In 1889, the West Coast Improvement Co., seeking to improve the land (Gilman Park) that becomes known as Ballard, builds the first bridge across Salmon Bay. It is a wagon bridge made of puncheon (split logs with the face smoothed). The bridge rises and lowers with the tides, and serves for a couple of decades before it rots out. (Salmon Bay is now part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, in Seattle.)
The West Coast Improvement Company consisted of Captain William Rankin Ballard (1847-1929); his wife, Estelle Ballard; Thomas Burke (1849-1925); his wife, Carrie Burke; John Leary (1837-1905), his wife, Mary Leary; William Crawford; his wife, Mary Crawford; Alonzo Hamblet; Arthur Denny; his wife, Mary Boren Denny; and Dexter Horton. This was a combination of Seattle interests and Salmon Bay pioneers.
The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad tracks ran to the south side of Salmon Bay, opposite Ballard (very near the 2001 location of the Ballard Bridge). In the words of Kay Reinartz:
"The car would stop at the end of the line on the south side of Salmon Bay and the conductor would call out 'Ballard Junction! All out for Ballard Junction!' And the passengers would tumble out and make their way across the creaking bridge to their homes in the woods on Salmon Bay" (Passport to Ballard).
