196 Fish and Game Warden. [Bull. No. 1. 



It is one of the objects of this paper to show how much of the 

 rainfall and snowfall water that now runs out of the country 

 can be retained in ponds, lakes and reservoirs and be used 

 afterward for various purposes at times when most needed. 

 While collecting material for the bulletin before mentioned it 

 was necessary for the writer to study water conditions in the 

 state, giving attention to the subject of water in creeks, lakes, 

 rivers and ponds, and especial attention to the water-storage 

 possibilities of artificial ponds. Different parts of the state 

 were visited in order that all the information available on the 

 subject might be collected directly from the owners and build- 

 ers of ponds; every published article on ponds and kindred 

 subjects that could be gotten hold of was read and considered. 

 From this study of ponds we learned a number of things ; and 

 the one thing that especially impressed us was that every 

 owner of a pond, with few exceptions, was not only enthusi- 

 astic about its use and value, but was, as a rule, either figuring 

 on improving it by making it larger and better or was plan- 

 ning to build more ponds. 



Our primary interest in the study of ponds was their value 

 and adaptability for fish-culture purposes. However, we find 

 that ponds may have a permanent value, not only to their indi- 

 vidual owners, but to a people and a country, aside from their 

 ability to produce fish, which in itself would make them paying 

 propositions. 



In the preparation of Part I of the bulletin before men- 

 tioned we had occasion to consider the possibilities of water 

 conservation by storage in artificial ponds on farms and 

 ranches, not taking into account, however, what might be done 

 by the building of large reservoirs for general storage, for 

 irrigation and other purposes. After examining a number of 

 ponds on ranches and farms that were considered not only 

 valuable by their owners, but an almost indispensable part of 

 the farm or ranch, we made some calculations as regards the 

 water-storage possibilities of ponds and lakes that might be 

 constructed on farms and ranches in the state. 



A POND ON EVERY FARM. 



If there were a pond or a lake of the average size of an acre 

 on each square mile or section of land in the state of Kansas, it 

 would amount to 82,144 acres of water. If there were a pond 

 or a lake of the average size of an acre on each quarter section 

 it would amount to 328,576 acres of water. If there were, on 

 the average, an acre pond on each forty-acre tract of land in 

 the state it would in the aggregate amount to 1,314,302 acres 

 of water, or an average of four acres of water for each quarter 

 section of land — enough water to cover 2000 sections or over 

 8000 quarter sections of land. In surface area this water, if 

 combined in one body, would be equal to a lake 400 miles long 



