Lake Washington Ship Canal Lake Washington Ship Canal The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the city of Seattle, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately difference in water level between Lake Washington and the sound. The canal runs east–west and connects Union Bay, the Montlake Cut, Portage Bay, Lake Union, the Fremont Cut, Salmon Bay, and Shilshole Bay, which is part of the sound. The ship canal project began in 1911 and was officially completed in 1934. Prior to construction of the Lake Washington
South Puget Sound shelter whale calves. Southern resident killer whales (orcas) have been reported as far south as Eld Inlet. Smaller species include Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides Dalli), harbor seals (Phoca Vitulina) and the Pacific harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). A single sea otter was sighted in the South Sound in 2012. South Puget Sound South Puget Sound is the southern reaches of Puget Sound in Southwest Washington, in the United States' Pacific Northwest. It is one of five major basins encompassing the entire Sound, and the shallowest basin, with a mean depth of . Exact definitions of the region vary: the state's Department of