GB 1225 .K2 R5 Copy 2 THE RELATION OF THE KANSAS WATER COMMISSION TO THK FLOOD PROBLEM OF KANSAS BY PROF. H. A. RICE and ROGER C. RICE January, 1918 Paper Read before the Kansas Engineering Society, at the Tenth Annual Meeting, held at Kansas State University, Lawrence, Kansas, on January 15 and 16 1918 Prepared in cooperation with United States Geological Survey PROF. H. A. RICE, Secretary, Kansas Water Commission; Professor Civil Engineering, Kansas State University ROGER C. RICE, District Engineer, U. S. Geological Survey Topeka, Kansas THE RELATION OF THE KANSAS WATER COMMISSION TO THE FLOOD PROBLEM OF KANSAS BY PROF. H. A. RICE and ROGER C. RICE January, 1918 Paper Read before the Kansas Engineering Society, at the Tenth Annual Meeting, held at Kansas State University, Lawrence* Kansas, on January 15 and 16 1918 Prepared in cooperation with United States Geological Survey. PROF. H. A. RICE, Secretary, Kansas Water Commission; Professor Civil Engineering, Kansas State University ROGER C. RICE, District Engineer, U. S. Geological Survey, Topeka, Kansas KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT W. R. SMITH, State Printer TOPEKA. 19 18 7-2440 D. of D. APR 27 1918 CONTENTS. page Introduction 5 Disastrous floods in Kansas 6 Factors determining maximum discharge 7 Characteristics of Kansas watersheds 8 Rainfall distribution in Kansas 9 Encroachments on natural channels 10 Destruction wrought by Kansas floods 10 History of flood prevention in Kansas 11 Investigations by the U. S. Geological Survey 11 Investigations by the U. S. Army Engineers 13 Kaw Valley Drainage District and its fight for flood protection at Kansas City, Kans 14 Investigations by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Neosho and Marais des Cygnes Valleys 15 The Kansas Flood and Water Congress 17 The Kansas Water Commission act 19 The Kansas Water Commission: A review 21 The law 21 The organization 21 How financed 22 Litigation over the Kansas sand law and its bearing on the financing of the Kansas Water Commission 22 Constitutionality of the Kansas sand law decided 23 Limitations of the present wording of the Water Commission law .... 23 Functions of the Kansas Water Commission 24 Investigation of the flood problem ' 24 Cooperation with the U. S. Geological Survey 25 River gaging stations in Kansas, established or proposed by the Kansas Water Commission, in cooperation with the U. S. Geological Survey 26 Cooperation with the U. S. Weather Bureau 27 U. S. Weather Bureau river gages in Kansas 27 Stream gaging in Kansas 28 Reconnaissance for gaging station . . . .' 28 Construction of gaging station 29 Measurement of discharge: The current meter 31 Measurement of discharge: How made 31 Measurement of discharge: The stage-discharge relation 32 Publication of results of stream gaging 33 Summary and conclusion , . '. 34 ILLUSTRATIONS. Plate I. Kansas river at Topeka, Kans., during 1903 flood 6 II. A, Price current meters; B, Typical gaging station 30 III. Water-stage recorders: A, Stevens; B, Gurley printing; C, Friez 31 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/relationofkansasOOrice The Relation of the Kansas Water Commission to the Flood Problem of Kansas. By Prof. H. A. Rice and Roger C. Rice. INTRODUCTION. The patriotic response by the citizens of Kansas to the na- tional appeal to increase the acreage planted to grain for 1918 has been reported in detail by the U. S. Department of Agricul- ture, Bureau of Crop Estimates, by Edward C. Paxton, field agent for Kansas, in his report dated December 19, 1917, which states in part as follows : "Indications are that 9,480,000 acres were seeded to winter wheat in Kansas this fall. This is within one percent of as large an acreage as was seeded in the fall of 1916, which was the largest ever planted to this crop in the history of the state. Kansas farmers undoubtedly did their best to come up to the 10,000,000-acre mark recommended for them by the United States Department of Agriculture." As the agricultural situation of Kansas is closely interrelated with the partially solved water problems of the state, it seems desirable for such an organization as the Kansas Engineering Society to consider some of the contributing causes for the recent adoption by the state of a constructive state-wide water- conservation policy and the tremendously important part it will play in the development of a more secure agricultural pros- perity. War conditions, in their relation to the food supply of the nation, demand not only that the crops planted in Kansas shall be larger than ever before attempted, but that their ultimate yield shall be as certain as modern scientific farming and the science of engineering can make them, for failure in this or next season's food supply means not merely financial loss at home, but a weakening of our first-line defenses and those of our allies. The failure becomes not only sectional, but national and international in its effect. The time has now come when the state must work toward greater protective measures to insure the agricultural output from disastrous consequences resulting from unfavorable climatic conditions which can be (5) 6 Kansas Water Commission. controlled through the application of engineering, that some of the annually present unknown factors may be eliminated from the forecast of the crop yields. Each season brings with it the same uncertainties — possible floods and droughts. As much of the cultivated land lies along the fertile river bottoms that annually are liable to overflow, the control of the flood waters on these rivers and their tribu- taries is one of the consequences that demands early solution. This is, as you readily perceive, a proper subject for Kansas engineers to seriously consider, that they may give to agricul- ture the assistance that the science of engineering has ren- dered so effective in the accomplishment of those modern mir- acles that are the wonder of the arid West. The machinery for such a state-wide water-conservation policy has already been provided by the last state legislature in the creation of the Kansas Water Commission for the investi- gation and control of the water problems of Kansas, with power to cooperate with similar federal organizations. This is, as you are aware, a big step forward toward the ultimate solution of the complex problems that are holding back our state-wide agricultural development. It now becomes necessary for the next legislature to perfect the Water Commission organization by providing an adequate appropriation for its work, in order that it may proceed on a scale commensurate with the importance of the investigations. The present critical food situation serves only to emphasize the need for the speedy accomplishment of this work. Time will not permit of the discussion of all phases of the water-conservation policy in detail and their bearing on the agricultural situation. The one phase selected for this discus- sion, "The relation of the Kansas Water Commission to the flood problem of Kansas," it is hoped, will stimulate a broader perspective with which to meet these new war-time economic problems of Kansas involving the utilization of the undeveloped water resources of the state. DISASTROUS FLOODS IN KANSAS. Occasional heavy floods have occurred in the valleys of east- ern Kansas at infrequent intervals, which have been the sub- ject of much investigation by various state and federal organi- zations. The years 1844 and 1903 are associated with excep- tionally disastrous floods in the Kaw Valley (PI. I). Floods of The Flood Problem of Kansas. 7 lesser magnitude, but of widespread loss and injury to prop- erty, have occurred in the interim, the most recent being that of 1915. The Marais des Cygnes and Neosho river valleys have also been subjected to serious floods at frequent intervals, which have caused great damage and loss to growing crops and injury to other property. Among those that have occurred may be noted the floods of 1826, 1844, 1885, 1903, 1904 and 1909. Judging from the experience of the past flood history of Kan- sas "streams, it may be safely predicted that the flood problem will increase in seriousness with each succeeding year, as the country is now being more thickly settled and improved. It is logical to inquire why eastern Kansas is subject to floods, in order that a better understanding may be had to provide ade- quate protection. Let us, therefore, consider briefly some of the more important factors contributing to flood discharge, and review the dominating characteristics of the drainage areas of Kansas streams. FACTORS DETERMINING MAXIMUM DISCHARGE. The maximum discharge of a stream depends on several factors or conditions, among the most important of which are the following: 1 "1. Extent, duration, and intensity of precipitation, especially the latter in the case of small drainage basins. "2. Direction of motion of the storm causing the flood. If the storm moves in the direction of flow of the stream the intensity of flood will be greater than if it moves in the opposite direction or across it. "3. The amount of snow on the ground and the temperature during the storm. Large floods are often due largely to melting snow when the ground is frozen, and in such cases the run-off is much larger than the rainfall. "4. The storage, both natural and artificial, in the drainage basin. Storage spreads the flood over a larger period and thus reduces the maxi- mum rate of flow. "5. The size of the drainage basin. Rain storms of great intensity generally cover a comparatively small area, and a larger part of a small drainage basin is more likely to be covered by a very intense storm than of a larger basin. The maximum discharge per square mile will, there- fore, increase as the size of the drainage basin decreases. "6. The physiography of the drainage basin. The maximum rate of flow from a comparatively long and narrow drainage basin, with tribu- taries entering a considerable distance apart, will be less than from a 1. "Factors determining maximum discharges," by E. C. Murphy, in "Destructive floods in the United States in 1904," Water-supply and Irrigation Paper No. 147, U. S. Geological Survey, pp. 182-183. 8 Kansas Water Commission, basin of nearly circular shape of the same size, but with the tributaries entering the main stream in close proximity. Steep, impervious, deforested slopes of drainage basin, steep slope of bed of tributaries, and small slope of main stream, intensify flood flow. "Among the more or less artificial conditions that increase the flow may be mentioned controlled storage in the basin; deforestation and cultivation ; reduction in width of channel by placing abutments of bridges in the stream; the use of piers that prevent scour of bed, collect drift, and hold back a part of the flow for a time, causing a greatly in- creased flood wave; the formation of ice gorges; and the failure of dams and reservoir walls." CHARACTERISTICS OF KANSAS WATERSHEDS. Reference to the map of Kansas shows that Kansas River and its principal tributaries — the Blue, Republican, Solomon, Saline and Smoky Hill rivers — drain the entire northern half of the state; the Arkansas River drains the southwestern and south central parts ; the Marais des Cygnes and the Verdigris rivers occupy smaller basins in the southeastern portion, with the Neosho River in between them, draining a long and narrow basin. With the exception of the Arkansas River, which has its source in the snow-capped mountain ranges of Colorado, these other rivers head in the Great Plains region, and their water supplies depend solely upon rainfall. The surface storage in these basins is very small, as there are no lakes, ponds or swamps to hold back the flow, and no mountain ranges to hold back the winter precipitation. For these reasons we find the minimum flow of these streams very small and the flood dis- charges large. Perhaps the most striking characteristics of these Kansas river valleys are (1) the rolling uplands and (2) the broad, flat bottom lands that are under a high state of cultivation. Through them the rivers meander tortuously, with easy gra- dients, usually hugging one bank or the other for considerable distances, then swinging back and forth in toward one bank or the other. In eastern Kansas the rivers are fringed with timber, but to the west this becomes more and more scant, practically disappearing at the ninety-eighth meridian, which is also practically the western limit of the flood-producing area. In the Kansas river basin, the Blue and the Republican rivers, in Kansas, drain areas subject to severe summer rains that make them especially active flood-producing tributaries. The Flood Problem of Kansas. 9 The Republican is wide and shallow, with a rapid descent, and the bed is largely shifting quicksand. It is subject to sudden rises and falls, and occasionally overflows its banks. The Blue also has a considerable fall in its lower reaches, and is the prin- cipal power stream in the state. The banks of the Marais des Cygnes and the Neosho rivers are overhung with heavy growths of timber that are contin- ually being undermined during periods of high water, and the trees are washed into tne river channels. Many trees find lodgement on sand bars and add to the formation of objection- able obstructions to the free flow of the water and augment the flood hazard. Much of the bottom land along these rivers is low, so that it does not take a large rise in the streams to cause considerable overflow at various sections. Usually one bank or the other is low, so that the extent of overflowed area during such periods is large. RAINFALL DISTRIBUTION IN KANSAS. The mean annual rainfall over Kansas decreases from about 37 inches in the extreme eastern part to about 15 inches in the western part of Kansas. In the eastern third of the state, in- cluding the lower Kansas River and the Blue River, the mean rainfall during the crop-growing season, April to September, inclusive, amounts to 25.97 inches. This is the highest aver- age for these months shown in the central Mississippi Valley section. Such a phenomenal high average is accounted for by the severe torrential downpours that occur in this section and which cause the severe floods. The rainfall of May, 1903, that produced the disastrous flood in Kaw Valley totaled more than half the mean rainfall during the crop-growing season. Under normal conditions the rainfall for May is only about 14 percent of the mean annual rainfall. The precipitation over Kansas is of the plains type, 71 to 78 percent of the annual amount falling during the crop-growing season. It is because of these phenomena that the water prob- lems of the state are so closely interrelated with the problems of agriculture, especially the flood problem. 10 Kansas Water Commission. ENCROACHMENTS ON NATURAL CHANNELS. Another source of danger during the high-water season that adds to the flood menace, and especially to the loss of life and damage to movable property, for which we have ourselves to blame, is the tendency for congesting the already too-small river-channel capacities, especially in the vicinity of thickly settled communities, by structures of various kinds and other forms of encroachments. This was especially brought into prominence at Kansas City, Kans., by the flood of 1903. It was estimated that the capacity of the natural channel of the Kan- sas River to carry great floods had been diminished one-half by such encroachments. In a similar way it has been pointed out that the Main Street bridge at Ottawa over the Marais des Cygnes River seriously contracts the channel and acts as a dam to hold back the flood waters of that river for a long distance west of Ottawa. Other instances are too familiar to require mention. DESTRUCTION WROUGHT BY KANSAS FLOODS. The destruction wrought by Kansas floods depends a great deal upon the severity of the storm, the nature and extent of the area overflowed, and the opposition encountered by the high water on its path down the valley. The loss of life in the 1903 flood in Kaw Valley was small considering the population driven from their homes and the rapid approach and vastness of the flood. Property losses for the 1903 flood were estimated at $22,- 000,000 in Kansas and Kansas City, Mo., alone, and were con- sidered small when compared with the great value of the prop- erty menaced by the flood. Property losses in Kansas due to floods will always be large, for two reasons: (1) much of the overflowed land is under cultivation and lies in the river bottoms; and (2) many large cities are located in the river valleys in eastern Kansas. Inundation of these lands and cities i,s the cause of prop- erty losses of various kinds, among which may be enumerated the following: (a) Loss of farm stock; (b) loss of stock at packing houses; (c) loss of growing and stored crops; (d) ruin of young orchards; (e) spoiling of household furniture and clothing; (/) flooding of cellars and loss and damage to goods stored therein; (g) flooding of pumping plants; (h) The Flood Problem of Kansas. 11 flooding of sewers, with possible serious consequences to the health of the community; and (i) crippling of public utilities Much loss and damage is done by pressure and the trans- porting power of flood water. Houses are floated off down- stream ; drift accumulates at bridges, and these are pushed off their supports; railroad track is undermined or washed out; and often valuable agricultural lands are ruined by the deposi- tion of sand and gravel on them from the overflow. HISTORY OF FLOOD PREVENTION IN KANSAS. Destructive floods have occurred so frequently, especially in some of the smaller watersheds, that the most optimistic farmers are disheartened. Unless constructive measures for protection are worked out the psychological effects of such crop failures is readily apparent. Tenants with small capital prefer to farm the less productive uplands rather than ex- perience the uncertainties of loss by inundation of the more fertile bottom lands by these ever-recurring floods. Although disastrous floods do not occur throughout the valleys every year, there are many places where the lands are so low that they rarely escape some damage every season. For these and other reasons, there has been a constantly increasing demand that the state or the federal government investigate these con- ditions and suggest ways and means for adequate protection from floods. The following brief history of the growth of this flood- protection movement, presented herewith, shows that substan- tial progress has already been made in this direction. Investigations by the United States Geological Survey. The ground work for all later investigations of the water resources of Kansas was laid as early as 1895 by the United States Geological Survey in connection with its study of the water resources of the United States. "Previous to 1888 mat- ters of this kind were frequently the subject of special inquiry in connection with topographic or geologic surveying, but it was not until the authority was specifically conferred by the acts of March 20 and October 2, 1888, that the subject became one of separate and continuous inquiry." 2 "The work was be- 2. Introduction, 19th Ann. Rept. U. S. Geological Survey, 1898, Part IV, Hydrog- raphy, p. 17. 12 Kansas Water Commission. gun in 1888 in connection with special studies of water supply for irrigation. Since the fiscal year ending June 30, 1895, successive sundry civil bills passed by Congress have carried the following item and appropriations : 3 "For gaging the streams and determining the water supply of the United States, and for the investigation of underground currents and artesian wells, and for the preparation of reports upon the best methods of utilizing the water resources." Annual appropriations for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1895-1918: 1895 $12,500 1896 20,000 1897 to. 1900, inclusive 50,000 1901 to 1902, inclusive 100,000 1903 to 1906, inclusive 200,000 1907 150,000 1908 to 1910, inclusive 100,000 1911 to 1918, inclusive 150,000 In Kansas the State Board of Irrigation, Survey, Experi- ment and Demonstration cooperated with the work of the United States Geological Survey, with Prof. E. C. Murphy, of the engineering department of Kansas State University, in charge of the work in eastern Kansas, and W. G. Russell, in charge of the work in western Kansas. Prof. O. P. Hood, of Kansas State Agricultural College, cooperated in securing records on Blue River near Manhattan. From 1895 to 1906 records of discharge of Kansas streams were. made at many important points. The long-time records thus secured have been invaluable in assisting in the flood- prevention plans that have been developed or proposed from time to time. These data, which have been published in the several publications of the Geological Survey, many of which are now out of print or no longer easily available, are now be- ing compiled into one volume for ready reference, to be pub- lished by the United States Geological Survey as a Water- Supply Paper, entitled "Water Resources of Kansas." Mention can only be made at this time of the underground investigations that have also been part of the general investi- gations of the Geological Survey along with the surface wa- ters investigations in Kansas. As geologic conditions modify the distribution of such underground supplies, their survey is more laborious. The published results are, however, impor- [ntroduction ot Water-Supply Papers, U. 3. Geological Survey. The Flood Problem of Kansas. 13 tant contributions to the irrigation investigations and the irri- gation development of the semiarid portion of the state, which is dependent largely upon the artesian waters for irrigation and water supply. Investigations by the United States Army Engineers. No comprehensive plan for flood prevention in the several river basins seems to have been followed in the state until the disastrous flood of 1903 in the Kaw Valley brought the urgent need and the practical value of such a policy forcibly before the consideration of the citizens of Kansas. It is true that in certain localities, where flood conditions were causing consid- erable damage to the bottom lands, some individual efforts had been made, and still are being made, to prevent overflow, but the majority of the levees thus constructed are too small, do not have the proper cross-section, and are not properly located to serve the best interest of the section effectively. Prior to the public meetings held by a special board of army engineers in Kansas City, Mo., 1903, after the 1903 flood, no comprehensive plan for flood protection by the municipalities or private interests at Kansas City had been formulated. 4 "The attitude of the railroads was that, from a business standpoint, they were not justified in investing large sums of money for insurance from excessive floods, as these occurred only at rare intervals, the pre- vious flood being 1844. The municipalities believed it almost hopeless to get effective cooperation from all interested parties, and were endeavor- ing to make the best of the situation by projecting new grades and levees. Many bridges, however, were being reconstructed without re- gard to the lesson taught by the 1903 flood." 4 "The findings of the special board of army engineers were given in three reports, as follows: 5 "(a) Report on harbor lines at Kansas City. "(b) Report on obstructive bridges over the Kansas River. "(c) Report of flood conditions on the Kansas River. ^The matter of flood conditions was investigated at length; the mat- ter of harbor lines was deferred until surveys and further investigations could be made. "During 1909 and 1910, surveys were made by the United States army engineers, and harbor lines were approved by the Secretary of War, June 24, 1910. . . .6 4. From "Preliminary report by Kansas Water Commission on the effect of obstruc- tions to navigation and flood prevention by Kansas City Northwestern Railway Company's bridge on Kansas River at Kansas City, Kansas," August. 1917, pp. 6-7. 5. Senate Document No. 160, 58th Congress, 2d Session. 6. House Document No. 94, 62d Congress, 1st Session, p. 9. 14 Kansas Water Commission. "Kansas River was not generally considered to be a navigable stream prior to 1903, although some work had been done by the federal govern- ment on river improvement at its mouth. No supervision of bridges across the Kansas River had been exercised by the government prior to 1903, and none of the bridges were equipped with draw spans. A de- cision by the United States circuit court, district of Kansas, in a suit between Kaw Valley Drainage District vs. Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad Companies, definitely settled the status of the river. The court found: " 'That the Kansas River from its mouth to a point several miles above the city of Argentine is a navigable stream, and that the bridge of the defendant as now constructed and maintained is an obstruction to the navigation thereof.' "The court required the bridge to be raised and widened, and that all piling, riprapping and other similar obstructions in the channel of the stream under said bridge be removed. Thus was established by a ju- dicial decision the fact that the Kansas River is a navigable stream under the jurisdiction of the War Department.' "" The War Department, through its United States army engi- neers, has cooperated with the Kaw Valley Drainage District at Kansas City in combining proposed flood-prevention plans and plans for navigation improvements, as far as practicable and feasible, since the formation of that district in 1905. fc Kaw Valley Drainage District and Its Fight for Flood Protection at Kansas City, Kans. The next constructive step forward looking toward the adoption of a state-wide water-conservation policy was the formation of the Kaw Valley Drainage District, organized under the laws of the state of Kansas in the spring of 1905, under chapter 215, Session Laws of 1905, as a permanent body, which was governed by the Kaw Valley Drainage Board. Under the state laws this board was given authority — "To take charge of and exercise exclusive control over natural water- courses within its territorial limits in the interest of flood protection, and may condemn and cause obstructions in such watercourses to be removed. ... To have all obstructions wrongfully placed in the channel of natural water courses adjudged public nuisances and abated as such. ... To prescribe, regulate and fix the height of the superstruc- tures above the water, the length of all spans and the location of the piers of all bridges across watercourses situated in the district." 8 The jurisdiction of the Drainage Board extends over all lands included in the district subject to overflow, extending from the 7. House Docuiu.nl No. 584, 68(1 Congress, 2d Session; pp. 32-33. Souse Document No. 584,