However, there are many rapids due to the steep gradient present - the river falls an average of six feet per mile (1.1 m/km).

The West Fork, shown as the main stem of the river on federal maps,[3] rises in Randolph County, Indiana, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Modoc.

It flows 69.5 miles (111.8 km)[2] south and southeast, past Hagerstown and Connersville, and joins the East Fork of the river at Brookville, Indiana.

The melting Wisconsin ice cap starting about 21,000 years ago created the Whitewater Valley basin as we know it today.

The Whitewater River and its valley were the main conduit of settlement of southeastern and eastern Indiana from Cincinnati and Clarksville (opposite Louisville) on the Ohio River during the first half of the nineteenth century, prior to the construction of railroads.