14241490 - SOUTH FORK TOUTLE RIVER AT CAMP 12 NEAR TOUTLE, WA

Latitude (degrees, minutes, and seconds) ......  461905
Longitude (degrees, minutes, and seconds) .....  1224001
State Code ....................................  53
County Code ...................................  015
County Name ...................................  Cowlitz
Basin Name ....................................  Lower Cowlitz
Hydrologic Unit Code ..........................  17080005
Drainage Area (square miles) ..................  117.00
Gage Datum (feet, from topo map) ..............  510.00*

Location ...................... NE/SW Sec.35, T.10 N., R.1 E.,
				on right bank 0.9 mi downstream from
				Johnson Creek, 1.2 mi southeast of Toutle,
				at mile 3.4.


----Period(s) of Record----
February 1981 to February 1996


 * Elevation of gage house is 510 ft, from topographic map.  Gage datum is
   arbitrary, and not tied in to sea level elevation. Prior to Dec. 22, 1982,
   the gage house was located 1.6 miles upstream at a different datum.

Site History and Remarks

No other gage has operated at this site. Prior to December 22, 1982, gage located 1.6 mi upstream at different datum. A station at river mile 1.4, South Fork Toutle River at Toutle (14241500), was operated from 1939 to 1957. Another station, South Fork Toutle River at R.R. Bridge near Toutle (14241495), at mile 2.7, was operated from June 30 to September 16, 1980. (internal communication, 1995)

The S.F.Toutle River channel was covered on May 18, 1980, with massive sediment deposits from a muddy debris flow. Annual yields are greater than sediment yields prior to the eruption. Vertical-profile data were collected from the cableway at the gaging station cross-section in 1982. (Dinehart,1987)

Station destroyed, during floods, February 1996. Replaced with: South Fork Toutle River at Toutle (14241500), (internal communication, 1996)

Reach Description

One channel at all stages. The channel makes a slight bend through the gage reach. The right bank is wooded and fairly stable. The left bank is a plateau of dredge spoils, composed of sand, gravel, and cobbles, and although not subject to overflow at high stages, is at risk of erosion. The stream bed is cobble and gravel, and is subject to scour and fill during periods of high flow. (internal communication, 1995)

Immediately after the eruption, the channel in the cross section had a sand bed; by early 1982, the channel was armored with cobble. (Dinehart,1987)

Location Map

Site Published In (USGS Water Resources Data Reports NOT LISTED)
-- (List not guaranteed complete) --

Dinehart, Randy L., 1986, 
  Sediment Data For Streams Near Mount St. Helens, Washington,
  Volume 2, Water Years 1981-83:
  U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 85-632.

Dinehart, Randy, 1987,
  Vertical Profiles of Velocity and Suspended Sediment in Streams
  Near Mount St. Helens, Washington:
  U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 87-377.

Dinehart, Randy L., 1992, 
  Sediment Data For Streams Near Mount St. Helens, Washington,
  Volume 3, Water Years 1984-87:
  U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 91-219.

Meyer, D.F., Nolan, K.M., and Dodge, J.E., 1986,
  Post-Eruption Changes in Channel Geometry of Streams in the
  Toutle River Drainage Basin, 1980-82, Mount St. Helens, Washington:
  U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 85-412.

Meyer, D.F., and Dodge, J.E., 1988,
  Post-Eruption Changes in Channel Geometry of Streams in the
  Toutle River Drainage Basin, 1983-85, Mount St. Helens, Washington:
  U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 87-549.

Simon, Andrew, 1999,
  Channel and Drainage-Basin Response of the Toutle River System 
  in the Aftermath of the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington:
  U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 96-633

Uhrich, Mark A., 1990,
  Precipitation Data for the Mount St. Helens Area, Washington -- 1981-86:
  U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 90-117.