Chittenden Locks / Lake Wash. Ship Canal
Type: Structures/Sites
Owner: US Army Corps of Engineers
Phone: 206-783-7059
Designation*: WHR NR
Built: 1906
Location: 3015 NW 54th St, Seattle
Map and directions (Courtesy Google Maps)
Hours: Visitor center: Winter (October 1 to April 30): 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; Summer: (May 1 to September 30): daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Admission: FREE

*DOE=Designated eligible; NR=National Register of Historic Places; NHL=National Historic Landmark; WHR=Washington Heritage Register; City=Local city; County=Local county; N/A=Not applicable

Comments from site users
9/17/2007 5 out of 5
I take my kids here all the time because it's a great freebie.

Early Anglo-European settlers in the Seattle area faced the daunting challenge of moving products such as coal and logs over muddy roads and through shallow rivers. Pioneers dreamed of a water route west from Lake Washington to Puget Sound. Civic leaders agreed a canal was needed, but they argued for decades on the correct route. They chose a path from a point just south of the University of Washington into Lake Union and on through Ballard, reaching Puget Sound at Shilshole Bay.

On May 8, 1917, the US Army Corps of Engineers opened its “Government Locks” near Shilshole Bay. Said to be as important to Seattle’s economy as the Panama Canal was to the world economy, the structure was renamed the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in honor of its builder. Large fishing vessels and barges regularly use the large lock, while pleasure boats and smaller commercial vessels traverse the small lock. The Locks are open year round, and visitors often watch salmon traveling to and from Lake Washington via a windowed gallery in the fish ladder.