During the Vashon Glaciation a series of lakes formed along the southern margin of the Cordilleran Ice Cap.

[2] Forming about 17,000 years before present (ybp) as the ice front began to retreat northward.

As the glacial ice retreated northward, the geologic troughs, which create the basins of the sound remained blocked from the northward outlets, until the Tacoma Narrows cleared, the basins east of Tacoma remained separate from those to the west.

Using the Black River as its primary drainage, Lake Russell came into existence was continued after the edge of the ice had withdrawn from the region.

[1] Percival Creek contains the Northern Pacific Railroad route over the pass between Puget Sound and the Chehalis Valley.

[1] Withdrawal of the edge of the ice from Thurston County left both the Deschutes and Nisqually Rivers free to flow directly northward to the growing body of water in the unobliterated interglacial valleys.

The Nisqually carried a large volume of water when it first entered Lake Russell, since the Ohop channel still contributed the drainage of the northern and western slopes of Mount Rainier.