The White River is a white, glacial

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. It flows about 75 miles (121 km) from its source, the Emmons Glacier on

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a ...

, to join the

Puyallup River The Puyallup River ( ) is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. About long, it is formed by glaciers on the west side of Mount Rainier. It flows generally northwest, emptying into Commencement Bay, part of Puget Sound. The river and its tribu ...

at Sumner. It defines part of the boundary between

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

and Pierce counties.

Course

The source of the White River is the Emmons Glacier on the northeast side of Mount Rainier. The river flows from ice caves at the toe of the glacier. Its upper reach is contained within

Mount Rainier National Park Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preservin ...

. Shortly after emerging from the Emmons Glacier, the White River flows generally east, by the White River Campground, then the White River Ranger Station, after which it turns north. The river is paralleled by much of its upper course by State Route 410, called the Mather Memorial Parkway in the national park. After several miles the river exits Mount Rainier National Park and enters Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The river turns gradually westward, passing several national forest campgrounds. Huckleberry Creek joins just below The Dalles Campground. Several miles downriver from there the White River is joined by one of its main tributaries, the West Fork White River, which also originates at a glacier in Mount Rainier National Park, in this case, Winthrop Glacier. A few miles downriver from the West Fork confluence another major tributary joins, the Greenwater River. The small settlement of Greenwater is located at the confluence. Below Greenwater, the White River flows generally west. It passes Federation Forest State Park and is then joined by another tributary, the Clearwater River. Several miles downriver from there the White River is impounded by Mud Mountain Dam, which creates a marshy intermittent lake called Mud Mountain Lake. The dam was built for flood control purposes. Mud Mountain Lake only fills with water during conditions of exceptionally high stream flow. White River 5910

Below Mud Mountain Dam the White River enters the greater Tacoma metropolitan area. It flows between the cities of Buckley and

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 ...

, after which it makes a large bend northwest and then southwest, essentially flowing around

Lake Tapps Lake Tapps is a reservoir in Pierce County, Washington. It was created in 1911 by Puget Sound Power & Light and operated for hydroelectric power until it ceased power production in 2004. In December 2009 PSE sold the reservoir to thCascade Wate ...

. North of the lake, the White River flows through the

Muckleshoot Indian Reservation The Muckleshoot ( lut, bəqəlšuł ) are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American tribe, part of the Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest. They are descendants of the Duwamish and Puyallup peoples whose traditional territory was located a ...

. Below that, to the west of Lake Tapps, the White River enters a broad

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

and flows past the city of

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

before emptying into the Puyallup River at Sumner. Lake Tapps is a reservoir created in 1911 for hydroelectric purposes. A diversion dam near Buckley taps the White River's water, sending a portion of it through a flume, a canal, and a pipeline to Lake Tapps. An outlet canal on the west side of the lake routes water through the turbines of the Dieringer Powerhouse, after which the water is returned to the lower White River (or Stuck River as it is locally called in this area) via the Dieringer "tailrace".

River modifications

Before 1906, the White River joined the Green River near Auburn, and the combined river (under the name "White") joined the Black River at Tukwila, forming the

Duwamish River