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
Oyster Bay (Puget Sound) run that would exist without human impacts. Oyster Bay (Puget Sound) Oyster Bay is an inlet in southern Puget Sound which branches off from Totten Inlet. The bay spans Mason and Thurston counties, in the U.S. state of Washington. Kennedy Creek empties into the bay at the U.S. Highway 101 overpass. Oyster Bay was named for the oyster industry it supports. The bay is the site of one of only four oyster reserves in Puget Sound where the Olympia oyster grows. Oyster Bay is one of the most productive chum salmon runs in the state with over 40,000 spawners a