About the work

A closer look.

Some people carry one piece of water with them: a creek behind a childhood house, a river they paddled, a bay they left. This is a written trace of that water, made for them. What you get, as a digital file: - Every reach in order, from the first branch to the mouth, with real coordinates - The live USGS gages that measure it, with links you can open yourself - The dams, towns and junctions it passes - The one number that matters now: how much water is moving at the nearest gage, on the day I pull it A real sample, at full length, from water I watch every morning: Rocky River near Norwood, North Carolina (35.1570, -80.1662). Its water starts in Lick Branch, runs into Lanes Creek, then the Rocky River past that gage at 139 cubic feet per second on 22 October 2026, then into the Pee Dee, then Winyah Bay, then the Atlantic. That is the whole path, and every stop on it has a coordinate and a gage you can open. Before you pay, I send the first reach of your water free. If it reads true, the rest of the way to the sea is $20. Delivery within three days. I re-pull every gage at delivery and date every number. If I cannot verify a stretch of your water, I say so plainly instead of filling the gap. Good for: a gift for someone who moved away from their river, a record of a family place, or anyone who wants to know where their water actually goes.