Five river
valley segments were defined by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
They were utilitized to geographically divide the watershed in the comprehensive
MDNR study by Wesley and Duffy (1999) and in the preparation of the
Designated Use Tables for this project. The main stem of the St. Joseph
River is shown in yellow. What other data can
we analyze by these geographic divisions?
Valley
Segment
|
Major
Tributaries
|
Extent
|
Characteristics
|
Headwaters
|
Beebe
Creek, Soap Creek
|
59
miles along St. Joe River, Baw Beese Lake to Union City, MI
|
124,000
acres, low gradient
|
Upper
|
Hog
Creek, Coldwater River, Swan Creek, Nottawa Creek, Little Portage
Creek
|
26
miles along St. Joe River, Union City to Mendon, MI
|
491,000
acres, flow is moderately stable, river meanders unconfined by geological
features, cool summer water temperatures
|
Middle
|
Portage
River, Rocky River, Prairie River, Fawn River, Mill Creek, Pigeon
River, Pine Creek (downstream of Bristol, IN) Little Elkhart River,
Elkhart River, Christiana Creek
|
52
miles along St. Joe River, Mendon, MI to Elkhart, IN
|
1.5
million acres, drains major portion of watershed, moderate gradient,
St. Joe River flows through broad glacial river valley
|
Lower
|
Baugo
Creek, Juday Creek, Brandywine Creek, Dowagiac River, McCoy Creek,
Pipestone Creek
|
65
miles along St. Joe River, Elkart to confluence with Pipestone Creek
|
506,000
acres, St. Joe River flows through confined valley that cuts through
the Kalamazoo moraine
|
Mouth
|
Paw
Paw River, Hickory Creek
|
8
miles along St. Joe River to Lake Michigan
|
337,000
acres, glacial lake plain, low gradient
|
Print/zoom
in on the above map with counties and stream names overlaid (PDF file).
|