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QUADRANGLE: Glasford, 7 1/2' series

LOCATION: Lat 40 33'10", long 89 46'40", in SE1/4 SE1/4 sec. 26, T.7 N., R.6 E., Peoria County, Hydrologic Unit 07130003, on right bank at Kingston Mines, 2.3 mi. downstream from Mackinaw River and at mile 145.4.

ESTABLISHMENT: Non-recording gage established October 1939 at current site at datum 1.65 ft. higher. Non-recording gage Oct. 1, 1940 to Mar. 31, 1942 at current site and datum. Digital water-stage recorder installed April 1, 1942. Bubble gage installed Mar. 17, 1964. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) obtained stage readings for some time prior to the establishment of the USGS gage. Bubble gage removed Oct. 1, 1974, when stilling well with digital water-stage recorder was installed. Temperature monitor installed Oct. 1, 1974, and discontinued Sept. 30, 1977. Stilling well discontinued and bubble gage installed in 4 x 4 metal gage house Nov. 1986. Wire-weight gage (WWG) installed Feb. 1987. The COE, Rock Island installed a Data Collection Platform (DCP) with raingage in 1985. On Mar. 14, 1994, the digital water-stage recorder was replaced by an electronic data logger (CR10) with storage module and a potentiometer-stage encoder by D. Morgan. On Sept. 13, 1995 an eighteen ft. crest-stage gage (CSG) was installed on the downstream side of the old concrete gage house 60 ft. upstream of current gage.

The CR10, storage module, potentiometer, and manometer were removed on Dec. 11, 1997 and replaced with a Vitel DCP with raingage and a Vitel self-bubbler system.

Sediment sampling at Pekin occurred Oct. 1, 1994 to Sept. 30, 1997.

DRAINAGE AREA: 15,818 sq. mi.--Area does not include diversion from Lake Michigan through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which has occurred since Jan. 17, 1900.

GAGE: Vitel data-collection platform (DCP) with raingage and a Vitel self-bubbler system in a 4 x 4 metal gage house on top of levee by C F Industries Plant. Outside base gage is a wire-weight gage (WWG) attached to the downstream side of C F Industries loading platform. A crest-stage gage (CSG) is located on the downstream side of the old concrete gage shelter. The gage is powered by electrical service.

Stage record from the DCP is uploaded to a laptop computer each visit and processed to hourly averages to compute discharge.

GAGE DATUM: Datum of gage is 428.00 ft. above NGVD of 1929. Prior to Oct. 1, 1940, non-recording gage at same site at datum 1.65 ft. higher. In Sept. 1941, the COE ran a line of levels from their PBM #47 (left bank, near bluff, opposite Kingston Mines) down to river, where a benchmark was established. (For further details, see station analysis for 1940-41.)

CHANNEL AND CONTROL: The streambed is soft sand and mud and is frequently dredged to maintain the navigation channel at required depths. Levees restrict the flow to main channel at all stages. Top of levees in vicinity of gage are around 458 MSL--according to USGS topographic map. This corresponds to a gage-height of 30.0 ft. Top of bank of the main channel is thought to be around 15 ft. gage-height. Maximum depth is about 11 ft. greater than gage-height. Channel is fairly straight for some distance above and below gage.

High stages are channel controlled. For low stages, the control is the LaGrange navigation dam 65.1 mi. downstream (at mile 80.2). When discharge is high, this movable dam is dropped. As discharge decreases, the dam is gradually raised to maintain a water-surface elevation of 429.1 ft. at Beardstown (mile 88.8). At Kingston Mines, this would be a stage of 1.1 ft. plus the fall between the two points. Backwater conditions can occur at most stages depending on the affects of the COE Chanoine Wicket Dam 65.1 mi. downstream at LaGrange and flows from the Mackinaw, Spoon, LaMoine and Sangamon Rivers; and possibly from backwater from the Mississippi River (145 mi. downstream) during extremely high-water on the Mississippi River. Flow is regulated by the COE Chanoine Wicket Dams at Peoria (13.4 mi. upstream) and LaGrange downstream. When the wickets are raised or lowered an unsteady flow condition exists, causing backwater or freefall. Water can also go into storage in the many lakes between the base and auxiliary gages.

DISCHARGE MEASUREMENTS: Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler measurements are made by boat at all stages. Doppler-discharge measurements can be made near the base gage or near the auxiliary gage for most stages. High stages are better measured at non-wooded levee-confined locations between the base and auxiliary gages.

Conventional current-meter measurements by boat can be made at sections either 100 ft. below or 300 ft. above the Kingston Mines boat ramp. The section above the ramp has a very flat right bank, thus it tends to widen considerably with increased stage. Therefore, the section below the landing is used for high stages (CAUTION: when using this section, head boat slightly downstream when pulling out tagline since there is an old wood piling in the section near the right bank). Extremely high conventional measurements can be made from the Interstate 474 bridge in Pekin and at Mackinaw River near Green Valley. Flow from the Mackinaw River must be added to the total flow.

FLOODS: Maximum gage-height known, 26.02 ft. for 5 hours ending at 5 a.m. "central war time", May 25, 1943. Maximum discharge, 88,800 cfs on Dec. 7, 1982, gage height, 23.86 ft.

POINT OF ZERO FLOW: See discussion under "Channel and Control".

WINTER FLOW: Ice effect can occur in extremely severe winters.

REGULATION: Both the gage-heights and the discharges appear to be affected to an appreciable extent by operation of the navigation dams at LaGrange, mile 80.2 (see "Control") and at Peoria, mile 157.8.

DIVERSION: Since Jan. 17, 1900, flow includes diversion from Lake Michigan through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.