Heck of an episode of Deadliest Catch tonight, eh
? Reminded that
Sig Hansen and the boys of the Northwestern head through this territory as they set out — here is an old photo from my archives of Ballard’s Government Locks.
No date on it, but I’d place it in the 1950′s. Click for higher res.
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| Government Locks, Seattle, Washington. Thous ands of pleasure craft as well as the largest ocean freighters pass through these locks from the waters of Puget Sound to the fresh waters of Lake Union and Lake Washington. Ektachrome by Josef Scaylea. |
Interesting that there are tons of pleasure craft in that photo but no sailboats.
This sure looks like a special event day, due to all the people crowding the sidelines! Maybe Opening Day?
I see the railroad bridge is down…
Hmm, wonder why they’re called “Government Locks” here and not “Chittenden” or “Ballard”. Any idea? I’d thought they were called Chittenden from the time they were built, and that Ballard had always been the popular name.
As a 4th generation local, I would guess that many refered to them as the Government Locks as it took the Government to get them built. There were almost a dozen attempts, including one that left Seattle with a gash in Beacon / First Hill . Where Dearborn cuts under the bridge was left behind by a funded private attempt to put locks there. They ran out of funds, and we had to bridge that gap.
My grandparents always called them the Government Locks. Ditto the Aurora Bridge (no one but historians and tour guides call it by its real name), Piers 90/91 were always refered to as the “Navy Piers”, 520 was always the “new bridge”, lower Queen Anne was the “Counterbalance”, Juanita was “Houghten”, and Empire Way remained Empire Way long after the name change…
I was born here in ’75, so to me it’s the Ballard Locks, the Aurora Bridge, no special name for Piers 90/91, 520 is 520, Lower Queen Anne is Lower Queen Anne, Juanita’s Juanita, and Empire Way remained Empire Way for a few years for me, but MLK quickly took over.
My grandfather (87 years old and still going) tells wonderful stories of falling into these locks as a teenager wrangling log rafts to the mills and later as a sailor and merchant marine. Love the site! Love the stories! Love the photos!!