File:Wooden lock in Montlake Ditch, Seattle, circa 1900 (MOHAI 10884).jpg

The Montlake Cut, between the Montlake and University District neighborhoods in Seattle, connects Lake Washington and Lake Union as part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. When it was completed in 1916, it marked the realization of a 62-year-old idea to link the lakes with Puget Sound, creating a freshwater harbor in Seattle and a waterway connecting Seattle's shipping harbor in Elliott Bay with the resource-rich interior of King County. This image of wooden locks at the Montlake Ditch (now Montlake Cut) was taken after 1885 when the waterway was dug between Lake Washington and Lake Union to transport logs by the Washington Improvement Company, and before construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal began in 1909. The footbridge visible in the image is present in other images from about 1902. This photograph was taken by William Skeels Newton, Sr. (1867-1939), a dry goods salesman from Vermont who first came to Seattle in 1892 and continued to live in Washington State for the rest of his life.

Caption information source: "Montlake Cut (Seattle)" by Jennifer Ott, HistoryLink.org Essay 10221

• Subjects (LCTGM): Hydraulic facilities; Lake Washington Ship Canal (Seattle, Wash.); Lumber industry--Washington (State)--Seattle