Hiram M. Chittenden (Ballard) Locks - salt vs. freshwater crossing

The Ballard Locks connect Puget Sound (saltwater) with the Lake Washington Ship Canal and inland freshwater lakes via a series of navigation locks completed in 1917. The complex includes a fish ladder that allows migrating salmon to pass between the ocean and Lake Washington, an engineered crossing of two distinct aquatic ecosystems. The locks are operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and are an active navigation and ecological boundary in northwest Seattle.