possibly Lake D'wamish.
HistoryLink, the first online encyclopedia of local and state history created expressly for the Internet, tells the story.
"HistoryLink File #1445
"Seattle residents celebrate July 4, 1854, and adopt names for Lake Union and Lake Washington.
"On the Fourth of July, 1854, most of Seattle's few hundred residents gather to celebrate near a lake called "tenas Chuck" ("little waters"). Thomas Mercer (1813-1898) addresses the group and proposes naming the larger lake to the east, known variously as hyas Chuck, Geneva, and D'wamish, as Lake Washington.
"He also proposes renaming tenas Chuck as Lake Union because he believed that a canal would ultimately connect it to Lake Washington and to Puget Sound. Villagers approve of the new names, which are formally adopted a few weeks later.
"Mercer's vision of a canal was not fully realized for many decades. Work began on the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1911, and the Government Locks, now named for engineer Hiram M. Chittenden (1858-1917) opened on July 4, 1917.
"The canal was declared complete in 1934, 80 years after Mercer first proposed it.
"Sources: Clarence Bagley, "History of Seattle" (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1916). By Walt Crowley, July 01, 1999"
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