Why does a city surrounded by water need another waterway? Find out what drove Seattle's civic leaders to pursue the dream of a Lake Washington Ship Canal for more than sixty years and what role it has played in the region's development over the past century. Historians Jennifer Ott and David B. Williams, author of? Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle's Topography , explore how industry, transportation, and the very character of the city and surrounding region developed in response to the economic and environmental changes brought by Seattle's canal and locks.'.