The Shortcut

I suppose that it was around 1958 when Pip and Terry introduced me to “The Shortcut”.  None of us knew that the shortcut to the Yacht Club was part of a historic Native canoe portage or the remains of a log canal being reclaimed by the urban jungle.  Speaking of urban jungles, I was fresh out of Wichita and amazed at the neighborhood wilderness that surrounded my new home.  We were just kids interested in shortcuts, swamps and being where, maybe, we shouldn’t have been.  

The shortcut started up at Montlake Blvd. and followed a rugged dirt road down to Portage Bay where a half dozen or so houseboats were moored.  The road was rough as there weren’t many cars associated with the houseboats, hence, it wasn’t maintained.  These houseboat dwellers were typical of the time as many lived a hand-to-mouth existence so cars were a luxury that few could afford.  The road was mostly used as a foot path for the houseboat tenants.  

The dock providing access to the houseboats was adjacent to a small cove that had some wooden refuse poking up out of the water.  We skirted the cove and crossed the water where it was shallow, using wood and steel debris or scrub willows where they allowed us to clamber over.  Once past the cove we came upon a “pond” close to the Fisheries Building and crossed a “dam” that separated the pond from Portage Bay.  The pond was surrounded by Willows that flourished and provided luxurious shade.   I recall the walkway over the “dam” as being no wider than about two feet.  

When SR-520 was built through the Canal Reserve things changed dramatically.  The dirt road, houseboats, pilings, the cove and pond were removed.  Fill was added for the freeway and for additional parking at the Fisheries Building pushing the shoreline about 200 feet out into Portage Bay .  

As decades passed, I often thought about that shortcut, the houseboats, the mysterious debris and the urban Eden surrounding the pond adjacent to the Fisheries Building.  I pondered the origin of the rubble and what it had once been?  I assumed that it had been garbage fill but didn’t really know.  

Then, one day I was reading Don Sherwood’s history of West Montlake Park and it all fell into place.  I could look at old maps and photos with new eyes and parse old memories after I read:

“In 1929 the US Bureau of Commercial Fisheries was permitted to build a laboratory on the Old Canal property adjacent to the Yacht Club.  The Old Canal had never been filled in, except for Montlake Boulevard when the old bridge was removed.  So in 1932 Noble Hoggson, a landscape architect, proposed creation of an aquarium built in the “canyon” of the Old Canal adjacent to the new Fisheries laboratory.  It would have occupied the site of the old locks – by then lost in the jungle of trees and undergrowth.  Though highly endorsed, this plan never materialized”:  

Except, in a sense, I think it did.  The “pond” turned out to be where the locks were.  No need to dig a hole for the pond because the “canyon” was already there.  Just clean up the jungle growth, build a “dam” and you have your “aquarium”. 

1929 - RKE

The Log Canal split near the west end creating a gated log flume to the south and a passageway with locks for allowing boats to negotiate the 9-foot elevation change from Lake Washington to Lake Union.  The path of the canal is obvious in the 1929 aerial image as it had only been filled at Montlake Boulevard.  In the 1936 aerial the canal shows signs of more fill between the now-present Fisheries Building and the Boulevard.  Lots of Willow and Alder growth, 

1936 - RKE - 0684

The log flume was of standard construction supported by large timbers set in an “X” configuration with shorter supports angling out at ~90 degrees.  Note the supports on the flume on the right side of the c1904 photo. 

c1904 - UWDC - SEA1105

Now look at the blown-up crop from the 1936 aerial image.  If you zoom in you can see the remains of the flume cross member sinking beneath surface.  

1936 - RKE - 0684 crop

In 1936 the “canyon” next to the Fisheries Building was yet to be cleared out and dammed so no pond was visible.  Not sure when that happened but the depression already existed as a marsh.  Finally look at the 1962 construction aerial.  The pond and the dam are clearly visible and, according to Don Sherwood, mark the location of the locks.

1962 - SMA - 71028

Thinking back on the “shortcut” and the weird debris that we found and clambered over it is pretty cool to realize that it was the remains of the Log Canal that had dried up in 1916.  I wish I had known what I was climbing over and could go back for another look.