Because the prairies and forests were soon destroyed or altered by
cow, ax, plow and fire, knowledge of the region's ecology under the
conditions that prevailed in the early nineteenth century and the
centuries before must be gained largely from circumstantial evidence.
Although there were no ecologists among the first settlers in Kansas,
occasional glimpses of the region's ecology are afforded by the writings
of early residents who mentioned native plant and animal life from time
to time. However, such mention was usually casual and fragmentary.
A brief early description of forest in northeastern Kansas, which is
casual and incomplete, and perhaps misleading, since it differs from
later accounts, was included in Major W. S. Long's report of the
exploring expedition that passed through country now included in
Johnson, Douglas, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Riley, Pottawatomie, Jackson,
Jefferson and Leavenworth counties in 1819. "The catalogue of the
forest trees in this region is not very copious. The cottonwood and
the plane tree [sycamore] everywhere form conspicuous features of the
forests. With these are intermixed the tall and graceful acacia, the
honey locust, and the bonduc, or coffee-tree, and carya [hickory] and
fraxinus [ash] ..." (Taft, 1950:442).
A description of the country in northern Douglas County and adjacent
Leavenworth County, while it was still in virtually undisturbed
condition, was written by Mr. George S. Parks (1854). Travelling up
the Kansas River from the Missouri state line he described the
vegetation and physiography with respect to specific landmarks that
can be easily located at the present time. His descriptions of the
areas he saw that were nearest the Reservation, are quoted below, in
part.
[Travelling west from near the mouth of Stranger Creek 10 miles ESE
Reservation.] "... bluff with open woods and high rolling prairie in
background. On the south side of the river ... grass and scattering
timber forming a green lawn back with high prairie. In this
neighborhood the shore is rocky. We passed a bald bluff on the north,
with a rich bottom on the south side, and a high open lawn in the
rear. A little farther on the elevated prairies strike the river,
giving a charming variety of scenery--while on the north are extended
bottoms of rich timbered lands.
"In this vicinity we saw many Indians along the banks; we also passed
a grape thicket, in the bottom, spread over several thousand
acres--while just above, on our right, rose a rocky bluff, covered
with open woods. A little above this Sugar Creek empties into the
Kansas, from the right; and a little farther up, there is a low
bluff--a short distance beyond, there being another fine grape
thicket, and rich walnut bottom. On the right side of the river ...
rises a beautiful undulating eminence ... open woods and a fine
prairie about a mile back.
"On the left, a short distance above, the Wakarusa flows in--a
considerable stream--with good timber for some way back.
"On both sides of the river, above the Wakarusa, there are excellent
bottom lands; ... farther up on the south bank, the high prairie comes
down to the water's edge.... away as far as the eye could reach in a
southwest direction, the prairies were high and rolling, like the
waves of old ocean--southward, beautiful groves dot the prairie and
the dark line of timber that stretches along the Wakarusa Valley--with
the great Prairie-mound ... fixed there as a landmark of perpetual
beauty--the meandering river with its dark skirting forests of timber
on the north ... Proceeding north, high rich bottoms extend for many
miles and we saw vast thickets of grape-vines, pea-vines etc. and
paw-paws. The timber was principally oak, walnut, ash, hickory,
mulberry, hackberry, linden, cottonwood and coffee-bean.
[Between the Reservation and the mouth of the Delaware River, 10 miles
west.] "A few miles below the mouth of the Grasshopper [Delaware] on
the north the prairie undulates gradually back from the river as far
as the eye can reach ... between the Grasshopper and Mud Creek there
is a prairie bottom where pioneers are making claims."
In 1855 Mrs. Sara T. D. Robinson, wife of Dr. Charles Robinson who was
the first governor of Kansas, described in her diary the environs of
Lawrence (1899). In part, the areas described by her overlap those
described by Parks, and both writers impart similar impressions. Mrs.
Robinson's writing was concerned chiefly with the social and political
affairs of the territory and the occasional comments on the "scenery"
in her voluble accounts must be regarded as impressions rather than
purposeful and accurate descriptions, as certain inconsistencies are
apparent. Excerpts from several of her more significant descriptive
passages are quoted below. [Between Lawrence and Kansas City, April
17, 1855.] "... prairie stretching in all directions, noble forests
marking the line of the rivers and creeks, ... tall oaks and walnuts
grouped in admirable arrangement ... there were deep ravines ...
skirted with graceful trees, while the water in their pebbly beds is
limpid and clear." [North of Wakarusa Crossing.] "... stumps in every
direction in the woods ..." [At Lawrence, April 18, 1855.] "The town
reaches to the river, whose further shore is skirted with a line of
beautiful timber, while beyond all rise the Delaware lands, which in
the distance have all the appearance of cultivated fields and
orchards.... A line of timber between us and Blue Mound marks the
course of the Wakarusa, while beyond the eye rests upon a country
diversified in surface, sloping hills, finely rolling prairies, and
timbered creeks ... to the northwest there is the most delightful
mingling together of hill, valley, prairie, woodland, and river ...
fine grove about a mile west of town, one of Nature's grand old
forests."
[On trip to visit a neighbor four miles away from Lawrence.] "There
were high, conical hills, bearing on their tops forest trees, with
dense, thick foliage; at the next moment a little shady nook, with a
silvery rivulet running over its pebbly bed...."
[On trip west toward Topeka.] "Timber was more abundant, not only
marking the line of the creeks, but crowning the summit of many an
elevation."
[At Lawrence.] "Lawrence and its surroundings, of river flowing
beneath the dim forests two miles deep on the north bank...."
Parks' and Robinson's accounts seem to show that in general
bottomlands and stream courses were wooded, and uplands were mainly
prairie, but that local deviations from this pattern were numerous,
with trees and groves isolated or partly isolated in a variety of
situations. This condition suggests that prairies were then
encroaching into formerly wooded areas. A climatic shift toward hotter
and drier conditions, or a change in native practices, with more
frequent burning, might have brought about the trend.
Further information concerning the distribution and composition of the
forest is afforded by a series of letters from the settlers at
Lawrence, Kansas, that were printed in various Boston newspapers and
in the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, in 1854, 1855, and 1856. In nine such
letters which discuss, among other things, the availability of timber,
several kinds of trees are listed. Oak (species not mentioned), black
walnut, and cottonwood are each listed in seven of the nine letters,
while elm, hickory and "white walnut" are each listed in two, and ash,
hackberry, sycamore, basswood, willow and locust are each mentioned
only once. Copies of these letters are in the files of Dr. James C.
Malin, to whom we are much indebted for the privilege of examining
them, and for his critical reading of parts of the manuscript.
Early U. S. Government maps of northeastern Kansas show the
distribution of forest in the late eighteen fifties, and in general
the pattern agrees well with that indicated by the accounts of Parks
and Robinson. Through the kindness of Dr. Malin, we have been
permitted to examine his photostatic copies of a series of these early
maps, covering the area discussed in our study, and made in the
period extending from 1855 through 1860. A tracing taken from parts of
two of these maps, showing the Kansas River north and east of
Lawrence, and the area between the river and the north boundary of
Douglas County, is reproduced in Fig. 1. For comparison, a map of the
same area showing the stream courses and the distribution of timber,
as traced from recent U. S. Geological Survey maps, is reproduced in
Fig. 2.
The early maps agree with Parks' and Robinson's descriptions in
showing an extensive belt of timber in the flood plain north of the
river, and narrower belts of timber along its tributary streams. In
Fig. 1 the courses of the Kansas River and of Mud Creek agree fairly
well with those shown on modern maps, but there are gross errors in
the minor drainage systems of the sections of land in the northeastern
part. Other evidence indicates that the distribution of forest was
much different than that shown in this part of the map. Field work by
the map-makers in this marginal area must have been extremely sketchy.
Dr. Malin explains that such inaccuracies are to be expected because
the contracts for mapping were made on a political basis, with little
or no regard for other qualifications of the applicant.
The University of Kansas Natural History Reservation is in the
northeasternmost section (Section 4, Township 12S, Range 20E) of
Douglas County, Kansas. Topographically, it is almost evenly divided
into three parts: (1) peninsular extensions of the Kansas River
Valley, sloping gradually up to a level approximately 100 feet above
that of the flood plain; (2) hilltops 200 feet or more above the level
of the flood plain; (3) steep slopes from the hilltops to the valley
floor.
The land that is now the Reservation was part of a tract acquired in
the eighteen sixties by former governor Charles Robinson, after the
Delaware Reserve lands in the northeastern part of Kansas Territory
were sold by the tribe. The section of land now comprising the
Reservation was used primarily for grazing after Robinson acquired it.
However, several squatters settled on the area and cultivated small
acreages for periods of years in the eighteen seventies and eighteen
eighties. In the eighteen nineties parts of the area including some of
the hillsides were still covered with a mixed forest of virgin timber
(_fide_ Frank H. Leonhard in conversation, October 19, 1951). Mr.
Leonhard, who was long in the employ of the Charles Robinson family,
remembered the area as far back as the early eighteen nineties when he
worked on it cutting timber. He remembered, especially, cutting large
walnut trees as much as two feet in diameter, which were valuable
timber, but he thought that elm also was abundant at that time. By
then the area, separated into east and west halves by a rock wall, had
already been heavily grazed, and the original prairie vegetation,
presumably dominated by big bluestem, had been much altered. The open
upland portions were dominated by blue grass.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Tracing from early (1855-60) U. S.
Government maps of northeastern Douglas County, Kansas, and
adjacent western edge of Leavenworth County, showing stream
courses and approximate distribution of woodland before
deforestation had occurred. Section 4 to right of center at
upper edge of figure, is now mostly included in the University
of Kansas Natural History Reservation. Note inaccuracies in
drainage systems on this part of map as compared with Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Tracing from 1950 U.S. Geological Survey
maps of same area shown in Fig. 1, indicating present
distribution of woodland, and the pattern of drainage systems.]
By about 1900 control of the area had passed to the J. F. Morgan
family. The homesteads had long since been deserted and the entire
area was used for grazing (_fide_ J. F. Morgan, in conversation,
January 13, 1952). Parts of the bottomland were fenced and broken for
cultivation in 1907, 1912, and 1915, and hilltop fields were first
cultivated in 1909. Tree cutting was more or less continual. Many of
the old stumps still present on the area are remnants of the trees cut
in the "twenties" or even earlier. Several acres of hilltop and south
slope in the northwest corner of the area were protected from
livestock and maintained for harvesting of prairie hay. The hay was
mowed annually, and the vegetation was burned at less frequent
intervals, usually in early spring. This treatment served to kill
encroaching woody vegetation and to maintain a prairie type.
In the mid-thirties control of the area passed to the University of
Kansas. At that time a program of development was launched by the
University and the U. S. Soil Conservation Service with relief labor
(_fide_ C. G. Bayles in conversation, November 10, 1953). The work
included: filling gullies, digging diversion ditches and building
check dams and terraces to prevent erosion; clearing extensive
thickets; bindweed eradication from the cultivated areas; and fencing
off the wooded hillsides from the valley and hilltop pastures for
protection from livestock. This work extended over several years, and
one main objective was to utilize the area for growing timber.
However, plans to make extensive plantings of walnut and other
valuable timber never materialized. In the forties the check dams fell
into disrepair. The area was leased to a farmer and was again heavily
overgrazed. In this period there was some tree-cutting by the
University's Department of Buildings and Grounds and by farmers, but
this cutting was not on a commercial scale and was mainly for firewood
and fence posts. One of the chief results of fencing off the wooded
hillsides was that shrubs and young trees, formerly held in check by
livestock, were allowed to flourish. Understory thickets sprang up
throughout most of the woodland, and especially in edge situations.
Late in 1948, after the area had been made a Reservation, livestock
were excluded. In the years following, the parts of the closely grazed
pastures adjacent to woodland passed through stages similar to those
that had occurred 10 to 12 years earlier in the parts protected by
fences. Young trees and shrubs sprang up in thickets, the numbers and
kinds depending on amount of shade, seed sources, soil, moisture, and
various other factors.
Although most of the tree-cutting was done prior to 1934, annual
growth rings are discernible on many of the old stumps, indicating the
age of the tree at the time it was cut. Occasionally the stumps
produced sprouts which had grown into sizable trees by 1954. In such
instances the year that the tree was cut and the year that it
originally began growing could be determined from a study of the
annual growth rings. In 54 instances ring counts were obtained from
stumps or logs, or from trees that had been split and fallen in wind
storms.
Stumps that were otherwise intact often had small central cavities an
inch or more in diameter. For these it was necessary to estimate the
numbers of missing rings in order to obtain a figure for the
approximate total age of the tree at the time it was cut. Many of the
logs and stumps were so much decayed that growth rings were no longer
distinct, and on most there were a few rings that were not clearly
defined. In the majority of instances the time of cutting could not be
determined accurately, but it is known that there was little
tree-cutting after 1934 on most parts of the area. Probably most of
the stumps on the Reservation that were well enough preserved to
provide counts were from 20 to 30 years old. Most of the counts of
growth rings on chestnut oaks were obtained on a hillside adjoining
the Reservation where the trees were cut in the early nineteen
forties.
Width of the annual growth rings reflects rapidity of growth in the
tree and is determined, in part, by the amount of annual rainfall,
especially in this region on the western edge of the deciduous forests
where moisture is the chief limiting factor. Periods of drought or of
unusually heavy rainfall may result in growth rings smaller or larger
than average. Because the trees draw moisture from the deeper soil
layer there is a lag in their response to precipitation, and a single
year that is much wetter or much drier than those preceding or
following it may not stand out clearly in the annual rings. In
individual trees the effect of precipitation is often obscured by the
effects of crowding and shading by competitors, injury or disease.
None of the trees examined for growth rings reflected the annual
precipitation accurately for long periods though some indication of
known drought periods or of series of wet years were usually
discernible.
For 35 black oaks, chestnut oaks, and American elms, growth rings
averaged 3.81 per inch of trunk diameter (according to size of the
tree; 5.1 rings per inch in those trees 9 to 12 inches in diameter,
4.0 in those 13 to 15 inches, 3.6 in those 16 to 24 inches, and 2.8 in
those of more than 24 inches). Data from a few complete counts and
many incomplete counts indicate that in _Gleditsia triacanthos_ growth
is much more rapid, with only 2 to 3 rings per inch of trunk diameter,
whereas in _Juglans nigra_, _Celtis occidentalis_, _Carya ovata_, and
_Fraxinus americana_ growth is much slower, with usually five or more
growth rings per inch of trunk diameter. Individual trees deviate
widely from the average for their species, and those in rich
bottomland soil grow more rapidly than those in shallow soil of
hilltops or those on rocky slopes. If such factors are taken into
account the ages of trees may be estimated from the diameters of their
trunks. In mature trees growth slows; age is likely to be
underestimated rather than overestimated in those of exceptionally
large size.
The belief that this and similar areas in northeastern Kansas were
virtually treeless at the time of occupation by white settlers is
shown to be wholly unfounded by the information obtained from growth
rings. The ring counts show that many trees now growing on the area
and others cut within the last 30 years, but still represented by
stumps, were already present in the eighteen sixties when the area was
first occupied. A few trees on the area probably are much older,
dating back to the early eighteen hundreds. As there are no virgin
stands of timber, and the more valuable trees have been removed by
selective cutting at various times, it is to be expected that there
are few or no trees on the area approaching the potential longevity
for their species.
The many oaks and elms on the area that are more than two feet in
trunk diameter mostly date back to the eighteen sixties or earlier.
The distribution of the larger trees and stumps provides a clue as to
the original distribution of forest and grassland on the area. There
is no description available of the area that is now the Reservation in
its original condition. However, Mrs. Anna Morgan Ward (1945) has
recorded comments on the appearance of the country in the section of
land adjoining the Reservation on the south, as it appeared when her
family settled there in 1864. This land differed from that of the
Reservation, as it consists of low rolling hills, well drained with
predominately south exposure, and with sandy soil. It adjoins the
present flood plain of the Kansas River, and consists partly of the
old Menoken Terrace deposited in the Pleistocene. The following
excerpts from Mrs. Ward's manuscript are selected as most descriptive
of the original vegetation on this section of land.
[In southwest part of section near the Morgan house.] "... some hills
that were covered with Jack Oak trees ... Here we found wild
strawberries on the hillsides. And along the creeks we located
gooseberry bushes, wild grapes, both summer and winter grapes, plums,
and paw paws in the fall. We found a crabapple tree ... Plenty of
walnuts and hazel nuts."
[Hilly south-central part of section, the J. P. Whitney farm.] "... on
a hill among many small trees ... especially on the east were many
trees."
[Less hilly southeastern part of section.] "... Was open prairie and
free grazing ground for many years...."
Much of the land in this section is now under cultivation but there
are still hilltop groves of blackjack oak, probably in about the same
places where Mrs Ward noticed them 90 years ago--south of the house
that was formerly Robinson's residence, and west across the county
road, beside the Oakridge School building, and on other knolls to the
east and southeast.
The bottomland areas of the Reservation are mainly grassland and no
old stumps remain to indicate that trees were formerly present.
Nevertheless, it might be expected that under original conditions
these bottomland areas supported forests, as the soil is deep and rich
with abundant moisture. Also most of the early accounts agree that
forests occurred mainly along stream courses in this region.
Presumably these areas were cut over early, because they were most
accessible, and because they supported the best stands of timber.
One of the best indications of the former vegetation on these
bottomland areas is provided by old bleached shells of snails and
certain other mollusks, brought to the surface by plowing in
cultivated fields adjoining the Reservation on the south and west
(Fitch and Lokke, 1956). A high proportion of the shells are of
species limited to humus soil, decaying logs, or leaf litter in moist
woodlands (_Stenotrema leai_, _Retinella electrina_, _Zonitoides
arboreus_, _Vertigo ovata_, _Helicodiscus parallelus_), to wet places
(_Lymnaea parva_, _Succinea avara_) or even to standing pools (_Physa
hawni_, _Helisoma trivolvis_, _Pisidium compressum_). No living
mollusks could be found in these fields and none could be expected to
survive on land that is cultivated annually. As a whole the assemblage
seems to be indicative of a humid, poorly drained forest habitat.
Presumably most of the shells or all of them are more than 100 years
old, antedating the time when the area was first disturbed by human
activities, and also antedating the time when the creeks (now 15 feet
or more below the fields) had begun to erode their channels. That the
shell deposits are of no great antiquity, and represent conditions
prevailing within the last few hundred years, is suggested by the fact
that all are species still living in Douglas County, and with one
exception, all still live on the Reservation.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Tracing from a contour map made in 1914,
of the two small valleys on the Reservation, showing changed
position of contour lines at gullies by 1952. As a result of
overgrazing, and cultivation of part of the upland drainage
area, there was relatively rapid erosion in the 38-year
interval.]
[Illustration: Fig. 4. Map of University of Kansas Natural
History Reservation, with 20-foot contours, showing probable
approximate distribution of forest in early eighteen hundreds
(vertical lines show slopes and hilltops that are still wooded;
grid pattern shows bottomlands that were formerly wooded but
later cleared for pasture or cultivated crops). Stippled areas
show those slopes and hilltops now wooded seemingly as a result
of recent reinvasion, that probably were bluestem prairie
earlier. Unshaded areas are relatively flat hilltops that are
still grassland and are thought to have been bluestem prairie.]
Mrs. Ward (_op. cit._) in her manuscript concerning the early history
of Grant Township, mentioned the small creek that drains the east part
of the Reservation. Evidently in the sixties it had a more constant
flow, usually with clear water. Later it eroded its channel, cutting a
deep gully. Presumably the water table has been much lowered. In his
verbal reminiscences of the area, Mr. J. F. Morgan told us that in the
nineties this stream had eroded its channel but little within the
present limits of the Reservation. In a period of years, 1902 to 1905
inclusive, when there was abnormally heavy rainfall, severe erosion
occurred, and the saturated soil of several hillside areas slipped
downhill to the extent of several feet vertical displacement. The
ravine draining into the present pond from the north was known as
"Sunken Canyon" because of such soil slips. However, a map of the
Reservation and surrounding areas made by the University of Kansas
Department of Civil Engineering in 1914, shows that by that time
relatively little gullying had occurred. Comparison of this contour
map with a more detailed one prepared in 1952 shows that the gullies
had eroded their channels to depths more than 15 feet greater in some
places, in the 38-year interval (Fig. 3). In June and July, 1951, when
there was unusually heavy rainfall, gullies deepened perceptibly.
Dozens of trees including many large mature elms, honey locusts, and
osage orange, growing along the banks were undermined and fell into
the gullies.