With the publication of my new book, there has been some well deserved attention to a video about the regrading of Denny Hill, made by the engineering department. Most of the web sites that include the video only show a few minutes of it. Below is the video in all of its 18-minute glory. It is quite wonderful, particularly the footage of the barges dumping the dirt into Elliott Bay.
People often ask me about Denny Hill, what it looked like and where was it. Below are a series of maps and one photograph that show the location of the hill and some of its topography.
This is one of the earliest known photographs of Denny Hill, showing it after it has been logged somewhat.
Below is the first illustration of the hill. Note how few homes are on the hill. Hard to get a feel for the topography.
Twelve years later and the hill has been much more developed, especially with the addition of the Denny Hotel and many homes.
Probably the best topographic map of Denny showing the two summits, each about 240 feet above sea level.
The one post regrade map of Denny Hill shows what happened after the regrades lowered the land.
A modern topographic map of Seattle showing the flattened landscape. Note the modern high point at 1st and Virginia.
