40 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



and a population of about 400,000. In area these counties equal in 

 size the combined areas of the states of New Hampshire and Con- 

 necticut, and they were as thickly populated as either New Hampshire 

 or Vermont at the time of the last census. Moreover the population 

 has greatly increased since the last census, owing to the rapid devel- 

 opment of the oil- and gas-fields. 



The gas-fields had been drawn upon for several years for city gas 

 supplies, and a small oil refinery was operated at Neodesha prior to 

 1901. It is from that date that the operations began to assume the 

 colossal dimensions that in a few years will make the Kansas-Indian 

 Territory-Oklahoma field the greatest in the United States, and prob- 

 ably the greatest in the world. The output of oil has increased one 

 hundred fold in the last four years — from 200 barrels per day in 1900 

 to 20,000 barrels per day in 1904. The handling of this oil means a 

 large increase in population, and, in addition, brick plants, cement 

 works, zinc smelters and glass factories are using the gas and bring- 

 ing thousands of people into this section. 



It is necessary to provide an abundant supply of pure water for this 

 increased and increasing population, and it is necessary to take proper 

 care of the sewage from these enlarged and enlarging cities. The in- 

 dividual city will have a tendency to look out for itself, to the possi- 

 ble, even probable, detriment of neighboring cities. For -example, a 

 city may obtain its water-supply from one of these rivers and dispose 

 of its sewage into the same river further down. This, however, cannot 

 be done without detriment to other cities further down the stream. 

 At certain seasons of the year the rivers in this southeastern section 

 are so decreased in volume that they will not afford sufficient dilution 

 to purify the organic matter which exists in these enlarged and en- 

 larging cities. One such case suffices to show that the state should 

 have a general oversight of the water-supplies and sewage systems 

 throughout the state of Kansas. 



In order to learn definitely the source of the water supplied to the 

 cities of this southeastern section, I have addressed letters to the 

 mayors of said cities. According to the United States Gazetteer for 

 Kansas (1898), there are 119 cities and villages in this section of the 

 state — thirty-five in the Marais des Cygnes watershed, fifty-six in 

 the Neosho, and twenty-eight in the Verdigris. I have received re- 

 plies from seventy-five of the cities, and find that twenty-seven have 

 already a public water-supply, nineteen of which obtain their supply 

 in whole or in part from these rivers. Only thirteen have public 

 sewers, and, as far as my knowledge extends, these empty into these 

 rivers. Thirty-nine from which replies were received obtain their 

 supplies from wells and cisterns. A few obtain their supplies from 

 springs and one from a lake. 



