THE DRYING-UP OF POOLS AND STREAMS IN CENTRAL 



KANSAS. 



By S. G. Mead, McPherson, Kan. 

 Read before the Academy, at lola, December 31, 1901. 



~DEFORE the prairies of central Kansas were cultivated, they were 

 -^-^ covered by a scanty coat of native grasses, while the soil, hardened 

 by the tramping of myriads of buffalo for uncounted centuries, was 

 almost water-proof. The low places, the draws and creeks, the outlets 

 of pools and lakes, were generally choked with a heavy growth of 

 coarse vegetation. To saturate the hard-packed soil required bnt lit- 

 tle water, of which the light covering of vegetation absorbed but slowly 

 only a small portion. Much of the rainfall remained upon the sur- 

 face, finding its way between the clumps of prairie-grass to the hollows 

 and low places. From these it trickled slowly through the thick vege- 

 tation until it formed small creeks and streams, and so finally reached 

 the rivers. Sometimes an exceptionally heavy rain would cause a 

 flood for a short time, but this did not materially change the situation. 



The advent of cultivation has practically changed the whole course 

 of nature. The soil, pulverized by the plow and harrow, readily ab- 

 sorbs many times as much water as the unbroken sod, and the heavy 

 crops — corn, wheat, etc. — draw from the ground a great excess over 

 the amount of water needed by the native grasses. Many of the shal- 

 lower pools disappeared at once, while others were much reduced in 

 area. The farmers plowed up more and more of these small basins 

 every year, thus increasing the water-absorbing area and diminishing 

 the amount of water which reached the pools and creeks. 



With the construction of public highways came an enormously in- 

 creased absorption of water. While the roads themselves occupy less 

 than three per cent, of the surface, there is quite an area which drains 

 into them ; but, except in cases of immense downpours or of long- 

 continued rains, none of this water ever reaches the streams. In dry 

 weather the ground in central Kansas cracks to the depth of several 

 feet, and these cracks are quite large. I have seen them nearly three 

 inches across and so numerous that it was not easy to find a square 

 foot of surface without one. 



These cracks appear in great numbers in the side ditches of the 

 roads. How far they extend under the soil on each side can only be 

 estimated. In all probability they connect with those in the fields, 

 and thus may be said to extend indefinitely. The amount of water 



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