Clarks Mills Dam

Even though (upper) Cato Falls offers a sweet series of waves and holes to run or play, some paddlers may wish to skip the long lake/backwater/flatwater paddle (which starts not far downstream of those waves) and may opt to use this dam as their put-in instead. There is parking and access here, just off County Trunk Highway (CTH.) J at Mill Street, in the unincorporated village of Clarks Mills.

The dam should NOT be run, as flow drops hard onto a concrete 'splash block' with large rocks immediately backing it up in the outflow. (This 'plunge pool' structure is to reduce or eliminate hydraulic scouring of the riverbed). Put-in well-away from the dam and paddle strongly out into the current. (There may be a persistent eddy trying to pull you upstream toward the dam.)

USGS lists a sampling site just upstream of the dam and shows drainage at this point as 399 square miles.