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Gauge Information

Gauge Description:

*The gauge referenced is not on this stream, but on a nearby watershed. It is being included to provide an indicator of possible high water in the area.

Wisconsin Electric now provides a recorded message giving flow information for Horserace Rapids. Call: 906-779-2518 to reach this recording.

OR

You can now go to WE Energies Hydro and look at "Lower Paint" to get hourly updates on flow information.

(Sorry, we are unable at this time to directly query and post that information on our site.)

Visual at Horserace Rapids. The majority of flow in this river is diverted to the Michigamme by way of a canal from Little Bull Dam. The capacity of the diversion canal is fairly high so extended rain/snowmelt is needed to affect levels in this reach.

A new relicensing agreement for this hydropower project provides for flows as follows (as long as inflow from upstream allows):
April 1 - May 15: 350 cfs
May 16 - June 15: 300 cfs
June 16 - June 30: 275 cfs
July 1 - November: 250 cfs
December - March: 175 cfs

Flows of 250 will provide a reasonable minimum, while higher flows will be more desirable.

Gauge Information

Name

Range

Difficulty

Updated

Level

PAINT RIVER NR ALPHA, MI

usgs-04062000

200 - 2000 cfs

III-IV

02h36m

cfs

Range	Water Level	Difficulty	Comment
0 - 200 cfs	extremely Low-barely Low	I-II	Too low.
200 - 350 cfs	barely runnable-med runnable	II(III)	Good flow.
350 - 600 cfs	med runnable-a bit pushy runnable	II-III+	High flow.
600 -2000 cfs	a bit pushy runnable-high runnable	II-III+(IV)	Very high flow.
2000 -9999 cfs	barely High-extremely High	III-IV	Extremely high flow.

Report - Reports of Paint MI DNR campground to Horserace Rapids (1.5 miles) and related gauges

Reports give the public a chance to report on river conditions throughout the country as well as log the history of a river.

Reports

When	River/Gauge	Subject	Level	Reporter
	Paint River [MI]	Horserace at high water	n/a	Nate Alwine
	Paint [MI]	Pin on the Paint (MI)	650	Mark Mastalski
1y191d11h20m	Paint [MI]	Dragon's Teeth	300 cfs	Brendan Hammond
5y104d19h20m	Paint [MI]	Bottom of Horserace	380 cfs	Mark Mastalski
6y147d19h20m	Paint [MI]	Flushed :(	275cfs	Nate Alwine
7y257d19h20m	Paint [MI]	Horserace at High Water	very high	Nate Alwine