Tom Averill of Topeka, KS is a student of water.

Any water.

Like, did you know that there is no new water on Earth, and that the water that, say, Alexander the Great once drank has been re-drunk by innumerable people worldwide?

You probably knew that as human beings, we are made up of a large percentage of water. But have you ever noticed the importance we put on water evidenced by the way we name our towns? In western Kansas, where water is at a premium, there are towns called "Cold Springs" and "Garden City". Along the Kansas (Kaw) River there are the towns of "Silver Lake", "Big Springs", and "Bonner Springs". Stops along the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail were also often named with water in mind.

Fly over Kansas and you will see the pattern of our rivers. Just as a watermark identifies quality paper, Kansas rivers identify quality places to live. But look at the Arkansas River! During some parts of the year, you can't see any water in it at all, and it takes some digging down into the sand before you find water. Throughout history, looking for water has often occupied people in Kansas.

Kansas pioneers, and even later settlers, had some interesting plans to get more water, more often to Kansas. In their attempt to change the climate, early settlers were convinced that rain follows civilization. But thinking that didn't change the climate. Then they remembered that "back home" there were lots more trees and lots more rain. So they set to work planting more trees to attract the rain. The "Timber Culture Act" offered free land to homesteaders who would plant 10 to 80 acres of trees. The government planted the Kansas National Forest in the sand hills near Hutchison. But alas, the climate didn't change, and there were plenty of 4 foot dead pine trees.

OK, so they built the railroads across Kansas, convinced that one of the fringe benefits would be all that metal attracting lightning. It didn't. They shot off canons, knowing that rain followed battles. The rain wasn't fooled. They built ponds and lakes to attract more water. They prayed. The "Water Modification Act" provided funds for cloud seeding. Although there wasn't more rain with the seeding, at least there were fewer hail storms.

Kansas literature and poetry reflect the quest for more water. Frank Baker of Lane County out in western Kansas sang about looking for water while Kenneth Porter and John Ives also wrote about it. Denise Lowe of Lawrence wrote the poem "Star Water". Gordon Park wrote, in "The Learning Tree", of people swimming in ponds and rivers, with the fun and refreshment interspersed with floods and death by drowning.

People describe status and feelings with a lot of water symbolism in literature. Some of us are "washed", some "unwashed". Does your "cup runneth over" or are you "parched"? We may "go with the flow" or keep things "all bottled up".

For more information about Kansas, Tom Averill maintains the Center for Kansas Studies web page at Washburn University, and has written several books about Kansas.

DeSoto, KS