a[2] / gathering

As we consider the emergence of industry, what connections are severed? Whose ability to thrive comes at the expense of these economies?

Changes of the ecosystem. The cut promoted the development of industries in the watershed and also brought severe environmental problems that impacted the larger, regional ecosystem. This collage clarifies the connection between the canal system and ecosystem to create a narrative of the species that lives in Lake Washington.

The creation of the Lake Washington ship canal had far reaching consequences for the region–predominantly the creation of a landscape that better enabled industrial and economic development to fuel the growing city. The ecological consequences are typically either obscured or taken for granted, hence the maps deliberate murkiness.

Modes of transportation have evolved over time in Seattle combined with major historical events have triggered alterations in Seattle’s history. These changes and events are important because they are among the most important forces shaping the metropolitan area and land use pattern.

Solid Ground.

Duwamish Disturbance

The lowering of Lake Washington marked a turning point in the region’s history; the will of industrializing settlers – with the backing of the federal government – was enough to enact massive reshaping of the landscape and led to dramatic cultural shifts for both settlers and the native population.

The Denny Hill Regrade took place in two stages; the first in 1908, and the second in 1930. The material removed was used to fill the tide flats where, as the country entered the Great Depression, shanty towns such as Hooverville sprouted on the shorefront housing the poor and displaced.

The Cedar River Pipeline.

Trashed in Seattle.

Transformations. The Seattle fault runs across the city in a similar trajectory as the Lake Washington shipping canal, both having transformed the landscape on similar scales reorganizing the geophysical and social systems across the landscape.

Early industrial development surrounding Lake Washington. The industry significantly changed between 1800-1916, from timber mills to iron mining and steel mills before the cut to boat building after the cut. Photos represent one specific industry and are correlated with the particular location.

In looking at Seattle’s past, it’s evident that wide-scale changes to the environment were seen as a way to capitalize on the city’s industrial potential. The construction of the Chittenden Lock’s, like many other infrastructural feats, was perceived as a no-lose situation despite wide-scale ecological and social burdens it imposed.

This montage pieces together the settlement and labor patterns of the second wave of Filipino laborers who migrated to Seattle in the early 20th century.

Seattle’s Early Industrial Aspirations

The Breeding Status of Twenty Common Bird Species in the Greater Seattle Area.

Regrading in Seattle. The topography of central Seattle was radically altered by a series of regrades in the city’s first century, in what might have been the largest such alteration of urban terrain at the time.