First Irrigation Well in Bailey County
Muleshoe vicinity, Bailey County, Texas
Marker Inscription
500 Yards South to Site of First Irrigation Well in Bailey County Dug by hand in 1909 on farm of Willard Burns. A pit well (large enough for workmen to enter), it measured 6 by 10 feet across and 15 feet deep. A 10-inch centrifugal pump removed 1,000 gallons of water per minute. Upon its completion, settlers from miles around gathered to hold a "water carnival", which became a local custom whenever wells were dug. Hundreds of such wells made agriculture profitable in this low rainfall area. Well and pump were abandoned when turbine pumps came into use, 1920s. No signs of it remain. (1972)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1909, on Willard Burns's farm, workers hand-dug a huge pit well—six by ten feet across and fifteen feet deep—and fitted it with a centrifugal pump that raised a thousand gallons a minute. Its completion drew settlers from miles around for a celebratory "water carnival," a custom that spread with each new well. Hundreds of such wells turned this dry country into profitable farmland before turbine pumps made them obsolete in the 1920s.
Why it matters
It captures the moment groundwater irrigation transformed the arid Southern High Plains from marginal range into some of the nation's most productive agricultural land.
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Related people
- · Willard Burns
Themes & tags
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