BAILEY AND FRANKLIN: WATERS OF THE KAW RIVER. 99 



Delaware. 

 Blue. 



Wakariisa. 

 Eepubllean. 

 Kaw at Topeka. 

 Kaw at Lawrence 

 Smoky Hill. 

 Solomon. 

 ■'"^'-"™ 

 Saline. 



The constituents that have been graphically represented above are 

 the only ones that differ very essentially in quantity. The Blue river 

 contains the least quantity of lime salts, and the Smoky Hill and 

 Saline the most, but this quantity is not excessive, and is less than 

 twice the amount contained in the purest of the series. The mag- 

 nesium is also small in all the waters examined. But here again the 

 Saline furnishes the greatest per cent.; this stream too contains more 

 magnesia than the Smoky Hill. 



By an examination of the soda plate and the sulphuric anhydride 

 plate it will be noticed that the great ''alkali region, "in addition to 

 being in the Saline valley as would be expected, is also in the Smoky 

 Hill and Solomon valleys. There is very little difference between 

 the water of the two latter rivers in this respect. 



It will be noticed also that the "salt" of the Kaw, unless it comes 

 from some underground source, comes from the three upper tributa- 

 ries: Delaware, Blue and Republican furnishing very little of the 

 salt found in the water at Lawrence. It is an undisputed fact that 

 the unpolluted ground water of the Kaw valley does contain consid- 

 erable mineral matter. The present supply of the city of Topeka, for 

 instance, is obtained by means of points driven beside the river bank, 

 and this water contains 12.78 parts of chloriu per 100,000. The wa- 

 ter of a sixty-foot drive well in the bottom north of Lawrence water 

 works, contained 23.74 parts of chlorin. 



Referring to that part of the examination that may be more prop- 

 erly called the "sanitary" portion, it is interesting to note that the wa- 

 ters of the three upper tributaries contain much larger quantities of 

 "total combined nitrogen" than those of the lower tributaries, and 

 even of the Kaw itself. The river seems to have purified itself from 

 the organic matter in the course of a hundred miles or so; and we see 

 that the Kaw at Topeka is much better in quality than many of the 

 tributaries that go to make it up. This may be due to any or all of 

 the circumstances: dilution, sedimentation, and oxidation. Much of 

 the organic matter that appears as albuminoid ammonia was shown, 

 by the slowness with which it distilled off, to be of vegetable origin. 

 This would tend to settle at the bottom of a slowly-flowing current. 



