The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-08-20
amount of daily water supply for the

Million Gallons Flow i'm Daily.
There are at least one million gal
! Ions of water emptied into the big
ponds daily through the main from
the Ninnescah river and we are using
| about one-half of it,
Asked why the entire supply was
not being used at this time, Prof..
| Dyche charged at least a half million
| gallons daily water loss to broken pipes,
| gopher holes in the ponds and the al
legged interference with the water sup
ply by trespassers on the hatchery
| grounds.
! when We excavated for these new
| ponds last summer and fall, we founo
! many gopher holes in every pond we
dug. Some had as many as 20 or 81
| holes. The tract of ground in Whlch
the new ponds were dug, was formerly
| an alfalfa field and full of holes which
| we found extended far below our e&-
! cavations. In scarce half OF these
| ponds stopped up these gopher
/ holes but could not get aroun4
| to all of the new ponds by the time
| spring came and it was necessary to
! turn in the water and stock the ponos.
| We have undoubtedly lost TREMENDOUS
| amount of water through these gopher
holes, also water has seeped through
| gopher holes from one pond into an
other. making three or four ponds stano
! at the level of the lowest
About $780, 900 gallons of fresh wa
ter is going to waste daily, particular
ly because we do not want to use some
of it and because several pipes close
to the intake are broken, which we
cannot repair without draining some
of the ponds. To drain these ponds De-
fore September ST. would inJure thou-
sands of young fish and consequently
we will not repair these pipes 1or az
least another month.
Trespassers Do Damage.
zone reason for a big loss explain
ed Prof Dyche t:has been due to the
fact that people have trespassed on
our grounds, opened the MAINS anu
permitted a great waste of water Whlcn
we could not prevent. The person OF
persons who shut off water and openeo
the waste pipes, did it between III
o'clock at night and. in the morn
ing
DO you know who it 3" was asked.
Prof. Dyche didn't answer the ques-
ton.
After the six foot fence is complet-
ed he continued, I'VE will have a sys-
tenn worked out which will stop future
meddling of this kind
The warden walked out over some
of the ponds with the reporter.
do you regard that heavy scum and
muddy water and moss as dangerous to
the growth and development of fish,
was asked.
This scum" he replied, lis the top
Of the moss and is in our best ponds. |
The muddy water in the ponds does not
hurt the fish and L have had my best
success with the ponds of this kind, |
except perhaps in the raising of bass.
The low condition of many of the
ponds was mentioned to Prof. Dyche, |
but it apparently didn't disturb him
bit.
Let Water in Only Half the Ponds.
For thirty days we have not let the |
water run into at least half of the
ponds in the hatchery said Prof. |
Dyche, because blue gills and cat fish
have, during July and August, been
spawning in these ponds. Our expert |
ence has shown that running fresh wa |
ter into ponds in which blue gills, cat |
fish and crappie arefspawning destroys |
a great many of the young fish by |
washing them against the gates and |
carrying them into neighboring ponds.' |
Evapora ton at the hatchery is a tre- |
n1endous drain ON khe water supply |
especially this season. Prof. Dyche de- |
clares that the daily evaporation |
amounts to one-fourth inch from the |
entire surface of the ponds during or
the hot, windy days of the last few
weeks, the evaporation has often been
as great as an entire inch a day,
Still Prof. Dyche will not surrender
his idea that the Minnesota is able to
supply all of the states demands. The
above Pratt and is fed by springs and
underflow.
Professor HOad Planned the Ponds.
Prof w. c. Hoad, professor of san
itary engineering at Michigan Univer-
sity, and who formerly held similar
position at Kansas university, worked
out every detail of the ponds, making
a complete investigation of the water
supply from the head of the river to
our intake and his conclusions were
that only in an excessively dry sum-
mer would any difficulty be encoun-
tered in the way of sufficient water
supply and that then our troubles
would only be minor ones,' declared
the warden.
Il am doing the very best I can,"1
sighed Prof. Dyche, as he stood bare
headed under the burning Pratt county
sun, and I am trying to manage this
hatchery for the benefit of all the peo-
pie of this state"
When a reporter tested the water
supply at the point where it empties
into the distributing pond, he was adj
vised that the pressure that day was
much stronger than a week ago, due
to the cloudy weather of a few days :
the latter part of last week.
There is twice as much water run
ming into the pond today as a week
ago." said the warden.
Why Eight Ponds Are Dry.
With this information regarding the
water supply, the question of the dry
ponds was revived. Prof. Dyche was
asked why the eight ponds were entire ,
ly dry and why others were almost en- (
tirely out of commission.
OF the eight ponds that are abso-
lutely dry, said Prof. Dyche, lone of
them has never had drop of water in
it. Into three We let water run until
they were virtually filled. but imme-
diately let it run out, because the ponds
were incomplete and we also needed
some of the dirt from these ponds for