About this river
Johnson Lateral is a 5.3 mile canal near Spearfish Canyon Adventures in South Dakota. Streamflow is measured at the USGS gauge Belle Fourche River near Fruitdale, SD (site 06436000). The mapped line runs from 44.6962, -103.7409 to 44.6726, -103.6705. The National Hydrography Dataset places it at stream order 5. Reach geometry comes from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset.
Typical flow by month
1954 to 2026
Johnson Lateral typically runs highest in June, at a median 13 cfs, and lowest in January, at 4.4 cfs. The highest flow on record for any single day is 11,100 cfs, in 1995.
| Month | Typical (cfs) | Usual range (cfs) | Relative level |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.4 | 3.4 to 9.5 | |
| February | 4.6 | 3.5 to 18 | |
| March | 6.0 | 3.6 to 180 | |
| April | 6.5 | 4.0 to 279 | |
| May | 12 | 4.5 to 378 | |
| June | 13 | 6.4 to 300 | |
| July | 11 | 6.7 to 18 | |
| August | 12 | 8.1 to 17 | |
| September | 10 | 7.2 to 15 | |
| October | 8.0 | 5.7 to 15 | |
| November | 7.0 | 4.9 to 13 | |
| December | 4.8 | 3.8 to 9.5 |
Typical is the median of each month’s daily median values, and the usual range runs from the median 25th to the median 75th percentile, across about 72 years of record. Statistics published by the US Geological Survey for Belle Fourche River near Fruitdale, SD (site 06436000). Conditions on any given day can fall well outside the usual range. Check the current reading before you go.
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Paste this snippet anywhere, an outfitter page, a club site, a trip report, to show Johnson Lateral's live streamflow, water level and 7-day trend. It reads the USGS gauge directly, updates itself, and links back here.
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