Home > Pierce County, Washington
Pierce County is the second most populous county in the State of Washington. It was named for U.S. President Franklin Pierce.
As of 2000, the population is 700,820. The county seat is Tacoma, on Commencement Bay.
Pierce County is notable for being home to the Mount Rainier volcano, the tallest mountain in the Cascade Range. Its most recent recorded eruption was between 1820 and 1854. As of 2004, there is no imminent risk of eruption, but geologists expect that the volcano will erupt again. If this should happen, parts of Pierce County would be at risk from lahars, lava, or pyroclastic flows. Therefore, the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System was established in 1998 to assist in the evacuation of the Puyallup RiverThe Puyallup River in Pierce County, Washington flows about 45 miles from its source on Mount Rainier to Commencement Bay at Tacoma. It is joined by the Carbon River north of Orting and the White River at Sumner. Its valley's 150,000 residents are at risk valley in case of eruption.
1 Geography
According to the U.S. Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census is a part of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is defined in the Constitution of the United States, which directs that the population be enumerated at least once every te, the county has a total area of 4,679 km˛ (1,806 mi˛This article is about the unit of measure. In England, the Square Mile is a traditional name for the City of London. A square mile (symbol sq. or mi is an imperial unit which is the area of a square whose side is one mile (or 5,280 feet). A square mile is). 4,348 km˛ (1,679 mi˛) of it is land and 330 km˛ (128 mi˛) of it is water. The total area is 7.06% water.
1.1 Geographic features
- Carbon River
- Cascade Range
- Commencement Bay
- Mount Rainier
- Nisqually RiverThe Nisqually River (nuh-SKWAH-lee) is a river in west central Washington in the United States, approximately 81 mi (130 km) long. It drains part of the Cascade Range southwest of Tacoma, including the southern slope of Mount Rainier, into the southern en
- Puget SoundPuget Sound is an arm of the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It was named by George Vancouver for Lieutenant Peter Puget, who explored its southern end in May 1792. Vancouver claimed it for Great Britain on June 4, 1792. It be
- Puyallup River
- Tacoma Narrows
- Key Peninsula
- Anderson Island
- Lake Tapps
1.2 Major Highways
1.3 Adjacent counties
