Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography

Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography by David B. Williams

Seattle's Mohai museum has 3d model of Seattle where you can hit to "bring down" the changes in the city's topography. Land has been reclaimed from many areas, especially along the Duwamish. Water has also been extended via the ship canal to connect Lake Washington to the ocean. These are some impressive engineering accomplishments. This book details the various changes along with the process and people behind them.

The book begins with a history of how Seattle was shaped in the first place. Volcanos, earthquakes and glaciers all have played important roles in shaping the Seattle we know. The Duwamish and other tribes have occupied the area for some time and have caused some minor changes in the landscape (mostly from coastal "garbage dumps") The big changes came with the white settlers and especially transportation. They wanted a railroad. They needed a way for it to get places. Thus they built trestles over tideflats.  Why not fill in the tideflats to get more land and make it easier? And it was done. Hills seemed to impede the city. Why not use mining experience to sluice one away. Done! A canal? Sure. There were plans for more flattening, but they eventually fell by the wayside.

The great topographical engineering era ended with the great depression. The economic benefit of flattening ended up not being as great as expected, and the distance from water may have made it more difficult to sluice other hills. The dominance of the car also changed the calculus. Cars were not as impeded by topography, and thus instead of flattening hills, the new change was to demolish neighborhoods to make way for highways. A tunnel might by used to get around some steep spots. 

The author has gone out to identify many of the areas where great projects have taken place. He has traveled to many of the modern places that have been significantly impacted by this geo-engineering efforts. This would make for a nice "tour" of Seattle.