Paint Creek (Iowa)

Paint Creek showing conflunce with Little Paint Creek (United States Environmental Protection Agency)

Paint Creek is a direct tributary of the Upper Mississippi River, rising in central Allamakee County, Iowa, in and about the city of Waukon. The catchment measures approximately 85.5 square miles (221 km²). It has some still-rural stretches past 9th Street Southwest in Waukon, but most of the actual Waukon portions have been culverted. It joins the Mississippi approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) above Marquette, Iowa in (Lock and Dam) Pool 10, near river mile 641.

The upper reaches have surface water only after a rainstorm, but as one goes east to the Mississippi, cutting down deeply into the gorge of the Mississippi, a serious cold water ever-flowing stream is encountered, fed by springs. Even in the worst drought years, Paint Creek always has water.

The watershed is divided in to Big Paint Creek and Little Paint Creek. Once outside of Waukon, the creek travels through entirely rural country. Less than optimal farming practices have created erosion problems, leading to excess sediment being transported downstream into the River, and the Army Corps of Engineers is developing plans to combat this.

It takes its name from Paint Rock Bluff, near Waukon Junction, Iowa. Once an important navigational landmark for Mississippi River traffic, it was named for the Indian paintings and petroglyphs on it.

Notwithstanding its name, much of the Yellow River State Forest lies within the Paint Creek watershed where the state maintains backpacking and equestrian trails, campgrounds and other such recreational amenities. The region is quite scenic, with rugged limestone cliffs and lush woodlands.

Locally, it is also a place name, mainly of Lutheran Churches (the East Paint and West Paint churches). There is also a private Christian campground in the area.

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