Coffee, binoculars, crew races and a parade. And the view is right from Kristina's hospital room! (all these pics were taken by Kristina, from her room).
Kristina said there were comments ‘where are the pictures’
and ‘we want pictures’. So this is the first
of two posts with pictures.
Kristina’s room is on the 8th floor of the
Montlake tower, looking over the Montlake cut.
The room is pretty comfy according to Kristina and has a more than
adequate view.
For those of you out of town or on the east coast, a quick history of the Montlake cut. Heck, I was born at Harborview, right here in Seattle, and I learned some new things about this small stretch of water.
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| Saturday started out with crew races |
In the 1800’s, Lake Washington was
quite a bit higher than it is now and the run off was at the south end of the
lake through the now defunct ‘Black River’.
While it Lake Washington came close to a small arm of water then named
as part of Lake Union, the lakes never met.
The land between them was called by the first nation peoples ‘carry a
canoe’, as they had to portage their canoes and carry them over the land to get
from one lake to the other.
Then there was another portage, or ‘carry
a canoe’ section between lake Union and Puget Sound. So two lakes at different levels and Puget Sound at a lower level still. 3 levels. With ‘carry
a canoe’ being a common name for the areas where you had to carry your canoe.
When the area was settled, “Carry a canoe” didn’t translate well to “Carry a yacht”, so there was talk of digging a canal. Various schemes were thought of, one with two sets of locks as there was the difference in height between Puget sound and Lake Union, then another difference between Lake Union and Lake Washington. The army corps of engineers under the leadership of Major C.W. Kutz opted for one set of Locks in Ballard which would result in the lowering of Lake Washington by nearly 10 feet, destroying wetlands and substantially rearranging the landscape for landowners. Lawsuits ensued and the Army Corps of engineers endured setbacks in their plan. It looked as if the legal challenges would prevent the cut from being made. At which point Kutz sent his assistant, a Captain Arthur Phillips, to plant dynamite at the head of the cut to drain the lake and dispense with the legal niceties. On October 26th, 1910, the large explosion began ‘the big drain’ and subsequent digging ensued. It was completed in 1916.
As my grandfather always said, when the lawyers can't get it done, bring out the dynamite (he didn't really say that). The current UW history essay on the subject essentially says "yeah, they shouldn't have done that. But we're glad they did". Ok, they didn't really say it in those terms, but I think it's a fair summary.
While the cut did have commercial value in its early years, it’s primarily used by recreational boats to transit between the lakes, through the ship canal and to the locks which lower boats to the level of Puget Sound. Just like ol ‘dynamite’ Kutz envisioned.
It’s
also the local venue for the UW crew’s 2000 meter races, and Kristina had a
dandy view of the last 150 meters to the finish line. For any ex rower out there who has rowed in a
race there, that last 500 meters is an exhaustingly awesome experience. Crews sprint the finish and the goal is to
cross the finish line having gave every ounce of effort you could summon.
Kristina
had a view of this year’s ‘Windemere Cup’ an annual race featuring the US
drubbing various crews from around the world, having won the thing 27
times. This year they beat the team from
Australia.
Following
the races is the annual boat parade through the Montlake Cut, signifying the
annual so called ‘opening day of boating season’. Pro tip:
The best cruising around the northwest is in the winter. Kristina has organized cruises for Sloop
Tavern Yacht Club and the winter cruises are the best.
Kristina took the above pic, and oh my, What a sailboat.
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