Lake Washington steamboats and ferries sternwheeler "Lena C. Gray" was built in Seattle, and operated on Lake Washington most of the time, towing barges. In about 1886, Edward F. Lee established a shipyard on the west side Lake Washington. The Lee yard is believed to have built the following ships that worked Lake Washington and Puget Sound: the small steam scow "Squak", "Laura Maud", "Elfin", "Hattie Hansen" (also known as "Sechelt"), and "Mist". Other early steamboats on the lake were "Kirkland" and "Mary Kraft". G.V. Johnson also built a shipyard on the lake in 1888, and from it launched, among others, the steamers "L.T. Haas",
Lake Washington is now the primary source of water for Lake Washington. In addition, there are numerous small creeks and rivers which feed the lake, including: Before construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1916, Lake Washington's outlet was the Black River, which joined the Duwamish River and emptied into Elliott Bay. When the canal was opened the level of the lake dropped nearly nine feet (2.7 m). The canal to the Puget Sound became the lake's sole outlet, causing the Black River to dry up and disappear. Concrete floating bridges are employed to span the lake because Lake Washington's depth