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Ghost Lakes · Street Smart Naturalist

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Greetings all.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is David B.
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  SPEAKER_00: Williams and the podcast of my newsletter,
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  SPEAKER_00: The Street Smart Naturalist,
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  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind.
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  Every week I share my observations and adventures with the
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  human and natural world
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  SPEAKER_00: around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode returns to ghost, this time to Seattle's ghost lakes.
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  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about my work, please go to my website, geologywriter.com.
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  You will also find a link to my Substack newsletter and my
• 0:31
  previous three years of newsletters,
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  SPEAKER_00: as well as images tied to this week's episode.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining me on this adventure,
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  SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Podcast 5 of the Street Smart Naturalists,
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  SPEAKER_00: Ghost Lakes,
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  SPEAKER_00: December 26,
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  SPEAKER_00: 2024.
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  SPEAKER_00: A couple of weeks ago, I explored the world of ghost creeks in Seattle.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now I'd like to turn to ghost lakes.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like ghost creeks,
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  SPEAKER_00: these are bodies of water that have been overlooked,
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  SPEAKER_00: buried,
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  SPEAKER_00: or long forgotten.
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  SPEAKER_00: They are far rarer on the landscape,
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  SPEAKER_00: though some still rise from the dead and haunt their former landscapes.
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  SPEAKER_00: I know of only two ghost lakes that merited names.
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  SPEAKER_00: The northern one was Oak Lake.
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  Located roughly between North 100th and 107th streets and
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  Ashworth Avenue North and
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  SPEAKER_00: Aurora Avenue North,
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  SPEAKER_00: the small lake does not show up on any maps.
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  We know about it from a couple of photographs and because it
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  inspired the name of
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  SPEAKER_00: the Oak Lake School.
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  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps the oddest aspect of the lake was the use of the name oak.
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  SPEAKER_00: What makes this unusual is that oaks were never common in Seattle.
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  SPEAKER_00: They probably grew only at Oak Lake and south of Seward Park.
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  We have no clue when Oak Lake disappeared,
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  but as a ghost,
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  a tiny artificial hint remains.
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  SPEAKER_00: In 2013,
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  the Seattle Public Utilities completed the Midvale Stormwater
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  Pond in the vicinity
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  SPEAKER_00: of the former Oak Lake.
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  Seattle's other named ghost lake was first noted in an 1855
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  survey of what is now
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  SPEAKER_00: Sandpoint Magnuson Park.
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  SPEAKER_00: Described as a small lake in a swamp,
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  SPEAKER_00: it appears to have inspired the native place name,
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  SPEAKER_00: which means digging in the water.
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  SPEAKER_00: The name probably refers to wapato,
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  SPEAKER_00: which were potato-like tubers collected in the wetlands around the lake.
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  SPEAKER_00: Mud Lake, as settlers called it, first shows up on USGS maps from 1894.
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  The lake covered about 40 acres and was home to cutthroat trout
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  and non-native bass and perch.
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  Mud Lake shrank in 1916 after Lake Washington was lowered by 9
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  feet for the ship canal.
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  It died in the 1930s when WPA workers covered the flat area
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  with landing strips for
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  SPEAKER_00: the Sandpoint Naval Air Station.
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  SPEAKER_00: But as ghosts are wont to do,
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  Mud Lake partially arose from the dead in 2009 with a
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  restoration project that
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  SPEAKER_00: established wetlands and small ponds in the vicinity of the former lake.
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  I suspect that Seattle may have had other ponds and lakes that
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  disappeared before
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  SPEAKER_00: they earned a name.
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  SPEAKER_00: In particular, I'm thinking of the bogs that formerly existed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Each of these wetlands consisted of a small pond,
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  SPEAKER_00: such as Mud Lake,
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  SPEAKER_00: surrounded by plants including sphagnum moss,
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  SPEAKER_00: bog laurel,
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  SPEAKER_00: Labrador tea,
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  SPEAKER_00: and sundew.
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  All were gone by at least the mid-1950s,
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  though two still ghost their former homes.
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  SPEAKER_00: Covered by a grassy field,
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  The former bog and pond of Big Swamp keep the ground at Dahl
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  Playfield damp and spongy.
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  Another more destructive bog in the Greenwood neighborhood has
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  led to sinkholes,
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  SPEAKER_00: buckled sidewalks,
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  SPEAKER_00: and sunk foundations and roads.
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  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately for property owners,
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  SPEAKER_00: this bog's poltergeist is persistent and continues to disrupt the area.
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  I also would be remiss as a geodork if I didn't mention our two
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  largest ghost lakes,
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  SPEAKER_00: Glacial Lake Bretts and Glacial Lake Russell.
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  SPEAKER_00: Toward the end of the last ice age,
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  SPEAKER_00: the great glacier that covered the Puget lowland began to melt.
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  This led to the glacier's snout acting as a dam,
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  which retreated to the north.
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  SPEAKER_00: As water from this melting glacier,
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  SPEAKER_00: as well as from mountain glaciers,
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  SPEAKER_00: drained into what we now call Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: a multi-fingered body of water known as Glacial Lake Russell formed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Covering all of the South Sound,
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  it extended as far north as Linwood and had shorelines as high
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  as 380 feet above
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  SPEAKER_00: present sea level.
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  SPEAKER_00: Younger and covering more ground to the north was glacial Lake Bretts.
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  SPEAKER_00: The two lakes persisted for perhaps a thousand years or more.
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  SPEAKER_00: The most visual evidence of these lakes are deltaic gravel deposits.
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  They were mined for decades at places such as Richmond Beach
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  Park and what is now
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  SPEAKER_00: Chambers Bay Golf Course.
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  Seattle also had what I would consider to be honorary ghost
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  lakes in that few
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  SPEAKER_00: people seem to know they exist.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I had long known of one of them,
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  SPEAKER_00: Haller Lake,
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  SPEAKER_00: but never gotten to its shores.
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  SPEAKER_00: The one time I tried,
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  I ran down what turned out to be a private lane and encountered
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  a less than
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  SPEAKER_00: friendly resident.
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  I thought all the access roads were private until I looked at a
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  map and found two
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  SPEAKER_00: public street ends.
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  When I visited them the other day,
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  I found a quiet lake,
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  a nice bench,
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  and many docks.
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  SPEAKER_00: The access roads,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you're interested,
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  SPEAKER_00: are Meridian Avenue North,
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  SPEAKER_00: south of North 128th Street,
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  SPEAKER_00: and North 125th Street,
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  east of densmore avenue north which takes you to an official
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  street end park easier
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  to access is bitter lake which was once a station on the
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  seattle everett interurban
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  it was also the site of a farm where you could buy crystal
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  white orpingtons
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  award-winning egg layers of the poultry kind surrounded on
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  three sides by buildings
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  the lake opens to bitter lake playfield on the south end the
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  name comes from a
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  SPEAKER_00: sawmill next to the lake
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  SPEAKER_00: After tannic acid got dumped into the lake,
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  SPEAKER_00: it became too bitter for horses to drink,
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  SPEAKER_00: or so the legend goes.
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  SPEAKER_00: The sawmill has not existed for decades.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like most urban areas,
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  Seattle has erased much of its surface aqua system under
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  concrete and buildings.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ironically,
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  the city has had to build a new infrastructure to address the
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  attributes provided
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  SPEAKER_00: by the ghosted lakes and creeks.
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  These benefits include improving water quality and habitat and
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  reducing flooding
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  SPEAKER_00: and sediment retention.
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  Addressing these issues has led the city to develop a new aqua
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  structure of
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  SPEAKER_00: detention and stonewater ponds,
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  SPEAKER_00: such as Midvale.
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  SPEAKER_00: At least 53 exist, dotted across the city.
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  SPEAKER_00: They are the ghosts of waterways pasts.
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  A subtle reminder that water has long been central to the story
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  and will continue
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  SPEAKER_00: to shape it long into its future.
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  SPEAKER_00: Once again,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
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  SPEAKER_00: Williams,
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  author and voice of the Seattle Street Smart Naturalist
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  Explorations of the Urban Kind,
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  a weekly newsletter and podcast focusing on the human and
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  natural world around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
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  SPEAKER_00: For more information about my books,
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: walks,
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  SPEAKER_00: and talks,
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: and a link to sign up for my newsletter and podcast,
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: check out my website,
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: geologywriter.com.
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  And please,
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  don't forget to slow down,
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  pay attention,
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  and enjoy the world around you.