User:Generalissima/Duwamish River

''This is a rewrite attempt. For the actual Duwamish River page, see Duwamish River''

Name
The Lushootseed term, referred to the inland region centered on the confluence of the Duwamish, Black, Cedar and Green rivers. dxʷdəw was a major center of settlement, with multiple towns. dxʷdəw may have initially been the name of a single village in the region.

The Duwamish people take their name from this region. Euro-American settlers named the river after the Duwamish tribe in the early 19th century.

Historic (pre-1906)
Prior to the rerouting efforts of the early 20th century, the Duwamish River formed from the confluence of the White and Black River, the latter draining Lake Washington into the Duwamish. The river proceeded through various meanders down the Duwamish Valley, before opening into salt marshes near the delta. The delta's mudflats stretched a great distance into Elliott Bay, with their northeastern extent in the vicinity of Pioneer Square.

Present
In its present course, the Duwamish is 12 miles in length. The Green River becomes the Duwamish at the confluence with the remnants of the Black River in Fort Dent Park, Tukwila, adjacent to the city limits of Renton. It flows through various bends in Tukwila, before broadening into the Duwamish Waterway shortly before entering Seattle city limits adjacent to Boeing Field. The waterway splits into east and west channels at the artificial Harbor Island before reaching Elliott Bay.

Bridges
Going upstream from the river's source, a small pedestrian bridge crosses the river at the Foster Golf Course. 56th Avenue S, Interstate 5, 42nd Ave S, East Marginal Way, and Tukwila International Boulevard cross the river in Tukwila, alongside a pedestrian bridge at S 119th St. Straddling the city limits of Seattle is the South Park Bridge. Within the city itself are the First Avenue South Bridge and West Seattle Bridge. The Spokane Street Swing Bridge spans the western channel of the Duwamish Waterway, connecting the Harbor Island to West Seattle.

Geology
The oldest rocks in the Duwamish valley are Eocene sedimentary rocks of the Puget Group, subdivided into the Renton and Tukwila Formations, the latter interrupted by isolated andesite sills. A separate formation of marine sedimentary rocks contains shallow-water marine fossils mixed with volcaniclastic rocks. Additional sedimentary rocks date from Oligocene in the Blakeley Formation. Initially the current coastline was the edge of a large flat plain stretching to the Rockies, akin to the Mississippi basin. The subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate under the North American Plate formed the Cascade Range along the coast in the late Eocene, around 36 mya (million years ago). In the late Oligocene, around 25 mya, the mountains were subject to another round of uplifting. Recieving heavy rainfall, the earliest iterations of the Cascade rivers had formed by this period, although flowed in a more northwesterly direction. The Green River likely flowed through much of the Cedar's course during this period.

The Puget lowlands have been scoured by the expansion of the Cordilleran ice sheet during a series of six glaciations over the course of the Quaternary period. Each expansion led to a tongue of ice termed the "Puget Lobe" filling the lowland region between the Cascade and Olympic ranges. The Vashon Stade, the most recent of these glaciations, lasted from c. 15,000-13,000 BCE, forming the majority of the topography of the Puget Sound. During this period, Seattle and the future Duwamish river were buried under at least 3000 ft of ice. The present landscape of the region sits atop several hundred meters of glacial sediment.

The Duwamish valley was scoured by glacial meltwater from the Cordilleran ice sheet. A large freshwater lake, fed by the meltwater, formed in the southern Puget Sound as the ice retreated following the glacial maximum. Recessional outwash was deposited atop the channels. By c. 12,900 BCE, the Puget Lobe had retreated northward to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, allowing seawater to fill the basin. This was offset by significant post-glacial rebound of up to 650 ft in the northern lowlands, which was partially overcome by a 300 ft sea level rise over the succeeding millennia.

Following these rise of sea levels, a large inlet of the Puget Sound occupied what would later become the Duwamish, stretching to the present location of Auburn. Marine shells have been found in fossil deposits in the Duwamish valley, including barnacles and molluscs such as mussels, periwinkles, and limpets. The Green River formed a delta on the southeastern bank of the inlet. Further inland, the Puyallup split into two distributaries, flowing alternatively into deltas at the Duwamish and Puyallup inlets. Around 3700 BCE, a large lahar known as the Osceola Mudflow erupted from the collapsing northeastern flank of Mount Rainier, filling the two inlets with volcanic debris.

Late Holocene geologic formations in the region feature a significant portion of alluvial deposits alongside lahar sediment. Following the Osceola Mudflow, significant progradation and aggradation, eventually channeling the river into roughly its historic course. The Duwamish delta prograded at a rate of roughly 21 ft a year following the mudflow, alongside additional aggradation from periodic smaller landslides and lahars from Mount Rainier.

History
Lushootseed-speaking Coast Salish peoples occupied the region for thousands of years prior to colonization. The earliest evidence of human habitation in the Duwamish watershed dates to c. 12,000 BCE. The eponymous Duwamish people occupied the river basin prior to colonization. The lower river valley was densely populated, with three major settlements. túʔulʔaltxʷ ("Herring's House") had a large potlatch house and at least three longhouses. Across the estuary at tutúɬaqs ("Little-bit-straight Point") were another three longhouses. Slightly inland was the village of yəlíqʷad ("Basketry Hat"), with three large longhouses abandoned during a regional smallpox epidemic in the 1770s. Denser settlement increased towards the Duwamish heartland in the dxʷdəw, with at least three towns located in the region prior to American settlement. Coast Salish villages were typically comprised of longhouses occupied by extended families. The density of settlement in the Duwamish river valley allowed for relative ease of trade and communication.

Pacific salmon, caught in the Duwamish and adjacent rivers, was the staple protein of local Coast Salish. It could be readily preserved via smoking or drying, and different species of salmon had predictable and seasonal runs. Edible seaweeds and shellfish such as oysters, geoduck, and cockles were gathered from the massive mud flats at the river's mouth, with low tides revealing several miles of exposed mud. Further inland, the Duwamish valley opened into forests containing the useful Douglas fir and redcedar, as well as game such as deer. Harbor seals, able to travel several miles upriver, were hunted. Plants such as berries and camas, at times managed by controlled burns, were also staple food sources.

Colonial settlement
Although the Hudson's Bay Company loosely administered the Puget Sound area as part of the Columbia District fur-trading region, indigenous interactions with the company were mainly limited to the outpost at Fort Nisqually. In 1846, with increasing numbers of settlers traveling the Oregon Trail, the area was officially transferred to full United States control and colonists began to settle in what was to become the Washington Territory.In the spring or summer of 1850, Colonel Isaac Ebey conducted surveying in the area, canoeing down a portion of the river and recording it as the "Dewams". John Holgate also canoed down the Duwamish along with two hired native guides that summer. He considered settling, but ultimately did not stake a claim until returning to the area until 1853. In September 1851, a party of homesteaders including Luther Collins, Henry Van Asselt, and Jacob Maple traveled from California to the Duwamish valley to stake farm claims. Collins held the largest of the initial land claims, a 640 acre riverside parcel encompassing the modern neighborhood of Georgetown and portions of Beacon Hill. Joseph and Stephen Foster settled further upriver in 1853 and began logging operations. Livestock were introduced to the region following settlement, and forests were cleared for pastureland. Coal was discovered on the upper Green River in the 1850s, with large scale operations commencing in the 1880s.

Following the outbreak of the Puget Sound War in 1855, a military blockhouse was erected at the former site of a Duwamish village near the source of the river, now Fort Dent. Following the ratification of the Treaty of Point Elliott, the Duwamish were briefly relocated to the Port Madison Indian Reservation across the Puget Sound. A lack of resources and conflicts with the Suquamish prompted the majority to return to their traditional territory along the Duwamish river by late 1856. By the summer of 1857, around 300 Duwamish resided at tutúɬaqs (Little-bit-straight-point). Some later joined the Muckleshoot. Those that remained in the valley were subject to settler attacks and arsons over the following decades, but by 1910 still had a small village at the former settlement of Foster, along the upper Duwamish.

After logjams on the river were cleared for boat access during the 1870s, disrupting salmon habitats, the Puget Sound mosquito fleet offered passenger ferry service on the Duwamish. The industry declined in the 1920s due to the spread of automobiles.

Development
Following Northern Pacific's decision to place the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railway in Tacoma, the Seattle government began investment into efforts for a separate regional railway line to compete with Northern Pacific. In July 1873, Seattle and Walla Walla incorporated and began selling shares, initially seeking to build a line across the Cascades to connect the city to eastern Washington. The city council bestowed the Duwamish estuary tide flats to the company, which began surveying efforts that winter. Massive numbers of community volunteers (who worked in exchange for shares in the company) began construction work in May 1874, regrading and laying track along the Duwamish valley. The tide flats proved a formidable barrier to railway development, and no attempt was made to cross it until a massive investment by James Colman into the struggling railway company in 1876. Beginning in May, former police chief Joe Surber was contracted to pile drive the flats, with a work crew constructing a trestle bridge that remained significantly above water at high tide. Construction on the Seattle and Walla Walla completed in August and October, stretching only as far east as Renton.

The original trestle, weakened by shipworms, was abandoned following the railroad's sale and rebranding as the Columbia and Puget Sound. A second trestle was constructed by Surber, generally following the modern course of Interstate 5. Increasing amounts of land in the northern estuary and tide flats was "wharfed" and subject to industrial development. Inexpensive but notoriously foul-smelling and low-quality land, "undesirable" groups such as Chinese immigrants and prostitutes were largely relegated to the landfill development by social and economic pressure.

The tidal flats originally deeded to the Seattle and Walla Walla now theoretically belonged to the Northern Pacific itself. The company declined to take action following Henry Yesler's expansion into the Duwamish estuary, triggering a large land rush into the region. In the mid-1890s, expansive railway terminal development proposals by Virgil Bogue were countered by City Engineer Reginald H. Thomson, arguing that it would interfere with the future development of the Duwamish delta. Through the 1890s, governor Eugene Semple launched an ambitious to build a canal through the Duwamish tide flats into Lake Washington, using material displaced to reclaim much of the delta. Washington Legislature approved the formation of dredging and diking districts in 1895.

Rerouting
In 1899, after a riverside bluff was explosively levelled by local farmers, much of the White River was diverted into the Stuck, previously a small distributary. This greatly lessened the yearly floods of the Duwamish Valley in southern King County, but worsened the situation in neighboring Pierce County, leading to tensions between residents of the two counties. Following lawsuits by Pierce County farmers, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the rerouting was legal. In November 1906, following heavy rainfall and the rapid melting of Cascade snows, the White River flooded large portions of the Duwamish valley. Although the area around Kent was completely flooded, waters rapidly receded after a log jam south of Auburn diverted the entirety of the White River into the Stuck. Following further legal battles and King County's deployment of armed guards into the valley to prevent a further rerouting, city engineer Hiram M. Chittenden moved to support maintain the river's new course. The Green River, now separated from the White, continued its flow into the Duwamish.

A lack of progress since the previous failed attempt led to congressional lobbying by Chittenden for federal investment into the canal. The Lake Washington Ship Canal and Ballard Locks were constructed in the 1910s, leading to the lowering of Lake Washington's water level by nine feet. To reduce flooding, the tributary Cedar River was rerouted into Lake Washington, greatly reducing flow to the Black. The river was reduced to a small creek occupying only a portion of its previous course.

Spring chinook and sockeye salmon runs in the Duwamish greatly declined over the twentieth century, likely due to the river's rerouting.

Channeling and reclamation
In 1900, the Seattle General Construction Company was given the permit to fill the Duwamish estuary tide flats. The Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company was contracted to build an island on the flats using soil dredged from the river, as well as earth displaced during contemporary regrading efforts such as the Denny Regrade. The lone resident of the remaining tidal flats, a chicken farmer named Charles Butler, was evicted from the area. Construction of the Harbor Island was finalized in 1909, dividing the mouth of the Duwamish into east and west channels.

In 1909, the Washington State Legislature authorized the creation of improvement districts to expand the lower Duwamish for the access of larger ships, as well as construct a ship canal allowing access to Lake Washington. These improvement districts would have the ability to issue bonds and levy taxes. King County voters approved a $1.75 million bond issue the following year. Efforts to expand the port were briefly blocked by legal intervention from rail interests, but these were opposed by other businesses. Governor Marion Hay supported the creation of a public port, which was instituted in March 1911 by the Port District Act. This act authorized the creation of port districts to construct and manage harbor facilities, including waterways. The Port of Seattle was created to expand the Duwamish Waterway and manage local harbor facilities. A former Populist union organizer, Robert Bridges, was chosen to represent the port's southern district, having previously campaigned as state land commissioner for improvements to the waterway.

The imminent opening of the Panama Canal prompted large-scale port development in Seattle, with voters approving a plan by Bogue calling for a series of massive piers to be constructed on the island. This was heavily opposed by Hiram M. Chittenden, now Port Commissioner, due to large investment restricting the Port's development resources. After construction bonds were posted, the Port Commission voided the bonds and shifted pier construction to Elliot Bay.

Further industrialization
Seattle's early sewer system, constructed in the first decade of the 1900s, pumped sewage and wastewater into local water sources, such as the Duwamish and Lake Washington. The sewer systems of Auburn, Kent, and Renton, constructed over the following decades, discharged untreated sewage into the tributaries of the Duwamish. Following worsening water conditions in the 1930s, several sewage pipelines previously discharging into Lake Washington were instead redirected to the river. The river's first sewage treatment plant was established along the river in 1940.

Shipyards were established on the Harbor Island and the Duwamish Waterway during the early 1910s. During World War II, dry docks owned by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation greatly expanded industrial production on the Harbor Island. Boeing Plant 2, a military aircraft production facility, was constructed in the 1930s adjacent to the Duwamish and Boeing Field.

Contemporary history
In 1977, the remains of an ancient Native American village were discovered by a University of Washington team on the western bank of the river near Kellogg Island. This interrupted the Port of Seattle's construction of Terminal 107. The area was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as Duwamish #1 Site and left undeveloped for several decades. Terminal 107 Park was constructed on the site in 2000, later renamed to həʔapus Village Park and Shoreline Habitat.

Modern sources describe the Duwamish as transiting a "land of concrete".

Flora
Marsh restoration efforts has

Fauna
Salmon runs of various species traverse the Duwamish to access Green River spawning grounds. Chinook, chum, and coho salmon are the most common, although pink and sockeye salmon are rarely found. Steelhead and cutthroat trout are found in the river, with occasional instances of bull trout. Chinook and chum juveniles often reside in the Duwamish estuary, although may be threatened by river lamprey. Shiner perch, staghorn sculpin, snake prickleback, starry flounder, and Pacific sand lance are commonly found. Sculpins and flounder frequently travel a significant distance upriver, able to tolerate low salinity environments. Freshwater species in the river include redside shiner, mountain whitefish, and largescale suckers.

Birds such as the great blue heron, western grebe, merganser, cormorant, pigeon guillemont, and kingfisher prey on juvenile salmon in the Duwamish estuary.

Recreation
The Port of Seattle owns various public parks along the Duwamish Waterway. Terminal 18 Park sits on the southwestern edge of the Harbor Island. On the western shoreline of the waterway are t̓uʔəlaltxʷ Village Park and həʔapus Village Park, near the Duwamish Longhouse. Jack Perry Park and sbəq̓ʷaʔ Park are on the eastern shore of the waterway in SoDo. Around the South Park neighborhood are Duwamish Waterway Park, t̓ałt̓ałucid Park, Duwamish River People's Park, and Salmon Cove Park, all on the western bank. The Lushootseed names t̓uʔəlaltxʷ, həʔapus, sbəq̓ʷaʔ, and t̓ałt̓ałucid, alongside Salmon Cove and Duwamish River People's Park, were implemented after community comment in October 2020. These parks were previously named after shipping terminals and streets, described as confusing and difficult to locate.

River histories
Cummings, BJ. The River That Made Seattle: A Human and Natural History of the Duwamish. University of Washington Press, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv125jv8s.

Duwamish-Green Watershed, HistoryLink, 2016. https://www.historylink.org/File/20272

Sato, Mike. The Price of Taming a River: The Decline of Puget Sound's Duwamish/Green Waterway. The Mountaineers, Seattle. 1997

Hanson, Howard A. “More Land for Industry: The Story of Flood Control in the Green River Valley.” The Pacific Northwest Quarterly 48, no. 1 (1957): 1–7. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40487215.

Histories of Seattle

Klingle, Matthew. Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle. Yale University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1npdq8.

ASAKA, MEGAN. “Urban Roots of Puget Sound Agriculture.” In Seattle from the Margins: Exclusion, Erasure, and the Making of a Pacific Coast City, 44–76. University of Washington Press, 2022. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv360nrbv.6.

Government reports

Chris Magan, Timothy Clark, Kate Macneale, Martin Grassley, Bob Bernhard, and Dean Wilson Water Quality Assessment and Monitoring Study: Analysis of Existing Data on the Duwamish Estuary https://your.kingcounty.gov/dnrp/library/2017/kcr2934/kcr2934.pdf

City of Seattle's Salmon Team. Seattle's Urban Blueprint for Habitat Protection and Restoration, Dec. 2003; Chp 9 Duwamish Estuary https://www.seattle.gov/util/cs/groups/public/@spu/@conservation/documents/webcontent/spu01_002696.pdf

Reconnaissance Assessment of the STATE OF THE NEARSHORE ECOSYSTEM, 2001 https://kingcounty.gov/en/legacy/services/environment/watersheds/central-puget-sound/nearshore-environments/reconnaissance-assessment

Historical Aquatic Habitats in the Green and Duwamish River Valleys and the Elliott Bay Nearshore, King County, Washington https://your.kingcounty.gov/dnrp/library/2005/kcr2038.pdf

Lower Duwamish River Habitat Restoration Plan: An Inventory of Port of Seattle Properties https://www.portseattle.org/sites/default/files/2018-03/Final_DuwamishMP_20090716.pdf

Trustees Release Final Restoration Plan for Natural Resources Injured by Hazardous Substances Releases into Lower Duwamish River, Washington https://www.doi.gov/restoration/news/final-restoration-plan-for-lower-duwamish-river-released

Environmental scholarship

PURCELL, MARK. “ECOLOGICAL DEMOCRACY AND THE DUWAMISH RIVER CLEANUP.” In Urban Cascadia and the Pursuit of Environmental Justice, edited by NIK JANOS and CORINA MCKENDRY, 222–38. University of Washington Press, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv21r3pk6.15.

Janos, Nik. “Urbanising Territory: The Contradictions of Eco-Cityism at the Industrial Margins, Duwamish River, Seattle.” Urban Studies 57, no. 11 (2020): 2282–99. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26959578.

Simenstad, Charles, Curtis Tanner, Caren Crandell, Jacques White, and Jeffery Cordell. “Challenges of Habitat Restoration in a Heavily Urbanized Estuary: Evaluating the Investment.” Journal of Coastal Research, 2005, 6–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25736612.

Dierwechter, Yonn. “BACKGROUND: SEATTLE'S GREEN DEVELOPMENT STORY.” In Climate Change and the Future of Seattle, 15–34. Anthem Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv22d4tcq.6.

Williams, David B. “Filling in the Duwamish River Tideflats.” In Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle's Topography, 63–107. University of Washington Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcwnk3t.10.

Kramer, Chin & Mayo, Inc. “West Seattle Freeway Bridge Replacement: Landscape Design Development.” Landscape Architecture 72, no. 5 (1982): 104–104. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44669866.

Morley, Sarah A., Jason D. Toft, and Karrie M. Hanson. “Ecological Effects of Shoreline Armoring on Intertidal Habitats of a Puget Sound Urban Estuary.” Estuaries and Coasts 35, no. 3 (2012): 774–84. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41486668

Francisco, L. M. D., & Clark, R. C. (1994). ''The Elliott Bay/Duwamish restoration program: A status report. Coastal Management, 22(3), 309–317.'' doi:10.1080/08920759409362238

News coverage

Elizabeth Mai, International Examiner, Program teaches youth about Seattle's Duwamish River and its toxic seafood https://iexaminer.org/program-teaches-youth-about-seattles-duwamish-river-and-its-toxic-seafood/

Lulu Ramadan, Seattle Times, The secret dispute behind cleaning Seattle's only river https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/toxic-legacy-of-duwamish-river-could-cost-boeing-taxpayers-1-billion/

Boeing discharge to Duwamish River violates PCB standards https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/boeing-discharge-to-duwamish-violates-pcb-standards/

Candace Cheung, Courthouse News Service, https://www.courthousenews.com/seattle-can-pursue-claim-against-monsanto-for-river-contamination-judge-rules/

Isabella Breda, Seattle Times EPA pitches $290 million cleanup for Duwamish Superfund site https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/epa-pitches-290-million-cleanup-for-duwamish-superfund-site/

Bridge information

South Park (14th Avenue S) Bridge spanning the Duwamish Waterway opens to traffic on March 21, 1931, HistoryLink https://www.historylink.org/File/9470

South Park Bridge, Duwamish Waterway, King County, 1931-2010, HistoryLink https://www.historylink.org/File/10937

Misc sources
Accessing Nature in One of Seattle's Most Industrial Neighborhoods https://www.washingtonnature.org/fieldnotes/nature-nearby/accessing-nature-duwamish-valley (information about parks)

All Over the Map: Kellogg Island is a 19th-century time capsule https://mynorthwest.com/1410710/kellogg-island-19th-century-time-capsule/ (Information about Kellogg Island)