A look at a buried tide flat

 

The photo above is another from Port Angeles, and is part of an extensive series of photos that appear to all have been taken as the downtown area was being filled in 1914.  Many of this series are part of the Bert Kellogg collection, hosted by the North Olympic Library, but this particular photo doesn't appear to be available in that collection.  I obtained this photo from Dr. Karl Wegmann, who had collected a large set of historic photos of Port Angeles to support a report to the City of Port Angeles, and a subsequent paper.  

This particular photo was taken right about here, and the view from the same perspective looks considerably different today:

16 October 2020 photo taken looking southeast from the corner of Railroad and Laurel in downtown Port Angeles, Washington.

I like this particular historic photo because you can make out the intertidal flats that would have fringed Port Angeles harbor historically.  From the looks of it I'm guessing that it was prime habitat for clams, birds and fish, and it would have been quite cool to check out.  Its still there of course, but buried under many feet of fill...

The Transformation of Urban Shorelines: Port Angeles

Most shorelines of urban coastal communities in Washington have been radically transformed by fill, and Port Angeles is no different.  Downtown Port Angeles was originally built essentially right on the beach:

View looking west from the bluffs just to the east of downtown Port Angeles.  Unknown date, but presumably prior to 1914.  Photo from the Burt Kellogg Collection, available through the North Olympic Library System. 

The contemporary view highlights the changes to the shoreline, most of which were brought about by a massive 1914 filling project:

Contemporary view of downtown Port Angeles, looking west from the bluff just to the east of downtown.  The Red Lion hotel is prominent in the foreground, and Ediz Hook is visible in far field.  Photo collected 4 March 2014 by Ian Miller. 

The Red Lion Hotel on the Port Angeles Waterfront

Like many of the cities on the shoreline of the Salish Sea, downtown Port Angeles is built mostly on fill, and this fill material underlies one of the most most prominent buildings on the waterfront...the Red Lion Hotel.

Top photo:  Early 1900's photo from the Bert Kellogg collection, courtesy of the North Olympic Library System. Bottom photo: 2014 photo of the Red Lion Hotel on the Port Angeles waterfront. 

The historic photo above provides a sense for how dramatically that fill changed the coastal landscape, and how much the uses of the shoreline have changed.

Of special note in the historic perspective above is the wood cribbing used to buttress Front Street, still the main route into downtown from the east, and the small buildings on the beach.