Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle's Topography

by David B. Williams

Overview

Residents and visitors in today’s Seattle would barely recognize the landscape that its founding settlers first encountered. As the city grew, its leaders and inhabitants dramatically altered its topography to accommodate their changing visions. In Too High and Too Steep, David B. Williams uses his deep knowledge of Seattle, scientific background, and extensive research and interviews to illuminate the physical challenges and sometimes startling hubris of these large-scale transformations, from the filling in of the Duwamish tideflats to the massive regrading project that pared down Denny Hill.

In the course of telling this fascinating story, Williams helps readers find visible traces of the city’s former landscape and better understand Seattle as a place that has been radically reshaped.

Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af51FU8hHLI

Too High and Too Steep was made possible in part by a grant from 4Culture's Heritage Program.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295999401
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	03/01/2017
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	498,057
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David B. Williams is the author of several books, including Cairns: Messengers in Stone and The Seattle Street-Smart Naturalist: Field Notes from the City. He lives in Seattle.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xi

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Time Line of Topographic Events in Seattle xxi

Introduction 3

1 Geology 15

2 Seattle's Historic Downtown Shoreline 31

3 Filling in the Duwamish River Tideflats 63

4 Replumbing the Lakes 109

5 Regrading Denny Hill 143

6 We Shape the Land and the Land Shapes Us 191

Appendix Volume of Dirt Moved in Seattle via Topographic Reshaping 205

Notes 207

Index 225

What People are Saying About This

Lyanda Lynn Haupt

"In Too High and Too Steep, geologist David B. Williams serves as an erudite and witty guide to the ever-changing topography of our city. The story is fast-paced and alive, from native middens, to the Denny regrade, to the modern dismantling of the viaduct. After reading this book, I look out over Seattle, and I can almost feel the earth moving beneath my feet."

Garth Stein

"Too High and Too Steep is a wonderful, fascinating, and surprisingly poignant rendering of the birth of Seattle, my favorite city. Scrubbed for millions of years by glaciers, inhabited for thousands of years by Native Americans, sculpted for decades by men with volcanic egos, the spirit of Seattle remains true to itself, and yet is informed by the many tremendous forces drawn out in Williams's engrossing, captivating tale. I loved this fabulous book, and consider it required reading for anyone interested in the Northwest and the history of American cities."

Editorial Reviews

"Williams does a marvelous job of evoking the cityscape that used to be. He clues us in to the spirit of civic ambition that drove Seattle’s geographical transformations. He methodically chronicles the stages by which its regrade, canal and landfill projects were accomplished. And he’s meticulous about placing his readers on present-day street corners where they can, with some sleight of mind, glimpse the hills, lake shores and tide flats that vanished."

Seattle Times - Michael Upchurch

"This engaging and informative history will surprise many readers, providing them with a glimpse of how Seattle looked not too long ago. ... Williams's book is a comprehensive study of the early settlers' relationship with Seattle's unique landscape and of how that early relationship continues to influence the city."

Pacific Northwest Quarterly

"[An] absorbing and accessible book. . . . [A] fascinating guided tour that residents and visitors can utilize to envision a changing place. I plan to carry it the next time I visit Seattle, and I hope that both its library sales and holiday gift sales will be brisk."

Western Historical Quarterly - Carl Abbott

"Williams does a marvelous job of evoking the cityscape that used to be. He clues us in to the spirit of civic ambition that drove Seattle's geographical transformations. He methodically chronicles the stages by which its regrade, canal and landfill projects were accomplished. And he's meticulous about placing his readers on present-day street corners where they can, with some sleight of mind, glimpse the hills, lake shores and tide flats that vanished."—Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times

"[An] absorbing and accessible book. . . . [A] fascinating guided tour that residents and visitors can utilize to envision a changing place. I plan to carry it the next time I visit Seattle, and I hope that both its library sales and holiday gift sales will be brisk."—Carl Abbott, Western Historical Quarterly

From the Publisher

"Williams is a brilliant writer who combines an intense and scholarly curiosity with in-the-field research, and has a gift for explaining—[he] offers a detailed yet sweeping overview of the way Seattle’s landscape has literally been reshaped."

Crosscut - Knute Berger

"[M]asterful...history of Seattle topography."

Seattle Times / Pacific NW Magazine

"A great story about the beginnings of Seattle. The focus is the topography of our city, but Williams fills in all the details on politics, the economy, our original neighbors, and much more. A very good read."

Tim Burgess