USGS Water-Year Summary 2023
06866500 SMOKY HILL RIVER NEAR MENTOR, KS
LOCATION - Lat 38°42'40", long 97°34'17" referenced to North American Datum of 1927, in SW 1/4 SE 1/4 SW 1/4 sec.29, T.15 S., R.2 W., Saline County, KS, Hydrologic Unit 10260008, on left bank at upstream side of State highway bridge, 2.0 mi southeast of Mentor, and at mile 114.0.
DRAINAGE AREA - 8,341 mi².
REVISIONS HISTORY - WSP 1440: 1924, 1927-28, 1929(M), 1932(M). WSP 1919: 1960.
SURFACE-WATER RECORDS
PERIOD OF RECORD - December 1923 to October 1930, May 1931 to June 1932, October 1947 to current year. Published as "near Salina" 1948-49.
GAGE -
Water-stage recorder. Current datum of gage is 1,240.71 ft. above msl. (NAVD88) Established Oct. 8, 2020 with Trimble R10 using a static survey and processed by OPUS. Old datum was 1,240.11 ft above NGVD of 1929.
Prior to June 30, 1932, nonrecording gage at site 10 mi upstream at datum 20.9 ft higher. Oct. 1, 1947, to Sept. 18, 1948, nonrecording gage, and Sept. 19, 1948, to June 26, 1959, water-stage recorder at site 0.3 mi west on former channel, at present datum. June 27, 1959, to Sept. 8, 1959, nonrecording gage at present site and datum. Sept. 9, 1959, to Mar. 6, 2002, water-stage recorder at site 11.8 mi downstream at different datum.
EXTREMES OUTSIDE PERIOD OF RECORD - Greatest known flood at Salina, 7.5 mi downstream occurred in 1844; second greatest known flood, May 29, 1903, reached a stage of 26.5 ft near Mentor, from floodmarks, site and datum of 1923-32.
EXTREMES FOR PERIOD OF RECORD - Flood of June 24, 2019 reached a stage of 24.65 ft. with a corresponding discharge of 6740 cfs.