Ground-water development in East St. Louis area, Illinois. Urbana, IL ...

Table 2.
Average Gradients of Tributaries to
Mississippi River
Tributary
Wood River
Cahokia Diversion Channel
Cahokia Canal
Prairie Du Pont Floodway
Gradient
(ft per mi)
5
2
1.7
1.6
Rocks Reach (figure 1), which was difficult to navigate
because the velocity of the river sometimes exceeded 12
feet per second. In addition, the navigable depth in Chain
of Rocks Reach was reduced to 5.5 feet when the stage
of the river was low. The canal, which was opened to
river traffic on February 7, 1953, is 300 feet wide at the
bottom and about 550 feet wide at the top, and has a
total length of 8.4 miles. In the vicinity of Granite City
the canal was widened, for a distance of 6750 feet, to
a bottom width of 700 feet. A depth of slightly less than
15 feet at minimum low water stage is provided at the
lower end of the canal downstream from Lock No. 27.
At the upstream entrance of the canal, a minimum depth
of 10.4 feet is provided.
The locations of stream gages in the East St. Louis
area are shown in figure 2. The U. S. Geological Survey
measures the discharge of the Mississippi River at Alton,
and at St. Louis. The discharges of Indian Creek near
Wanda and Canteen Creek near Caseyville are also measured
by the U.S. Geological Survey, and the discharge of
Long Lake near Stallings was measured from December
1938 to December 1949. Extremes and average discharges
of streams are given in table 3.
During the 1952 to 1956 drought the average discharge
of Indian and Canteen Creeks was reduced considerably.
The average daily discharge was 6.23 cubic
feet per second (cfs) in Indian Creek at Wanda and 5.81
cfs in Canteen Creek near Caseyville. There was no flow
in these streams during many days in the summer and
fall months of the drought period.
The flow of the Mississippi River in the East St. Louis
area is affected by many reservoirs and navigation dams
in the upper Mississippi River Basin and by many reservoirs
and diversions for irrigation in the Missouri River
Basin. Along the reach of the Mississippi River from Alton
to Dupo the flow of the river is affected by Lock and
Dam No. 26 at Alton, the Chain of Rocks Canal, and Lock
and Dam No. 27 at Granite City on the canal. There is a
low water dam on the Mississippi River south of the
northern end of Chain of Rocks Canal.
Floodwaters from the Missouri River enter the Mississippi
River above the gaging station at Alton when
levees along the Missouri River are overtopped. Overflow
from the Missouri River was estimated by the U. S. Geological
Survey and is given in table 4.
Mississippi River stages in the East St. Louis area
are measured daily at Lock and Dam No. 26 at Alton; at
Hartford, Illinois; Chain of Rocks, Missouri; Lock No. 27
at Granite City, Illinois; Bissell Point, Missouri; St.
Louis, Missouri; and the Engineer Depot, Missouri. The
elevation of the maximum river stage at Alton was estimated
to be 432.10 feet and occurred in June 1844; the
elevation of the minimum stage was 390.50 feet on January
27, 1954, The elevation of the maximum river stage
Table 3.
Streamflow Records
Average
Maximum Minimum Average discharge
Location discharge discharge discharge (cfs)
Drainage of (cfs) (cfs) (cfs) during
area gaging and date of and date of and length 1952-1956
Stream (sq mi) station occurrence occurrence of record drought
Mississippi River 171,500 At Alton,
mile 202.7
upstream from
Ohio River
Mississippi River 701,000 At St. Louis
mile 180.0
upstream from
Ohio River
437,000
May 24, 1943
1,300,000*
June 1844
Indian Creek 37 At Wanda, 9,340
SE ¼ NW ¼ August 15, 1946
sec 31, T5N, R8W
Long Lake 5 At Stallings, 121
NW ¼ NW ¼ August 18, 1946
sec, 12, T3N, R9W
Canteen Creek 23 At Caseyville,
N ½ NW ¼
r
sec 8, T2N, R8W
*Estimated
†Zero flow occurred during several periods in drought years
10,200
June 15, 1957
7,960
November 7, 1948
18,000
December 21-23, 1863
93,130
33 years
174,700
99 years
0† 24.8
21 years
0† 2.31
12 years
0† 17.5
22 years
6.23
5.81
6