KUOW's Program Venture Fund

Seattle's Big Ditch

Reporting by Marcie Sillman

Not long after Seattle was founded in the 19th century, city founders envisioned it as an industrial hub. To help further that aim, and to help transport the timber and coal from east King County, they decided they needed some kind of canal to connect Lake Washington with Puget Sound.

After several false starts, and political turmoil, Major Hiram Chittenden of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers helped jumpstart the eight mile long project now called the Lake Washington Ship Canal. The Ship Canal opened freshwater moorage to ocean-going vessels, and spurred Seattle's thriving maritime industry. In the five-part series Seattle's Big Ditch, reporter Marcie Sillman takes us on an audio tour of the Canal, the people who work in the maritime industry, and the pressures the industry faces as most of the city turns its attentions to the high tech industry.

Listen to the full documentary (MP3)

Pictured: Hiram Chittenden Locks under construction, 1916. (Courtesy Museum of History & Industry. Used by permission.)

Funding for Seattle's Big Ditch was provided by the KUOW Program Venture Fund. Contributors include Paul and Laurie Ahern and Puget Sound Energy.

The Montlake Cut (EPISODE 1 - JUNE 27th, 2005) Marcie Sillman takes us on a firsthand journey through water, and time, through the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Why did Seattle's founders want to build this "Big Ditch"? What obstacles did they face? And how did they evenutally succeed?

Listen to this story (MP3)

Ballard Fisherman (EPISODE 2 - JUNE 28th, 2005) For more than a century, the fishing fleet has gone to sea from Salmon Bay, in Ballard. The boats have gotten bigger, and the fishermen have to go farther asea to find their catch, but the industry is still alive and kicking. Marcie Sillman takes us to Ballard to meet some of the men who've helped sustain Seattle's fishing industry into the 21st century.

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Fisherman's Terminal (EPISODE 3 - JUNE 29th, 2005) Although experts say the fishing industry is still thriving, fishermen, and supporting maritime industries, are under pressure. New environmental regulations have helped save fish stocks, but they've forced some major changes in the industry. Boats are bigger, fewer people are fishing. Meanwhile, as Seattle gentrifies, shoreline properties are skyrocketing. The pressure to redevelop industrial land is fierce. Can the maritime industry survive?

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Ballard Fisherman (EPISODE 4 - JUNE 30th, 2005) Although Seattle's founding fathers thought of the Ship Canal as a gateway to industry, all along pleasure boats have used it, too. 80 percent of the boats that come through the Hiram Chittenden Locks are pleasure boats. Increasingly, yachts and sailboats are competing with working vessels for moorage in Salmon Bay. Marcie Sillman introduces us to the life beyond the maritime industry in the Lake Washington Ship Canal.

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The Montlake Cut (EPISODE 5 - JULY 1st, 2005) As the pressures to live, work and play on the water increase in Seattle, members of the traditional maritime industry worry they'll lose their place in this city, both geographically and psychologically. It's up to politicians to decide whether to preserve industrial land, and the regulations the maritime industry needs to survive. Is the lure of high tech dollars more alluring? How will Seattle balance its past, present and future?

Listen to this story (MP3)