Diversity of Riffle Community Fishes in Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas

Note: The following was written by James Hartman in 1995-96 as his Masters in Biology thesis at Emporia State University. Used with permission.

Pottawatomie Creek is a tributary of the Marais des Cygnes River. [It flows from about ten miles east of the Wolf Creek Nuclear Plant to the Marais des Cygnes just east of Osawatomie.] The study sites include eight riffle sites located on three tributaries and in the main channel. [The] Pottawatomie Creek watershed drains approximately 142, 074 ha (Pottawatomie Creek Watershed Joint District Number 90, 1972, General Plan, Anderson Co., Kansas, 38pp., unpublished) in Coffey, Anderson, Linn, Franklin, and Miami counties, Kansas. The area in which this study was conducted makes up more than half of the drainage of this watershed and was restricted to only Franklin and Anderson counties.

Map of study areas. Locations are approximate. For bigger image, click here.

The eight sampling sites were located in three topographically distinct regions of the Pottawatomie Creek watershed. Two sampling sites (SF1 and SF2) were located on South Fork Pottawatomie Creek (SF). The SF sub-watershed is characterized as predominantly hilly terrain draining woodland, pastureland, and some cropland. [The SF creek flows from about a mile and a half west of Selma to the main branch of Pottawatomie Creek just west of Greeley.] The Cedar Creek (CC) sub-watershed, also had two sampling sites (CC3 and CC4), was represented as somewhat hilly with relatively intermediate topographic relief in comparison with the SF sub-watershed, and drained woodland, pastureland, and a relatively substantial amount of cropland. [Cedar Creek flows from about a mile and a half southeast of Westphalia to the main branch of Pottawatomie Creek three miles north of Garnett. The Cedar Valley Reservoir was built in 1983 just south of Kansas Highway 31.]

Two additional sampling sites (NF5 and NF6) were located on the North Fork Pottawatomie Creek (NF), above the confluences of SF and CC. The NF sub-watershed is characterized as mostly flatland terrain, draining cropland and pastureland. [The North Fork Pottawatomie Creek flows from Osage County until joining with the main branch near the confluence with Cedar Creek.] The last two sampling sites (PC7 and PC8) were located downstream on Pottawatomie Creek (PC) before its confluence with the Marais des Cygne River. The PC sub-watershed is characterized as a broad floodplain containing predominantly cropland, with adjacent hills draining woodland and pastureland. Site PC7 is located between the confluences of CC and SF on the main channel of Pottawatomie Creek, and PC8 is located below the confluence of SF.

[The PC8 sample is located near Lane and is at the site of Dutch Henry's Crossing. In 1856, after hearing about the sack of Lawrence, John Brown selected a party to go on a private expedition. Late in the evening of May 24th, the party--consisting of Brown's sons Frederick, Owen, Salmon and Oliver, Thomas Weiner and James Townsley--called at the house of James P. Doyle and ordered him and his two adult sons, William and Drury to go with them as prisoners. Doyle's 16-year-old son, John, was spared after his mother, Mahalia pleaded for his life. The three men were escorted by their captors out into the darkness, where Owen Brown and one of his brothers killed them with broadswords. John Brown did not participate in the stabbing but fired a shot into the head of the fallen James Doyle to ensure he was dead.

Brown and his band then went to the house of Allen Wilkinson and ordered him out. He was killed by Henry Thompson and Theodore Winer. They then crossed the Pottawatomie and forced their way into the cabin of James Harris. Harris had John S. Wightman, Jerome Glanville, and William Sherman, the brother of Henry "Dutch Henry" Sherman, a militant pro-slavery activist. Glanville and Harris were taken outside and interrogated. Satisfied with their answers, Glanville and Harris were released while Sherman was taken to the creek and hacked to death. It was learned that "Dutch Henry" was the main target during this expedition but he was away. Brown and his party ended the expedition and returned to Osawatomie.]

Dutch Henry's Crossing, near Lane, Franklin County, Kansas.