Vol. XXIV, pp. 63-68 March 22, 1911 



PROCEEDINGS 



<>F THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



SOxME OBSERVATIONS MADE ON LITTLE RIVER, NEAR 



WICHITA, KANSAS, WITH REFERENCE 



TO THE UNION I ICE.* 



BY II. WALTON CLARK AND GEORGE II. GILLETTE. 



[Published with the permission of the Hon. < }& irgc M. Bowers, 

 U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries.] 



Little Arkansas River, more commonly known locally as 

 Little River, is one of the largest northern tributaries of the 

 Arkansas River in Kansas. It rises in the great wheat fields 

 of central Kansas and takes a winding southeasterly course, 

 emptying its waters into the Arkansas River at Wichita. The 

 country through which it flows is wholly an agricultural region. 

 broad fields of corn occupying the bottom land lying next to 

 the stream on each side, while on the higher land farther away lie 

 extensive wheat fields. Little River, in marked contrast with the 

 usual type of western stream, keeps up a steady flow throughout 

 the year, and is not materially affected by the dry season of 

 July, August and September. This would seem to indicate 

 that the stream is fed by numerous springs or underground How. 

 The upper course was not examined, but in the lower course 

 the well-water of the bottom lands is reached at a depth of 

 from 15 to 20 feet, which is about the depth of the hanks of 

 the stream. The water is unusually uniform in temperature, 

 being cooler in summer than other streams of the vicinity, and 

 abnormally warm in winter, so that it is rarely ever frozen over 

 very thickly even in the coldest weather, and in some portions 

 it has never been known to freeze entirely over. These circum- 

 stances also tend to indicate that the river owes its steady How 



*The field investigations on which this paper is based were made by the junior 



author in August. 1910. 



17— Pkoc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXIV.1911. (63) 



