Lake Washington (other)

Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle.
It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, Bellevue and Kirkland on the east, Renton on the south and Kenmore on the north, and encloses Mercer Island. The lake is fed by the Sammamish River at its north end and the Cedar River at its south.

Lake Washington received its present name in 1854 after Thomas Mercer suggested it be named after George Washington, as the new Washington Territory had been named the year before. Earlier names for the lake include the Duwamish name ''Xacuabš'' ( Lushootseed: literally "''xacu''" ''great-amount-of-water + "abš" people''), which referred to peoples who stayed along the coastline of Lake Washington, as well as Lake Geneva by Isaac N. Ebey; Lake Duwamish in railroad surveys under Governor Isaac Stevens; At-sar-kal in a map sketched by engineer Abiel W. Tinkham; and the Chinook Jargon name, "Hyas Chuck," or "It-Kow-Chug" 'big lake'.Historical Changes to Lake Washington and Route of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, King County, Washington
Michael Chrzastowski, United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior

The lake provides sport fishing opportunities. Some species found in this lake are Coastal Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Yellow Perch, and Black Crappie.

Geography

A ribbon lake, Lake Washington is long, narrow and finger-like. Ribbon lakes are excavated by glaciers. As the Puget lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet flowed south near the end of the Late Pleistocene, it met bands of harder and softer rock. Erosion of the softer rock was faster and a linear depression was created in the flow direction. When the glacier melted, the lake filled with the meltwater, which was retained by moraine deposits. A dam can also be created by the bands of harder rock either side of the softer rock. There is usually a river at both ends of a ribbon lake, one being the inlet, and the other, the outlet—though in the case of present-day Lake Washington, inlet rivers are located at both ends, with a man-made outlet in the middle. Two seaplane bases, Kenmore Air Harbor and Will Rogers – Wiley Post Memorial Seaplane Base, have air travel passenger terminals.

Creeks and rivers

The main inflowing rivers are the Sammamish and Cedar Rivers, with the Cedar supplying most of the water. Seasonal changes in the flow of the Sammamish are moderated by a weir at the Lake Sammamish inlet.

The lake is drained by the Lake Washington Ship Canal.

In addition, there are numerous small creeks and rivers which feed the lake, including:

* Coal Creek
* Denny Creek ( O.O. Denny Park)
* Fairweather Creek
* Forbes Creek
* Juanita Creek
* Kelsey Creek
* Little Creek
* Lyon Creek
* Mapes Creek
* May Creek
* McAleer Creek
* Mercer Slough
* Ravenna Creek
* Taylor Creek
* Thornton Creek
* Yarrow Creek
* Yesler Creek

Historically, construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal drastically changed the inflow and outflow of the lake. Before construction of the canal in 1916, Lake Washington's outlet was the Black River, which joined the Duwamish River

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