Smoky Hill River Research Articles

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.

Reclamation in the Kansas Basin

WILLIAM C. BRADY U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Topeka. Interest in flood control and irrigation in Kansas has been re-aroused in recent months following disastrous floods in the Missouri River Drainage Basin. The last Congress, in its closing days, made special appropriation for the construction of the Cedar Bluff Reservoir on the Smoky Hill River in Trego and Ellis Counties. At the request of the editor, Mr. William C. Brady, Area Planning Engineer for the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, has kindly prepared the following account describing the present status of reclamation projects on the Kansas River and its tributaries. Mr. Brady also summarizes future work contemplated in the Kansas Basin by the Federal Government.-The Editor. The Kansas River is formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican Rivers near Junction City, Kansas. The entire area drained by these two rivers as well as that along the main stem of the Kansas River above its junction with the Missouri River at Kansas City is known as the Kansas River Basin. The areas drained by these two principal tributaries of the Kansas River are the Smoky Hill Sub-basin and the Republican Sub-basin. In these two subbasins, lying principally in Kansas but extending into Nebraska and Colorado, the Corps of Engineers, War Department, and the U. S. Department of Interior acting principally through the Bureau of Reclamation, are planning the development of the water resources of the area. Status of planning ranges from preliminary investigations to detailed plans and specifications. In some instances construction has started on a number of multiple purpose projects designed to provide for irrigation, flood control, stream pollution abatement, fish and wildlife benefits, recreational facilities, and silt storage. All of these contemplated developments are a part of the Missouri Basin Project as conceived by Brigadier General Lewis E. Pick of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, and W. G. Sloan of the Bureau of Reclamation. This plan of development, known as the Pick-Sloan plan was approved and partly authorized by the Flood Control Act of December 22, 1944. In the Smoky Hill Sub-basin there are six units of the Missouri Basin Project as listed in the following tabulation: SMOKY HILL SUB-BASIN UNITS OF MISSOURI BASIN PROJECT Acres -Reservoir to be Total storage Unit Stream Irrigated capacity/acre-feet Kirwin North Fork Solomon 11,000 200,000 Cedar Bluff Smoky Hill ....... 6,800 352,200 Kanopolis Smoky Hill 41,000 450,000 Wilson Saline ..... 23,000 388,900 Webster South Fork Solomon ....-..-......- 9,000 224,000 Glen Elder Solomon ..... 26,000 399,600 Transactions Kansas Academy of Science, Vol. 50, No. 2, 1947.

Westward Extension of the Kansas "Equus Beds"

A well-developed early Pleistocene terrace which extends along the valley of the Smoky Hill River through Ellis, Russell, and Ellsworth counties, Kansas, is described. An abandoned high-level valley-the Wilson Valley-which carried the drainage of the early Pleistocene upper Saline River, enters the Smoky Hill Valley at the high-terrace level in northwestern Ellsworth County. Several invertebrate faunules and associated vertebrate remains are listed from these Pleistocene deposits. On the basis of physiographic data the terrace deposits and the sediments underlying the floor of Wilson Valley are considered as equivalent, in part, to the McPherson formation (restricted) of the Equus beds area of central Kansas. The described terraces and abandoned valley constitute new data pertaining to the Pleistocene drainage history of central and northern Kansas.

A Study of the Woody Plants along the Streams Which Cross Ellis County, Kansas

METHODS Transects, one rod in width and extending across a stream bed so as to include all woody plants, were run across elach stream at the western edge, the center, and the eastern edge of the county. All the woody plants in each transect were graphed. The d'ameter of the trees was taken by means of a calibrated wooden square and their age was determined by the use of the Swedish increment borer. Soil samples were taken within the area of the transects. All transects were selected, as nearly as possible, as typical places of the woody vegetation, and attention was paid as to whether or not they were grazed. SPECIES ON EACH STREAM As shown from findings within the transects only, the Saline river and Big creek had about the same total kinds of species. The Saline river had 11 species; Big creek, 10 species; and the Smoky Hill river, 4 species. The total number of all species shows that Big creek had many more than either of the other two streams. Big creek had a total of 149; the Saline river, 80; and the Smoky Hill river, 35. DEAD TREES There were 4 dead standing trees along the Smoky Hill river and 7 dead stumps; all of these were cottonwoods. There were 5 dead standing trees along the Saline river, 4 elms and 1 hackberry; there were also 8 dead stumps of ash. Big creek had no dead trees or stumps within the transects; but, as on the other streams, general observations revealed that dead trees were present but not so many as along the other two streams. LIVING TREES-KIND AND NUMBER Taking the major species found along all three streams for comparison as shown on Table I, Big creek had 96; the Saline river, 51; and the Smoky Hill river, 34. The ash was most numerous with 50 specimens. The hackberry 35, the elm 10, the cottonwood 1; and there was 1 clump of willows. The ash was most numerous on the Saline river with 19 specimens while the elm had 17, the hackberry 13, the cottonwood 2; and there were no willows.

A Preliminary Survey of the Mollusca of Kingman County, Kansas

The mollusks are a segment of the fauna of Kansas which has received little attention, although, the earliest studies began in the 80's of the last century. At that time Washburn College, Topeka, established a Biological Survey of Kansas and in 1885 published the first of a series of reports dealing with aquatic and terrestrial mollusks. This series of studies, which terminated after a few years, was d'rected by R. Ellsworth Call (1885). The collections of the Washburn survey included principally the forms of the eastern third of the state. Nothing approaching the Washburn studies has been done since the suspension of Call's work. Ferriss (1907) described a new sub-species of Polygyra multilineata from collections made by Chadwick along the Kaw River near Lawrence. Hanna (1909) published a list of the gastropods of Douglas County. A number of Hanna's species were taken from drift along the Kaw river, and may not be of local origin. Scammon (1906) studied the pelecypods of the state and published the only extensive account of these animals. Scammon's collections, like those of Hanna, are no longer available for study. Hanna and Johnson (1913) reported a list of 26 species of mollusks from Pleistocene deposits of Phillips County. Following Hanna's work in the state, the mollusks were completely neglected for nearly thirty years. Baker (1938) descr-bed two new species of gastropods from Upper Pliocene deposits of Meade County from collections made by Dr. Claude W. Hibbard, Curator of Paleontology, Dyche Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas. Collections of mollusks made by Dr. Hibbard in Pleistocene deposits in Meade County were reported by Goodrich (1940), and referred to by Hibbard (1940) in a study of the vertebrate fossils of the region. Hibbard (1941) in a paper dealing w'th the vertebrate fossils of the Rexroad member, Ogallala formation, (Upper Pliocene) of Meade County, included a list of 24 species of mollusks collected from this formation in association with the vertebrate remains. Frye, Leonard, and Hibbard (1942) made a study of certain Pleistocene deposits along the Smoky Hill river in Russell County, and reported a list of 51 species of mollusks from this region. Kingman County is a part of a nearly flat plain, and slopes towards the southeast. The altitude ranges from 1,340 ft. above sea level on the southeastern border to 1,840 ft. on the western border. The rise is gradual and constant. The South Fork of the Ninnescah river drains the northern third of the county and the Chickask'a river drains the southern third. The crest known as the Cleveland Ridge forms the divide between these two plains. The soil along these two streams from places where most of the specimens were colIcted is of the Arkansas loamy sand and Arkansas sandy loam types. This soil is found 3-6 feet above the normal water level of the streams. Many

The Fishes of Northwestern Kansas

When one undertakes to study the distribution of Kansas fishes he encounters a peculiar situation. Since 1889 there have been published but three short papers bearing specifically on this subject. It seems strange that in a state of some 80,000 square miles, with a large variety of streams belonging to two great river systems, the study of fishes has not received more attention. Kansas ichthyology was given a good start by the work of Cragin, Gilbert, Graham, Hay and others about a half century ago, but for some reason the interest was not continued. To be sure, considerable collecting has been done between that time and now, but the results have not been published; nor has there been follow-up work and coordination of effort, such as has characterized, for example, the study of the amphibia and reptiles of the state. One of the principal purposes of this paper is to call attention to the need for collection and study of the fishes of our state. The northwestern part of Kansas is the only sizable portion of the state for which even a fair distributional picture can be presented at this time. More actual material is available from certain other areas, especially about Manhattan, Lawrence, Ottawa and Emporia; however, the problems of habitat variations, change in character of streams due to cultivation and pollution, subspecies variation and range overlapping are also much greater. Furthermore each of these centers is a part of a much larger general ecological set-up for which the data are quite incomplete. Parts of the state that need particularly to be represented by fish collections are: (1) The entire region southwest of a line from Ness City to Winfield; (2) the southern Flint Hills; (3) the glacial drift area, i. e., the part of the state north of the Kansas river and east of the Blue, and (4) the area including the lower reaches of the Republican, Solomon, Saline and Smoky Hill rivers.

A Study of the Habitat of the Reptiles and Amphibians of Ellis County, Kansas

Ellis county is only a short distance west and north of the center of Kansas. It lies between the 99th and 100th meridians at the eastern margin of the High Plains. The surface of the county is of the same character as that of most of Western Kansas, one vast stretch of plains, almost completely destitute of trees, excepting for a narrow portion along the principal streams, and here and there near a farm house. The surface of the county, however, is very far from being uniform. Some portions, especially the southeastern, are quite level; the central portion is very high and uneven; while in the western and northern portions, especially in the vicinity of the Saline river, there are a number of bluffs. The county is drained by the Saline river, which runs from west to east along the northern boundary of the county, and the Smoky Hill river which runs in the same direction close to the southern boundary. Big creek traverses the county diagonally, midway between the Saline and the Smoky Hill rivers. The rocks exposed in Ellis county are of the Cretaceous system, excepting the sands and gravels along the rivers, which are of a much later period (Pleistocene). The two great divisions of the Cretaceous, the Benton and the Niobrara group, cover the whole area. The upper member of the Niobrara group, the Smoky Hill chalk, does not cover much area in Ellis county. The Fort Hays limestone covers approximately the western half of the county, being exposed on the hills. The rock is a yellowish limestone, which is easily dressed and has been used locally as building stone. Just below the Fort Hays limestone are shales of great thickness, which contain large calcareous concretions. The upper Benton portions are called the Blue Hill shales and are exposed in the hills west and northeast of Hays. The lower Benton group contains more limestone than the upper division. It is exposed in the eastern part of the county and is known as the Benton limestone, locally called fence post. The soils of Ellis county have been formed from limestone, sandstone, and shale, with limestone predominating in most of the area. The soil along the streams of the region is predominately sandy and sand pockets are found along the streams throughout the county. The plant life of Ellis county is characaterized as a mixed prairie association. It is a combination of tall and short grass areas.

Gold Prospects in Kansas

first mention of gold in the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science is found in a lecture delivered by Prof. G. P. Grimsely before the Academy at Topeka, December 29, 1900, entitled The Mines and Minerals of Kansas. As in other articles found in the Transactions, gold is omitted from the list of minerals. Professor Grimsley offers the following: Gold and silver, like the prophets of old, we have none; but we do possess mineral in abundance, which is readily exchanged for these precious metals. Scientifically the professor's statement errs slightly, as gold actually does exist in Kansas, but practicallly, it would have been better for some people had his words gone unchallenged. In the Transactions of 1901 and 1902, Professor Lovewell, of Washburn College, read papers on the occurrence of gold in the shales of Trego and Ellis counties. Evidently he spent considerable time, over several years, in sampling and assaying this material which had been exposed by the erosion of the Smoky Hill river. Values at least as high as $10 per ton were reported, and his estimated average value of all his samples was between two and three dollars. His work aroused wide interest and attracted engineers and promotors of all kinds to the district. That Professor Lovewell was unintentionally at fault in his methods of sampling or assaying seems borne out by subsequent events.

COLLECTING NOTES ON KANSAS COLEOPTERA

An experience of eighteen years in collecting Coleoptera in Kansas would naturally lead to the discovery of several good collecting grounds, and to many interesting observations on the abundance of or scarcity of certain species for one or more years.I have found my most interesting and profitable ground on the salt marshes or flats of Wilson County in South-eastern Kansas, and Republic and Mitchell Counties in North Central Kansas; in the valleys of the Verdigris River in Wilson County, of the Republic an River in Jewell County, the Smoky Hill River in Wailace County and the Arkansas River in Hamilton County; the two latter in extreme western Kansas.

IV.—Principal Characters of American Cretaceous Pterodactyls

The first remains of Pterodactyls discovered in this country were found by the writer, in the autumn of 1870, near the Smoky Hill River, in Western Kansas. These belonged to a gigantic species, which was described by the writer in 1871, and is now known as Pteranodon occidentalis. The geological horizon of these fossils was in the Middle Cretaceous, in the same deposits that contain the Odontornithes, or Birds with teeth. In the following year, additional specimens were secured by the writer in the same region, and referred to two new species of the same genus

ADDITIONS TO CANADIAN LISTS OF COLEOPTERA

My collections in this extensive family contain over ninety species, of which several are yet undetermined. The great similarity of the species in some genera and the variation in form and color of individuals in other groups render their determination difficult.Donacia pubescens Lec. This species is readily distinguished by the dense pubesence of thc upper surface, which in our other species is of metallic lustre. It was described from a specimen taken by Dr. Le Conte at Smoky Hill river, while on the W. Pac. Ry. survey between kansas and New Mexico in 1867, (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. Vol. 11, pg. 55.) It has since been recorded from Michigan and Buffalo. Four or tive specimens taken by Mr. Fletcher in a small swamp near the city, in 1878.