Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and fish ladder

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks (commonly Ballard Locks), opened in 1917, are a complex of canal locks that connect Puget Sound to Lake Union and Lake Washington and include an engineered fish ladder to allow salmon migration around the locks. The site provides public viewing windows and platforms where visitors can observe fish using the ladder during seasonal runs, and it is accompanied by the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden on the grounds. The locks are operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and remain an active navigation and fish-passage installation.