USGS Earth Science Photographic Archive digital file: hjk00716
A "rigput fence" refers to wall-like piles of driftwood that accumulate along the river during flood. They provide a running record of high-water flow, much like wracklines on a beach between high tides and storms. Before Flaming Gorge Dam and other impoundments in the river system, the magnitude of discharge could vary between 50 and 100 times between low-water flow periods in the early summer and fall, and peak discharge periods after spring snow melt, and the sometime rare heavy-wet monsoon seasons of the late summer in the region. Episodic storms in the summer may only impact portions of Colorado River basin or its tributaries. Today, the controlled release of water for daily power generation from the high dams produce "synthetic" daily tidal fluctuations.
