Portage Bay is a body of water, often thought of as the eastern arm of

Lake Union Lake Union is a freshwater lake located entirely within the city limits of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a major part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which carries fresh water from the much larger Lake Washington on the east to ...

, that forms a part of the

Lake Washington Ship Canal The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the city of Seattle, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately difference in w ...

in Seattle, Washington. To the east, Portage Bay is connected with Union Bay—a part of

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

—by the

Montlake Cut The Montlake Cut is the easternmost section of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which passes through the city of Seattle, linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound. It was completed in 1916 and is approximately long and wide. The center channel ...

, over which spans the Montlake Bridge carrying State Route 513. To the north is the campus of the University of Washington. To the west, Portage Bay is spanned by the University Bridge, which carries Eastlake Avenue between

Eastlake Eastlake may refer to: Places ;Australia * Kingston, Australian Capital Territory, formerly called Eastlake ** Eastlake Football Club, an amateur Australian Rules Football Club named after that location ;United States * Eastlake, Lake County, C ...

and the

University District University District can refer to a location in the United States: *University District, Detroit, Michigan * University District, Columbus, Ohio *University District, San Bernardino, California *University District, Seattle The University District ...

. Its westernmost limit can be said to be the

Ship Canal Bridge The Ship Canal Bridge is a double-deck steel truss bridge that carries Interstate 5 (I-5) over Seattle's Portage Bay (part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, after which it is named) between Capitol Hill and the University District. The ca ...

, which carries Interstate 5 over the water; past this bridge, the body of water is deemed to be Lake Union. In the southern portion, Portage Bay is spanned by the Portage Bay Viaduct, which carries State Route 520 from the Eastlake/

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

district to Montlake. Portage Bay was named in 1913 because of the

portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

across the Montlake Isthmus that used to be necessary to move logs from Union Bay to Lake Union before the construction of the Ship Canal. The bay is home to two yacht clubs, the Seattle and the Queen City, and many

houseboat A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. How ...

s, as well as the Northwest Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Washington's College of Ocean and

Fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

Science.

History

In 1860, landowner Harvey Pike tried to cut the first ditch connecting Lake Washington's Union Bay and Lake Union's Portage Bay, but gave up and deeded his land to the Lake Washington Ship Canal Company, which built a transiting rail line for portaging goods between the lakes. This rail line continued use until 1878. In 1883, David Denny and Thomas Burke had a canal built for floating logs.

Cheshiahud Cheshiahud (also Cheslahud, Lake John Cheshiahud, or Chudups John) and his family on Lake Union, Seattle, Washington in the 1880s are, along with Princess Angeline, among the few late-19th century ''Dkhw'Duw'Absh'' (people of the Duwamish tribe) a ...

lived and carved canoes on the shores of Portage Bay for many years from 1885. In 1909, the Pay Streak, a vaudeville and sideshows section of the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, ended in a gondola ramp and esplanade on the north shores of Portage Bay. For 14 years following World War II, the '' Fantome'' was stranded in Portage Bay pending payment to King County of back taxes. A university police station was located on the north shore of Portage Bay until the 2010s, when it was demolished to make way for a public park. Fritz Hedges Waterway Park opened in October 2020, using funding from the Washington State Department of Transportation as part of remediation for the State Route 520 expansion program.

Neighborhood

The small residential neighborhood of Portage Bay is located on the southwestern shore of the bay. It is bounded on the south by State Route 520 and on the west by Interstate 5, and features one of the larger remaining enclaves of Houseboats in Seattle.

References

{{Lake Washington Ship Canal Landforms of Seattle Portages in the United States Bays of Washington (state) Bays of King County, Washington

History

Neighborhood

See also

References