Wichita eagle., 1890-01-05

adopt the views of Mr. Edward Dudley,
who resides near the village of Moscow,
i'll the eastern part of Stevens county. In
addition to farming and stockraising he
has acted as agent for the United Ttates
Wind Mill company ana has drilled over
fifty wells in Stevens and adjoining
counties within the last two years. Mr.
| Dudley now resides on a homestead on
which is prairie sink of fifty acres by
which he camped when buffalo hunting
| thirty years ago. He says he has often
| seen butfalos waliowing in these depres-
sions when partly filled with water. and
/ has also witnessed the initiatory work IN
! the excavation of the buffalo waliows
which the buffalos performed by paving
with their feet and tossing with their
/ horns the loose dirt thrown upon the
surface by prairie dogs, gophers, and
other burrOwing animals, and by break
ing dawn the surface undermined by the
burrows. These small depressions, after
ward filling with water, furnished the
! buffalo a safe retreat from the attacks Of
buffalo gnats and other insects. He has
seen herd Of buffalo make sad havoc
with colony of prairie dogs in short
time. AS to the origin of prairie sinks
Mr.. Dudley has made numerous experI-
mentS to determine the depth Of the
hard and lmpervious soil with which
they are covered and the strata underly-
ing them. He finds the coating Of putty
like clay to be from four to ten foet thick
and underlying this is stratum Of
of sand fifty u one hundred feet thick
and in his opinion these depressiOns were
originally beds of quick sand into which
flowed the surplus water from a much
larger area. Each heavy rain left a thin
coating ct silt consisting Of gypsum and
clay which in course of time became
thick enough 10 sustain the surplus
water for much longer period or until
it evaporated under the summer sun. 1
Some Of these now furnish water the
entire year. They are usually covered /
with growth Of light colored gramma /
grass and on bright day the reflection I
of the sun gives the prairie the appear I
ance of being thickly interpreted with 1
lakes in which the buildings and wind /
mills of the improved farms are clearly 4
reflected
In endeavoring 70 account for the 4
presence of the third class Of dspressions 1
or draws we would assign the same 4
causes that are usually given for the 4
origin Of valleys i. 9. the erosion caused 4
territory II Is a noticeable
fact that draws are much more numer-
GUS where the soil IS sandy and the sur
face covered with blue stem grass which
IS Of recent origin. In fact many men
now residing in southwestern Kansas
remember when these sections q couu-
try were almost entirely devoid Of vsSe-
tation, and similar 70 tie sand hills
which yet exist south OF the Arkansas
river. And il is quite probable that ia
former times these sandy sections were
visited by severe rain storms.
cloud bursts ana water spouts, caused by
the intense heat arising from the ard
soil condensIng the moisture IN the rain
clouds which may have caused the
erosion 70 De much more rapid than un-
der ordinary precipitation. i
Il viii require further investigation 20
determine even the Approximate amount
d the surface OF southwestern Kansas
which Il included By prairie sinks and |
travis, a. II Is only these two classes 81 ,
fepresslo1s which We shall notice here ,
after. / have located and secured zr,-
oTorimste measurement Of over 10 ,
JrsIrIs sinks. varying from FIVE acres 70 !
20 acres n area, IL Seward county in /
* days drive; also 4 large number Of (
iraws y hich might easily he converted ,
uto basins for holding water q. verT Ill .
e expense. and from observations made ,
lille driving over the other Counties ;
4 southwestern hanszs. We are Of The ,
'pinlon that contain al equal number. / :
It present would estimate that al least