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Black Brook Dam, Wisconsin
Black Brook Dam on the Apple River in Wisconsin.
Open in BirdTrout45.2642, -92.4028 · Polk County · NID WI00050. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.
What the runs do here
Apple River carries no anadromous run on our corridor map, so this page makes no claim about salmon or steelhead at this dam. What it sits on is coldwater — resident trout water — and the section below says which classification says so.
The structure
- Owner
- Northwestern Wisconsin Electric Company Public Utility
- Purpose
- Hydroelectric, Fish and Wildlife Pond, Recreation
- Completed
- 1917
- Type
- Gravity
- Height
- 32 ft
- Length
- 270 ft
- Spillway
- Controlled, 62 ft wide
- Storage
- 1,400 acre-ft · 98 acre pool
- Drainage
- 162 sq mi
- Condition
- Satisfactory · Low hazard potential
- Status
- Normal Operations
From the National Inventory of Dams (USACE). Hazard potential is a downstream-consequence classification, not a statement about the structure's condition.
The water above and below
- Apple River 0.01 mi from the dam · Class II · wild supplemented (WDNR) · typed Cold
- Parker Creek 0.4 mi from the dam · Class III · stocked (WDNR)
Coldwater designation is the state's own classification. A dam sits on one river and this list is every designated reach within a mile and a half of it, so a tributary mouth shows up here too.
Water right now
| Gauge | Distance | Temp | Flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Croix River at St. Croix Falls, WI | 15.4 mi | 60.1 °F | 1,480 cfs |
| St. Croix River at St. Croix Falls | 15.4 mi | 60.1 °F | 1,480 cfs |
| Willow River @ County Trunk Highway T at Jewett,wi | 10.1 mi | — | — |
Live from USGS. A gauge miles away is a gauge miles away — the distance column is there so you can discount it. A hydro dam's releases move the flow below it on a schedule the gauge sees and this page does not. 1 of the gauges above is not sending water temperature at all — a stopped gauge still answers with the last value it ever sent and nothing to say so, so those rows carry a modelled figure where one can be fitted, marked as modelled, and a dash where it cannot.
Getting to it
- Apple River Dam Access 0.1 mi · canoe launch · Apple River
- Black Brook Flowage Access 0.7 mi · boat launch · Black Brook Flowage/Apple River
- Apple River Access 1.3 mi · canoe launch · Apple River
- King Lake Access 1.8 mi · canoe launch · King Lake
- Beartrap Lake Access 3.6 mi · boat launch · Beartrap Lake
- South Twin Lake Access 3.6 mi · boat launch · South Twin Lake
Public access sites near the dam, straight-line distance. A dam itself is private property unless its owner says otherwise; these are the places the state lists as open.
Fly shops nearby
- Walleye Willy's Bait & Tackle 25.6 mi
- Bob Mitchell's Fly Shop 29.5 mi · Lake Elmo
- Lund's Fly Shop 29.8 mi · River Falls
- Bait on Broadway 34.5 mi · Menomonie