Lake Washington Ship Canal begun in 1906, and work began in earnest five years later. The delays in canal planning and construction resulted in the U.S. Navy building the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, which is located across the Sound from Seattle. For centuries, people had been dragging boats between the lakes, giving names like "carry a canoe" "sxWátSadweehL" to the crossing points. In 1854 Seattle pioneer Thomas Mercer proposed canals connecting Lake Union and Lake Washington to Puget Sound in a speech at the first Independence Day celebration of the Seattle area's first permanent white settlement, shortly after its founding. Mercer
Puget Sound but increases to about at Olympia, the southern end of Puget Sound. Puget Sound is generally accepted as the start of the Inside Passage. Important marine flora of Puget Sound include eelgrass ("Zostera marina") and kelp, especially bull kelp ("Nereocystis luetkeana"). Among the marine mammals species found in Puget Sound are harbor seals ("Phoca vitulina"). Orca ("Orcinus orca") are famous throughout the Sound, and are a large tourist attraction. Although orca are sometimes seen in Puget Sound proper they are far more prevalent around the San Juan Islands north of Puget Sound. Many fish species occur in Puget Sound. The