Ellsworth County Research Articles

Effects of Late-Summer Prescribed Fire on Botanical Composition, Soil Cover, and Forage Production in Caucasian Bluestem-Infested Rangeland in the Kansas Smoky Hills: Year 4 of 5

Objective: Our objective was to determine effects of late-summer prescribed fire on frequency of Caucasian bluestem (Bothriochloa bladhii) in the Kansas Smoky Hills as well as changes in soil cover, botanical composition, and forage production associated with fire treatment. Study Description: The study was in Ellsworth County, KS. Eighteen one-acre plots were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: no burn, one burn (August 14, 2019), and two burns (August 14, 2019, and August 11, 2021). Soil cover, botanical composition, forage production, and Caucasian bluestem frequency were measured annually beginning in 2019. The Bottom Line: These data suggest that regular application of late-summer prescribed fire may be an effective method to reduce Caucasian bluestem frequency while improving overall grass-species richness.

Reclaiming Old World Bluestem Pasture with Imazapyr Application and Native Grass Overseeding

Old world bluestems (OWB), mainly Caucasian bluestem (Bothriochloa bladhii) and yellow bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum) introduced from parts of eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, have been shown to reduce abundance and diversity of some insect and wildlife species compared to native grasses when these OWB grasses form dense stands. These OWBs have been invading native pastures in the southern Great Plains and are rapidly increasing in the amount of area occupied in Kansas. Two landowners purchased pasture property in Ellsworth County, KS, and observed that Caucasian old world bluestem had increased in the pasture significantly over the course of several years. They developed a plan with local partners to reclaim the pasture back to native grass and forb dominance in an effort to improve wildlife habitat and cattle grazing on the property.

The Effects of COVID-19 on Mortality Rates in non-COVID Patients with Chronic Diseases

Objective: Evaluate the relationship between patients with chronic disease and their mortality rates associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Non-experimental, quantitative, descriptive Setting: Logan County Hospital, Ellsworth County Hospital, Russell Regional Hospital, Allen County Hospital, Clay County Hospital, Ellinwood District Hospital, Wichita Country Health Center, Greenwood County Hospital, Hillsboro Community Hospital, Kiowa County Memorial Hospital, Ness County District #2 Hospital and Smith County Memorial Hospital. Participants: 10 charts from each of the CAH hospitals listed. Results/Conclusion: Pending results and data collection

Elias Putnam West (1820–1892) - Lawyer, Attorney General, Militia Commander, Judge, Postmaster, Archaeologist, and Paleontologist

Following his forty year career in law, and his archeological studies regarding the early Indian cultures that built the mounds along the Missouri River, Judge E.P. West became interested in geology and paleontology. Well into his sixties, he moved to Lawrence, Kansas where he became associated with Professor F.H. Snow at the University of Kansas. Under the guidance of Professor Snow, he began collecting fossil leaves in central Kansas and vertebrate remains from the Late Cretaceous Smoky Hill Chalk in the late 1880s. West's name is associated with several significant discoveries in Kansas, including a rich deposit of fossil leaf impressions from the Dakota Formation in Ellsworth County and the type specimen of the elasmosaurid plesiosaur, Styxosaurus snowii from the Smoky Hill Chalk of Logan County. The specimens he discovered greatly enriched the early paleontology collections at the University of Kansas and illustrations of many of them were included in scientific publications by the University of Kans...

Miocene Tapir From North-Central Kansas

was by Hibbard et al. (1978) who described three partial rami and an isolated upper right second premolar (RP2) from the Kanopolis local fauna (l.f.) of Ellsworth County. The Kanopolis is considered to be a middle Pleistocene interglacial fauna. Subsequently, Martin and Naples (1999) described a partial ramus with the roots of three cheek teeth from a sandbar on the Kansas River presumed to be late Pleistocene in age. In a preliminary study of Miocene mammals from north-central Kansas, I (Zakrzewski, 1988) mentioned the presence of a tapir in the text and included it in the faunal list of the Gretna l.f. of Phillips County. Herein, I formally describe the specimen, an isolated tooth, which is in the Vertebrate Paleontology collections of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University (FHSM VP). This report is part of a continuing effort to provide detailed descriptions of the mammals from the Ogallala Group in this area (Bever, 2003; Bever and Zakrzewski, 2009).

Use of archival photographs to rediscover the locality of the Holyrood elasmosaur (Ellsworth County, Kansas)

In 1931, an oilfield geologist working in Ellsworth County discovered large bones eroding from a limestone exposure along a creek bank about two miles west of the town of Holyrood, Kansas. He notified George F. Sternberg of the remains and later that year, Sternberg and his assistant, Myrl V. Walker, collected the remains of a large, headless elasmosaur from the “Lincoln Marble (Benton).” The specimen (UNSM 50136) was sold to the University of Nebraska State Museum in 1935, where it was prepared from the remaining matrix. One of the front paddles has been on display in the UNSM since that time. Sternberg was also an accomplished photographer and took several black and white photographs of the locality. The photos were used by Harold Ehler, the grandson of the person who had leased the land at the time of the discovery, and the author to confirm the locality and stratigraphic occurrence of this relatively unknown but important specimen.

Rock art acoustics

The relationship between the location of rock art and the acoustical properties of its immediate environment has been a source of previous investigation. The markings the early peoples created on rock formations open a fascinating portal into the exploration of their lifestyles. Previous research has shown that often ancient rock art was placed on surfaces or in locations that echoed, whereas locations without such echoes were undecorated [S. J. Waller, 2002 Rock Art Acoustics in the Past, Present, and Future. 1999 International Rock Art Congress Proceedings 2, 11–20]. Could the acoustical characteristics of the decorated outcroppings have been perceived by the early peoples of the American Plains? A detailed study of six rock art sites located in Ellsworth County, KS has been conducted to determine the acoustical properties of these sites. At each site, various impulsive sounds were created to energize the space. The impulse responses were recorded and analyzed using two acoustic recording and analysis computer programs. This study did find echoes occurring at the decorated sites. These echoes were quantifiably louder than any reflection of sound measured at the surrounding undecorated locations.

Ever changing landscape: Recent topographic landmark erosion in Kansas

Before and after photographs taken many years apart show historic changes to some of the more notable topographic features of Kansas. Recently, several prominent erosional remnants have been modified or destroyed, including the Indian petroglyphs (Ellsworth County), Natural Bridge (Barber County), and Castle Rock, Cobra Rock, and the Sphinx (all in Gove County). These unique and interesting topographic forms were carved by water and modified by wind erosion. Although erosion rates are slow by human standards, catastrophic events can change or modify features rather drastically by any time standard.

Discovery Of The Milliped Pleuroloma Flavipes (Polydesmida : Xystodesmidae) In Texas, And Other Records From West Of The Mississippi River

Pleuroloma flavipes Rafinesque, the westernmost representative of the east-Nearctic xystodesmid milliped fauna, is reported from Bowie County, Texas, the first record from this state. Other new localities from west of theMississippi River are listed, one being a disjunct site in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, approximately 200 mi (320 km) south of the contiguous range; it is believed to represent an allopatric population. These sites extend the distributions of the species, genus, tribe Rhysodesmini, and family some 75 mi (120 km) westward in Oklahoma; the published locality in Ellsworth County, Kansas, is the westernmost in the Central Plains for these taxa.

Preservation of Historic Graffiti Using Ethyl Silicate: The Signature of W. F. Cody in Ellsworth County, Kansas

A laboratory examination of the effect of ethyl silicate solutions (Conservare OH and Conservare H) on red Dakota sandstone (Cretaceous) cores from Red Rock Canyon, Kanopolis Lake, Ellsworth County, showed the treatments improved the compressive strength and freeze-thaw resistance of the stone without sealing the pore system or causing discoloration. The solution then was applied to the signature of W. F Cody in order to prolong

Preserving Native American Petroglyphs On Porous Sandstone

A new method of chemical treatment is proposed to improve the durability of soft, porous sandstones onto which Native American petroglyphs have been carved Cores of Dakota Sandstone from the Faris Cave site, located along the Smoky Hiil River in Ellsworth County, Kansas, were treated with ethyl silicate dissolved in a lightweight ketone carrier, and some cores were subsequently treated with a combination of ethyl silicate and silane using the same solvent. Measurement of the resulting physical properties, when compared to untreated cores, indicate the treatments substantially increased the compressive strength and freeze-thaw resistance of the stone without discoloring the stone or completely sealing the pore system. The treatment increases the durability of the stone and provides a method for preserving the petroglyphs at the site. After treating test panels at the site, the petroglyphs were treated in like manner.

Naegleria‐Like Cysts In Cretaceous Amber From Central Kansas

ABSTRACT. Fossil protist cysts are reported from the mid‐Cretaceous amber of Ellsworth County, Kansas, which is rich in terrestrial microfossils but contains no known macrofossils. On the basis of their distinctive morphology, the cysts can be referred to the genus Naegleria (Schizopyrenida); they most closely resemble cysts of the living species Naegleria gruberi. This is the first known fossil record for this group of amoebas. the current phylogenetic position and paleoecological role of Naegleria are discussed in relation to this find; it provides direct confirmation of morphological stasis in this group, which had previously been inferred from rRNA sequence divergence data.,

Scolecodonts from well cores of the Maquoketa shale, Upper Ordovician, Ellsworth County, Kansas

Scolecodonts from well cores of the Maquoketa shale, Upper Ordovician, Ellsworth County, Kansas

A Century of Progress in Paleobotany in Kansas

climbs in elevation, but one also climbs, figuratively speaking, the geologic time scale. oldest outcroppings are of Mississippian age (Lower Carboniferous) and occur only in the extreme southeastern corner of the state. Most of the eastern fourth of Kansas is Pennsylvanian (Upper Carboniferous) in age. Flint Hills and adjoining areas to the west, including the Red Beds of southcentral Kansas, are Permian. Cretaceous deposits are represented by a broad area in northcentral Kansas and include fingerings westward along several rivers, notably the Smoky Hill, representing the world-famous chalk deposits with their remarkable animal fossils, mostly fish and reptile. so-called High Plains of western Kansas are chiefly Tertiary and Pleistocene in age (Fig. 1). All of these strata, with the possible exception of the Mississippian, have yielded a rich variety of fossils, both plant and animal. Perhaps the first person to scientifically investigate the fossil flora of Kansas was Charles Sternberg, who, along with his son George, is far more greatly reknowned for his extensive animal collections in the Cretaceous chalk. Sternberg was not a trained scientist himself but rather a collector-and an extremely courageous, avid, and careful one. Museums throughout the world owe many of their prized specimens to his dogged persistence in the face of hostile climate, sickness, lack of money, and primitive equipment and transportation. His paleobotanical collections in about 1870 were limited to the Dakota Sandstone (Cretaceous), chiefly in Ellsworth County, and consisted of many hundreds of excellent specimens of angiosperm leaves. Most of these were subsequently delivered to Leo Lesquereux, who also did some collecting himself in the area, culminating in two extensive publications, The Cretaceous (Lesquereux, 1874) and The Flora of the Dakota Group (Lesquereux, 1892), the latter being published five years after the author's death and being by far the more important and pertinent of the two. Upper Cretaceous Dakota flora remains as one of the world's most extensive, and its description is certainly the first major milestone in Kansas paleobotany. David White and E. H. Sellards were the first to investigate the

Growth Data on Sport Fishes in Twelve Lakes in Kansas

This paper presents data on the growth-rates of nine kinds of game fish collected from 1952 to 1956 inclusive from twelve of the more important lakes in Kansas: Crawford County State Lake number 2 (= Farlington); Gardner Lake, Johnson County; Lone Star Lake, Douglas County; Prairie Lake, Jackson County; Leavenworth County State Lake (=~Tonganoxie); Lake Wabaunsee, Wabaunsee County; Wyandotte Coun'y Lake; Herington Lake, Dickinson County; Nemaha County State Lake; Ottawa County State Lake; Cedar Bluff Reservoir, Trego County; and Kanopolis Reservoir, Ellsworth County.

Differential Entrapment of Oil and Gas in Arbuckle Dolomite of Central Kansas

In central Kansas about 15,000 wells produce oil from the Arbuckle dolomite of Cambro-Ordovician age at depths from 3,200 feet to 4,400 feet. About 500 of these wells produce gas with the oil, or produce only gas. Reservoir porosity was formed, or improved, by solution in early Pennsylvanian time when the dolomite beds cropped out on a land surface of low relief. Ground water moved downward through joints, then laterally along bedding planes in the soluble dolomite, continuing downdip under Ordovician Simpson shale cover on the flanks of the Central Kansas uplift. The gently tilted, truncated, solution riddled, porous, and permeable Arbuckle beds were a great regional aquifer until buried under middle Pennsylvanian beds which provide an impervious seal. Oil and gas are tr pped in highs at the top of the Arbuckle, whether anticlinal folds, buried hills, or traps formed by barriers such as clay-filled solution valleys. Dips are ½° or less. The lowest Arbuckle traps, such as the Shady and Zook fields of Pawnee County, produce sour gas from depths near 2,000 feet below sea-level. In the Sweeney, Ash Creek, and Pawnee Rock fields of Pawnee County, gas is produced from the Arbuckle near -1,800 feet, -1,750 feet, and -1,650 feet, respectively, with a thin oil column present in each field. Both oil and gas are produced from the Otis-Albert field of Rush and Barton counties where the gas-oil contact is -1,600 feet. Oil, and only oil, is trapped in the major Arbuckle fields of Rice, Barton, Russell, Ellis, Rooks, and Graham counties at depths of -1,600 feet to -1,400 feet. In the Kraft-Prusa field of Barton County the oil-water contact is -1,465 feet. The critical closure of the Arbuckle anticline also is -1,465 feet, indicatin that the reservoir is exactly filled with oil. In Ellsworth County, a large anticline with porous Arbuckle as high as -1,350 feet contains only salt water. This pattern of differential entrapment of gas and oil accords closely with the theoretical distribution of hydrocarbons described by Gussow (1954) and provides part of the evidence from which it is concluded that gas and oil migrated out of Oklahoma northward through Arbuckle rocks for more than 100 miles as postulated by Rich (1931a and 1931b), due to tilting and loading. The gas and oil spilled upward under an impervious roof of Ordovician Simpson shale and Pennsylvanian beds until differentially entrapped in central Kansas. Time of migration was mid-Permian. Remigration eastward within the Central Kansas uplift occurred at the time of pre-Cretaceous westward tilting. Oil within the reservoirs readjusted during pre-Pliocene northwestward tilting and post-Pliocene eastward tilting. owever, the principal time of accumulation was mid-Permian as shown by the original reservoir pressures of the differentially entrapped gas and oil in the Arbuckle reservoirs of central Kansas.

Differential Entrapment of Oil and Gas in Arbuckle Dolomite in Central Kansas: ABSTRACT

In central Kansas thousands of wells produce oil from the Arbuckle dolomite of Cambro-Ordovician age at depths from 3,200 to 4,400 feet. A few hundred wells produce gas. Reservoir porosity consists of intergranular space between dolomite rhombs, of irregular pin-point to cavernous voids, and of vertical fractures. This porosity was formed, or improved, by solution in early Pennsylvanian time when the dolomite beds cropped out on a low relief land surface. Ground water moved downward through joints, then laterally along bedding planes in the soluble dolomite, continuing down dip under Ordovician Simpson shale cover on the flanks of the Central Kansas uplift. The gently tilted, truncated, solution-riddled, porous, and permeable Arbuckle beds were buried under Pennsylvanian hales and limestones which provide an impervious seal. Oil and gas are trapped at the top of the Arbuckle on structural highs, whether anticlinal folds, buried hills, or traps formed by barriers such as clay-filled solution valleys. Dips are half of one degree or less. The lowest Arbuckle traps such as the Shady and Zook fields of Pawnee County produce sour gas from depths near 2,000 feet below sea-level. In the Sweeney, Ash Creek, and Pawnee Rock fields of Pawnee County gas is produced from the Arbuckle near 1,800, 1,750, and 1,650 feet subsea, respectively, with a thin oil column present in each field. Both oil and gas are produced from the Otis-Albert field of Rush and Barton counties where the gas-oil contact is 1,600 feet subsea. Oil, and only oil, is trapped in the major Arbuckle fields of Rice, Barton, Russell, Ellis, Rooks and Graham counties at subsea depths of 1,600-1,400 feet. In the Kraft-Prusa field of Barton County the oil-water contact is 1,465 feet subsea. The critical closure of the Arbuckle anticline is also 1,465 feet, indicating hat the reservoir is exactly filled with oil. In Ellsworth County, a large anticline with porous Arbuckle as high as 1,350 feet subsea contains only salt water. This pattern of differential entrapment of gas and oil accords closely with the theoretical distribution described by Gussow in his Differential Entrapment Principle. It is concluded that oil and gas migrated out of the Anadarko basin of Oklahoma northward through the Arbuckle for several hundred miles due to regional tilting, and spilled upward under an impervious roof of Ordovician Simpson shale and Pennsylvanian shale until trapped in central Kansas. Time of tilting, hence migration, was post-Permian; important migration appears to have occurred in Cretaceous time. End_of_Article - Last_Page 210------------

Studies on Kanopolis Reservoir in 1950

The Kanopolis Dam and Reservoir was constructed under the direction of the Kansas City Office of the Corps of Engineers in Ellsworth County Kansas approximately 35 miles southwest of Salina. The primary function of the project is to control flood waters on the Smoky Hill and Kansas Rivers. The conservation pool level (normal water level) of 1459 feet above sea level was first attained in 1948 when there was impounded a lake of 3,550 surface acres constituting 50,000 acre-feet of water. The total reservoir capacity is 450,000 acre-feet of water when there will be a lake of 13,900 surface acres. This level is expected to be reached only in the event of the anticipated peak flood which would occur about every 100 years. An investigation at Kanopolis Reservoir was inaugurated through the cooperation of and by a grant from the U. S. Corps of Engineers and the Department of Zoology at Kansas State College. It was considered important to determine the effects that large artificial impoundments have on the environment of the plants and animals inhabiting the area. A great increase in the number of impoundments in the past few years and an anticipated greater increase in the future makes it essential that information be obtained pertaining to this problem. Studies were begun June 15 and the last observations were made on August 31 with the assistance of Bob T. Chapin. The immediate problems were resolved into the following four phases: I. Study of factors causing turbidity II. Mapping of vegetational types and their development III. Studies on aquatic vegetation present and its changes IV. Plankton and related studies.

Archaeological Investigations in Ellsworth and Rice Counties, Kansas

Archaeological investigations were carried on by the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, from June 19 to August 20, 1948, in the Kanopolis Reservoir area on the Smoky Hill River in Ellsworth County and also along the Little Arkansas River in Rice County, Kansas. The River Basin Surveys of the Smithsonian Institution had undertaken the preliminary reconnaissance and had found more than twenty sites in the area of the Reservoir. William O. Leuty of Ellsworth was helpful in guiding the field parties of both institutions to most of the sites; also he gathered surface collections which were turned over to us.The Kanopolis Reservoir is situated in the highly dissected terrain which marks the Plains border along the 98th meridian of longitude in central Kansas. The Smoky Hill River meanders eastward, fed by many tributary streams and canyons. Outcrops of Dakota sandstone are common on the bluffs bordering the valley and trees are limited to the edges of the streams.

The Ecology of a Pasture in the Dakota Sandstone Formation in Ellsworth County, Kansas

The vast area of prairie of the United States has long been known as the feeding grounds for herbivorous animals. In the past, the standard of living of the people of grassland regions has been measured largely by the ability of the native ranges to produce vegetation sufficient to maintain economical livestock production. It has become apparent that if our desired living standard is to be maintained, we must direct our efforts toward a program by the most rapid and efficient means possible, which will bring economic stability to the seventeen million acres of grassland in the Great Plains region. Need for improving and conserving the grassland, the nation's pneat basket, has brought forth much information on pasture management; yet more practical data are in great demand. Maximum livestock gains can be secured only if the pastures are maintained at high economical production. This can not be accomplished without a knowledge of the problems at hand, and as far as possible, their solution. Forage production in the Great Plains varies greatly with topography, climatic factors, and soil types. Soil types appear to have a decided bearing upon the value of vegetation produced. If the problems of production, maintenance, utilization, etc., on different soil types are to be solved, research on comparable locations must be undertaken. Many pastures have become infested with annual grasses which have caused the operators to become concerned. It is possible, however, that many of the owners have not learned the true value nor the control of these invaders.