Techniques were used to estimate discharge for the Brandon Road Dam on the Des Plaines River and the Dresden Island, Marseilles, and Starved Rock Dams on the Illinois River in northern Illinois. Tainter gates are operated to regulate streamflow at all dams. Additionally, headgates are used for regulation of the Brandon Road Dam. Stage-discharge, gate-opening relations were developed from a total of 91 discharge measurements that range from 198 to 86,400 cubic feet per second (5. 6 to 2,450 cubic meters per second). Values for discharge coefficients, in equations that express discharge as a function of tailwater depth, headwater depth, and vertical height of gate opening, were determined for conditions of free-orifice, submerged-orifice, free-weir, and submerged-weir flow past a tainter gate.