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Credits

Looking more like a swamp, this image was taken by photographers Boyd and Braas around 1889.  The location is unspecified, but the shadows seems to indicate that the view is looking in a southerly direction.

As you will see in the images below, the Black River was a slow, lazy river that drained Lake Washington in the early years before the Lake Washington Ship Canal was completed in 1916.

This historical photograph of the Black River shows a part of the relatively short river (less than 10 or 15 miles long), that once drained Lake Washington to the Duwamish River.  

Long before the first white settlers came to the area during the early 1850s, the native Duwamish Indians maintained a permanent fishing camp at the confluence of the Cedar and Black rivers (near the southern shore of Lake Washington).  It is believed that the Duwamish people had fished here for more than 1,400 years, catching returning salmon from the Pacific Ocean.

Here is a photograph of a typical Duwamish Indian fishing camp although the tents do not appear to be native.

Here is another early view of the river, dated around 1905.  The location is unspecified and the photographer is unknown.  It is uncertain which way the photographer was looking when this image was taken.  It is assumed that the image is looking north as the river skirted the "West Hill" of Renton.

Here, you see a typical homestead or farm on the left and bridge in the distant lower right.

Before the completion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal that linked Lake Washington to the Puget Sound, this slow moving, "lazy", river followed a course southward through the west end of downtown Renton and then west near to and along the path Interstate 405 now follows.  The historic Fort Dent was established, either before or during the Indian Wars of 1855-56, near the confluence of the Duwamish and Black Rivers.

This photo seems to show a southerly view of a small farm along the river's banks and appears to be taken from a bridge spanning the river.

This photograph, though difficult to tell, appears to look to the north from on the river.  More important is the barn seen right of center.  This is the farm of Captain Edwin R. Barrows, an early "turn of the century" resident of Renton that enjoyed fishing.

For the Captain, this was his Shangri-la and a place upon which he would establish a short lived fishing resort.

This photograph appears to be looking north from the mouth of the Black River.  On the bank (to the left) is the Barrows' fishing resort.  Just beyond and to the center right is Lake Washington.

Three Perch fishermen pose for this photograph amidst the swamp grass along the southern shore of Lake Washington.  Closer examination seems to show that actually, there is one fisherman and two Duwamish Indian oarsmen.  Before 1916, swamplands (laced with navigable waterways) covered a wide area at the south end of Lake Washington and was the habitat  for many types of game fish.  With oars ready, their catch is proudly displayed.

After the lake was lowered by nearly 9 feet, what remained of the swamplands were filled in and reclaimed.  Today, much of the present Boeing Plant and Renton airfield occupies the former wetlands.

After the "Montlake Cut" and Lake Washington Ship Canal was completed, the water level of Lake Washington was lowered nearly nine (9) feet.  The cause and effect of this was the the drying up of the river. 

By 1912, the Cedar River had been diverted directly into Lake Washington via a 2000-foot long by 80-foot wide channel.  It was hoped that this would prevent flooding the city of Renton saw just a year earlier during November, 1911 that caused flooding in Renton.

This circa 1895 U. S. Geological Survey map shows the course of the Black River before the turn of the Twentieth century as it flowed before the Montlake Cut was completed and Lake Washington lowered - causing the river to dry up.

Additionally, the boundaries of city of Renton, as it was back then, is shown as well as the Cedar and Duwamish/Green River valleys which extend off to the east and south respectively.

Today, a map of the same area would look very different.

This is an aerial US Geological Survey photograph of what remains of the old river today.  In the center right is the "Black River Riparian Forest".  Fed by Springbrook Creek from the south, a large pond or small lake exists in the center of the forest.

The river, as it exists today, flows out of the forest as a slow deep creek, westward, to the Duwamish River that meanders from the bottom to top (south to north) left of center.

The circular looking feature (left of center) is a "quad" baseball field complex at the Fort Dent Park just south of the confluence of the Duwamish and Black Rivers.