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Menasha Dam, Michigan
Menasha Dam on the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.
Open in BirdTrout42.4632, -85.6924 · Allegan County · NID MI00522. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.
What the runs do here
Kalamazoo 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
- City of Otsego Local Government
- Purpose
- Hydroelectric, Recreation
- Completed
- 1886
- Type
- Gravity
- Height
- 22 ft
- Length
- 180 ft
- Spillway
- Uncontrolled, 150 ft wide
- Storage
- 700 acre-ft · 73 acre pool
- Drainage
- 1,415 sq mi
- Condition
- Poor · High hazard potential
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
- Gun River 0.6 mi from the dam · Cold transitional small river (MDNR VSEC) · typed Cold-transitional
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalamazoo River near Allegan, MI | 5.6 mi | — | 1,900 cfs |
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
- Jefferson Road 2.1 mi · boat launch · Kalamazoo River
- Pine Creek Impoundment 2.3 mi · boat launch · Pine Creek
- River Road 2.9 mi · boat launch · Kalamazoo River
- Rupert Lake 4.4 mi · boat launch · Rupert Lake
- Big Lake 6.8 mi · boat launch · Big Lake
- Clear Lake 7.2 mi · boat launch · Clear 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
- Bob's Gun & Tackle Shop 22.3 mi · Hastings · +1 269-945-4106
- Mac Baits 32.3 mi · Holland
- Nomad Anglers 34.6 mi · Grand Rapids