Gauge Description:

While there is no gage on the Staircase section, flows can be estimated by two different methods. The method used for the virtual gage linked to this page takes the sum of flows from the South Fork Payette at Lowman gage, the Middle Fork Payette at Crouch gage and the Deadwood River gage. The Lowman and Deadwood gages are well upstream, above many small side creeks, so flows may be underestimated with this method.

The second method is to subtract flows on the North Fork Payette near Banks gage, from the flows on the Main Payette near Horseshoe Bend gage. There are several small side streams between Banks and Horseshoe Bend, so this method tends to overestimate flows. There are timing distortions with both methods as not all gages update at the same time. Both methods should be considered estimates.