Salmon Bay is a portion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal—a canal which passes through the city of Seattle, linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound—that lies west of the Fremont Cut. It is the westernmost section of the canal, and empties into Puget Sound's Shilshole Bay. Because of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, the smaller, western half of the bay is salt water, and the eastern half is fresh water (though not without saline contamination—see Lake Union). Before construction of the Ship Canal, Salmon Bay was entirely salt water.