A Chemical Examination of the Waters of 

 the Kaw River and Its Tributaries. 



BY E. H. S. DAILEY AND E. C. FRANKLIN. 



An examination of the map of the state of Kansas reveals tlie fact 

 that the Kaw or Kansas river drains nearly one-half of the state. It 

 is estimated that the drainage basin of this river is 34,684 square 

 miles or about 44 per cent, of the total area of the state, and that 38 

 per cent, of the whole population of the state resitlo in this valley. 

 On account of these considerations, then, the character of the water 

 of this river system is of great importance. This investigation has 

 been taken up at the request of the American Debenture Company, 

 who are interested in supplying several of the towns in the valley 

 with water, and we here tender to them our thanks for their kind per- 

 mission to use the facts reported below, in the interest of science and 

 for the general good. 



Looking again at the map of the slate it will be noticed that the 

 Kaw river is not simply one long stream with several insignificant 

 branches, but it is the name applied to the aggregation of a number 

 of large streams. Properly speaking we might consider that the Kaw 

 was formed by the confluence of the Saline and the Smoky Hill at 

 New Cambria, a town a few miles below Salina. This is evident 

 when it is noticed that the streams are of about the same size and 

 drain a similar area. The name Smoky Hill has hovvever been given 

 to the stream till it receives the waters of the larger Republican river 

 at Junction City; and with this understanding the Saline is considered 

 a branch of the Smoky Hill. 



About ten miles below New Cambria, before the Smoky Hill unites 

 with the Republican, it receives a large accession by the waters of the 

 Solomon, flowing in also from the north. These four streams drain 

 considerably more than the northwestern quarter of the state besides 

 a large area in Nebraska. The head waters of the Smoky Hill are in 

 the extreme eastern part of Colorado, while the Saline and the Solo- 

 mon, though flowing nearly parallel to this, rise in the extreme western 

 part of the state, and a large area on the north border is drained by 

 streams which run northeast into the Republican in Nebraska, and 



(91) KAN. UNIV. qUAR. VOI.. Ill, NO, 1, JULY, 1894, 



