A City at Work: Images from the Seattle Municipal Archives Photo Collection
Seattle City Light
Seattle's foray into electricity generation began with an opportunity, an existing dam at the Cedar River that could be used to generate power, and a need, cheap electricity to power street lights in a rapidly growing city. Although originally part of the water utility, voters amended the City Charter in 1910 to create the Lighting Department (popularly and now officially referred to as Seattle City Light). Under the leadership of Superintendent J.D. Ross, City Light built hydroelectric dams on the Skagit in the North Cascades. Both public and private power was supplied to Seattle until 1951 when the City purchased the private electrical power supply operations, making the Lighting Department the sole supplier. In the 1960's, City Light built the Boundary Dam in Northeast Washington that now generates over a third of the utility's power output. City Light remains the largest municipally-owned utility in the Pacific Northwest.
 Power Generation |
 Power Delivery |
 Electrification |