From Washington To You
The Montlake Cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle.
Photograph by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Archives 298871. Public domain.

From Washington to you

Montlake Cut

Montlake Cut · King County · Montlake Cut opened May 8, 1917

The last cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal opened on May 8, 1917, a 100-foot channel through Montlake that still joins the lakes to the locks.

The Corps of Engineers' Lake Washington Ship Canal water-control manual dates construction to September 1911. The small lock opened on July 30, 1916. The large lock opened on August 3, 1916. Fremont Cut opened in October 1916. Montlake Cut opened on May 8, 1917. The canal was dedicated on July 4, 1917.

The Montlake Cut is 100 feet wide. The channel through Portage Bay and Union Bay is 200 feet wide. A Waterside Trail of 1,200 feet was built in 1970 and named a National Recreation Trail a year later.

The cut is the eastern gate of the ship canal, a short walk from the University of Washington. The source below is the Corps water-control manual.

  • History

Sources (1)

Last reviewed: September 20, 2026

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