The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-10
OIL KILLS FISH IN
STATE STREAMS
SAYS TECMEIER
Not a Lively Fin in Five Years
Where Oil Reaches.
Development of Oil Fields Is
Curtailing the Sport.
PRIVATE POND MOST VALUABLE
Few Streams Where Fish Can
Live in Few Years.
s'YOu. Can't Get a Bite if You
Wait a Month";"
Not a Lively Fin in Five Years
Where Oil Reaches.
Development of Oil Fields Is
Curtailing the Sport.
PRIVATE POND MOST VALUABLE
Few Streams Where Fish Can
Live in Few Years.
ssYOu. Can't Get a Bite if You
Wait a Month";"

There will be no fish in certain
Kansas streams in five years. That
was the warning today by w. G. Teg-
meier, state fish and game warden
OR development in southern Kansas
has resulted in the killing of millions
of fish during the last few years, Teg-
meier stated. He predicted that in
f1ve years fishing in this state would
be confined to private ponds and
lakes.
With hundersds of thousands of fish
ready for delivery to streams and
lakes in this state, the fish and game
warden declared today that further
stocking of streams in the oil district
was useless. He said he would con-
ti,.ue to supply demands in this terri
tory but anticipated that conditions
would result in the killing of all fish
nsthe streams of the state. Such f1sh
as are not killed will be driven to
streams Of other states. he declared.
Oil Industry Deadly.
k"There will be no fishing in nanv
streams of this state in five years.
was Tegmeier's prediction. The oil
industry is simply killing the fishing
game so far as Kansas is concerned
Streams which were formerly stocked
with bass, crappie and other game fish
arc now useless You couldn't get a
you fished a month. The oil has
driven them out. Such fish did not
leave the streams have been killed.
They. simply couldn't live in the oil
covered waters"
Tegmeier pointed to results of oil
development in towns along the Neo-
sho and Verdegris rivers. The Marais
des Cygnes, FAN river and other
streams are suffering similar fate.
Now, the game warden declares, de-
IN, he r-f1 TNnr L..
territory is forever putting the Walnut
river IN the discard fishing resort.
For years the Walnut has been re-
garded as one of the prize fishing re-
sorts of the state.
The Fish Die.
"Hundreds of barrels of oil flow
into some of these streams" said Teg-
meier. THE fish simply suffocate.
In high water periods, the big fish
cGme up, stream to the oil fields and
go back. They do not try to stay in
these streams.
UNLESS the state can prevent the
running of this waste oil into the
streams. there will be few fish in the
state IN five years. The man with a
private lake or pond will have a most
valuable investment in a few years II
his lake is we'll stocked with fish. II
Will be the only place where Kansans
can fish with any hope of success
Right now the only good fishing in
Kansas is in the small streams in west
efn Kansas"
Development of the oil industry in
the Kaw valley will destroy the fish
ing in the kaw river and it's tribu-
taries, Tegmeier states. Such develop
n1ent would prevent fish passing UP
the big stream to the small rivers at
the headwaters.
s"Maybe the state could regulate
this waste of oil which finds its way
I'd the surface of Kansas streams, "
said the fish and game warden. 1T
was done in Indiana. But it would
mean long, hard fight and the fish
can neither thrive nor live while the
state is disputing with the Standard
OIL companies in the courts