Maps
For time immemorial, the River flowed without need for formal mapping. For food and travel, native populations navigated the inevitable tidal and seasonal flooding. Colonization and industrialization deemed the inevitable unacceptable. In 1907, regional authorities engaged United States Army Corps of Engineers Major Hiram Chittenden to “make a study of the flood problem in the Duwamish-Puyallup valleys and outline a plan for preventing the recurrence of such disasters as that caused by the flood of November, 1906.”
The resulting report included panelized, detailed surveys of the White, Puyallup, Green and Duwamish rivers. I utilize this mapping by layering it over current maps to pinpoint locations within the landscape where Duwamish waters once flowed.
Page excerpts from Chittenden's 1907 flood report. The full text of Chittenden's 1907 report is available online at https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/ww-text/id/13279
Key to map from Chittenden's 1907 flood report
Topographic survey sheet 3 from Chittenden's 1907 flood report
Excerpt from Google maps with tags showing my saved locations related to the Duwamish River current and former watersheds.
Excerpt from the layered maps I use to pinpoint locations where the Rivers once flowed.
Assembly of all 31 topographic survey sheets from Chittenden's 1907 flood report
1888 King County, Washington map depicting a pre-contact Lake Washington and White, Cedar, and Duwamish Rivers
“Historical Changes to Lake Washington and Route of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, King County, Washington” 1983 report and maps by Michael Chrzastowkowski via United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey