What if Lake Washington were 8.8 feet higher?

Sheridan Beach December 2010
Imagine 7 feet higher

If Lake Washington were 8.8 feet higher, a lot of our readers would be under water. Of course, we wouldn't be dealing with flooding issues at Town Center and Sheridan Beach.

In the early 1900s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed connecting Lake Washington to Puget Sound through Lake Union by creating canals (Montlake Cut) and locks (Ballard). Lake Washington was 8.8 feet higher than Lake Union, Salmon Bay, and Puget Sound, so they simply decided to lower the lake.

Our News Partner HistoryLink, the online encyclopedia of Washington state, has an essay (#686) about this:

Due to construction of Lake Washington Ship Canal, Lake Washington is lowered 8.8 feet beginning on August 26, 1916, and the Black River disappears.

The lowering of Lake Washington and raising of Salmon Bay causes a number of changes to the watershed, the most dramatic of which is the drying up of the Black River when the level of Lake Washington drops below the river channel entrance. As a result, the way water moves through the watershed changes drastically, with environmental and human consequences.