Mud Mountain Dam is a dam in
King County, Washington
King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...
, a few miles southeast of
Enumclaw
Enumclaw ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 12,543 at the 2020 census.
The Enumclaw Plateau, on which the city resides, was formed by a volcanic mudflow (lahar) from Mount Rainier approximately 5,700 ye ...
. The dam impounds the
White River and is used for flood control.
The dam was finished in 1948 by the
, although the project had been authorized by an act of Congress in June 1936. Construction had begun in 1939 and was delayed by World War II.
At 432 feet high, it was the highest rock- and earth-filled dam in the world at its completion.
Mud Mountain Dam protects the lower White and Puyallup River valleys from flooding by holding back water from heavy rains or excessive snow melt and slowly releasing it downstream. From the 1870s local farmers of King and Pierce County competed for water from the White River, dealing not only with periodic flooding but with changes in its channel, notably in 1906 when the White permanently broke through to the shorter, southward channel of the
Stuck River.
Consultation with the engineer
Hiram M. Chittenden
Hiram Martin Chittenden (October 25, 1858 – October 9, 1917) was an American engineer and historian. A graduate of West Point, he was the Seattle district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers from 1906 to 1908). Chittenden was one of ...
eventually led to the decision to dam the river.
The created reservoir, Mud Mountain Lake, is a riverine, marshy intermittent lake. The lake is usually dry except for the normal flow of the White River, but it fills with water during periods of high flow. The
Corps of Engineers operates a day-use park at the dam site, the Mud Mountain Recreational Area, with picnic facilities, interpretive exhibits, and ten miles of hiking trails.
References
External links
Official websiteon Mud Mountain Dam Recreational Area
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Dams in Washington (state)
Reservoirs in Washington (state)
United States Army Corps of Engineers dams
Dams completed in 1948
Lakes of King County, Washington