Lake Washington steamboats and ferries the floating bridge, the last ferry route was retired, and the boat was sold to the Washington State Ferries, which had taken over the Puget Sound Navigation Company in 1951. Lake Washington steamboats and ferries Lake Washington steamboats and ferries operated from about 1875 to 1951, transporting passengers, vehicles and freight across Lake Washington, a large lake to the east of Seattle, Washington. Before modern highways and bridges were built, the only means of crossing the lake, other than the traditional canoe, was by steamboat, and, later, by ferry. While there was no easily navigable connection to Puget Sound, the
Puget Sound Sound extends approximately from Deception Pass in the north to Olympia, Washington in the south. Its average depth is and its maximum depth, off Jefferson Point between Indianola and Kingston, is . The depth of the main basin, between the southern tip of Whidbey Island and Tacoma, Washington, is approximately . In 2009, the term Salish Sea was established by the United States Board on Geographic Names as the collective waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Strait of Georgia. Sometimes the terms "Puget Sound" and "Puget Sound and adjacent waters" are used for not