2l8 KANSAS UiMVERSITV QUARTEKLV. 



purposes. During the remainder of the year it resembles the other 

 plains rivers. 



The only published measurements that I have seen of the flow of 

 Kansas streams are those for the Republican, Smoky Hill, Kaw, Solo- 

 mon and Saline, made by Prof. Hay and published in the U. S. Irriga- 

 tion Report in 1893. They are as follows: 



RIVER. PLACE. DATE. ^°^^"^' 



CUB. FT. SEC. 



Kaw Fort Riley June 18, '9 r 6961 



Republican Scandia June 10, '91 ^534 



Republican Junction City June 15, '91 2045 



Smoky Hill Ellsworth June 8, '9 1 360 



Smoky Hill s. w. Junction City June 15, '91 961 



Solomon Beloit June 19, '9 1 270 



Saline .Lincoln June 8, '91 125 



These seven single measurements are good as far as they go, but 

 they are too few to be of any value in making estimates. The Arkansas, 

 Cimarron and other streams might be included in this table since their 

 visible flow is nothing at times. Measurements of flow, to be of much 

 value in computing water supply and storage, should be made daily 

 or oftener for a period of years. 



The mean annual rainfall in Kansas varies from about 45 inches in 

 the southeastern part to less than 15 inches in the southwestern part. 

 On the accompanying map we have drawn the curves of mean annual 

 rainfall for each 5 inches variation. They are drawn from the rainfall 

 records of thirty-four places in Kansas published in the biennial 

 reports of the Board of Agriculture. The length of these records 

 varies from two years in the western part of the state to thirty-three 

 in the eastern part. The western curves are based on so little data 

 that they may be changed a good deal by future data. Another fact 

 in regard to these records must be kept in mind; some of them are 

 older than others, and their mean may be considerably above or 

 below the mean of a later period. 



These curves extend approximately northeast and southwest except 

 in the northwestern part of the state where they bend to the northwest. 

 They are considerably nearer together in the eastern half of the state 

 than in the western half. 



We are concerned with the maximum and minimum rainfall as well 

 as the mean. The future storage basins of Kansas will probably not 

 be large enough to store a supply of water for more than one year, so 

 that the water from the minimum rainfall is all that the farmer is sure 

 of. The maximum should be known in order to properly proportion 

 the spillway and thus insure the permanence of the works. 



