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<br />()02084
<br />
<br />12
<br />
<br />Kansas State Board of Agriculture
<br />
<br />1896 the gas field in the vicinity of Gas and La Harpe was being
<br />developed to provide light and fuel for the surrounding cities and
<br />for use in the zinc smelters, cement, brick and. tile plants located
<br />near the sources of raw materials at many points in the area. To-
<br />day great quantities of coal are being mined and the lead and zinc
<br />mines are operating at full capacity, as are packing plants, cream-
<br />eries, oil refineries and plants processing other raw materials.
<br />The basin is well served by railroads, both by lines traversing the
<br />valley as well as many across the area. In addition to transporta-
<br />tion facilities afforded by the railroads, the basin is well served by
<br />modern county, state and national highways.
<br />The urban population of the Neosho basin as of March 1, 1941,
<br />was 119,421. The addition of the rural population brings to about
<br />202,000 the number of persons residing in the basin at that time.
<br />Throughout the whole period of gro".th, the water resources of
<br />tIle area have remained almost entirely uncontrolled and, as far as
<br />their potentialities are concerned, almost undeveloped. Some efforts
<br />have been made to deal locally with problems of flood control by the
<br />construction of levees and improvement of channel capacities. Many
<br />communities along the river have obtained their municipal supplies
<br />from the stream, but without much control of the supply. In re-
<br />cent years during long periods of dry weather there have been
<br />severe shortages of water. This situation brought about the con-
<br />struction of numerous reservoirs, ranging in size from indi vidual
<br />pastUl'e ponds to projects such as the Marion County Lake, the
<br />Ernporia reservoir on Kahola creek, and the Council Grove reser-
<br />voir on Canning creek. The need for the development, which took
<br />phice in recent years, has served to emphasize the inadequacy of .
<br />the unregulated discharge of the water supply of the basin for its
<br />future growth and expansion. At this time (1942) there are located
<br />within the basin a number of important war industries requiring
<br />substantial quantities of water in their operations. A great num-
<br />ber of people have come into the area to participate in both the
<br />construction and operation of these plants. Every such individual
<br />and industry places an added demand upon the water supplies of
<br />the basin. Fortunately extremely favorable conditions of natural
<br />water supply have existed during these developments. There has
<br />so far been no difficulty in providing water for needs of both the
<br />Tiew industries and the population. It must be recalled, however,.
<br />that there were several periods in the preceding decade when the
<br />unregulated water supply of the basin was hardly sufficient to meet
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