The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-12-19
He FOUND WATER
Uncle Ben" Cox Sinks First
Artesian Well.
Also Drove First Railroad Spike
Paid First Tax.
SURFACE WATER POOR
Hogs Wouldn't WalIOw in It,
Old Man Says.
First Gusher Found at Depth of
l42 Feet.

Hutchinson. Kan, Dec. 12.=Wher
you are counting up the men who have
distinguished themselves in Kansas
dent forget Uncle Ben Cox.
Down in Meade county they may
tell you that Ben Cox drove the first
railroad spike in that county; bought
the first pair of boots there; holds the
first tax receipts issued in the county s
! history; helped start the first bank
and other things like that
But Uncle Ben" Cox is especially
famous because he sunk the first arte-
sian well in Kansas.
There has been a good deal of noise
made about that artesian gusher in
Morton county, and the artesian wells
being sunk elsewhere in western Kan
sas. But Meade county has had an
artesian well-a real gusher-ever
since 1887.
And next year Meade county will
celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary
of the discovery of the artesian water
in the since famous Artesian valley of
that county.
When the Gusher Was Struck.
When lola struck gas and Neodesha
struck oil there was some excitem ent.
But it was nothing to that Friday aft
ernoon on August 5, 1887, when an
artesian gusher was struck on the
farm of Ben Cox, near Fowler.
Mr.. Cox dug a well about % feet
deep, and found plenty of water, but
he couldn't drink it, his horses would
not and he swore his hogs wouldn't
wallow in the puddles.
After little inquiry he found that
his neighbors had had just such luck
as his; so few of them got together
and formed a pool to go deeper and
find out what could be had. About
500 was subscribed to make the trial,
under the terms that Cox, on whose
land the well was drilled was to pay
for the well If it turned out good, but
if failure the entire company stood
the loss.
Dr. Kaiser, who had had some ex-
perience with well drilling in the east,
was engaged.
Work began August, 1887. A few
days later Cox said to Kaiser:
IT will give you $500 for plenty of
good water, or I will give you $500
for arteSian water.
Kaiser said artesian water was out
of the question. About 4 o'clock of
that afternoon the drill rods passed
through a little stratum of hard forna-
ton and then dropped about a foot.
The we'll was then down about 126
feet.
kaiser said there was plenty of wa
ter and asked what he should do.
Went Down Deeper.
Il started to go $50 feet said Mr..
And the work proceeded. The next
morning after working an hour or so,
the drill rods were removed, but be-
fore they could get them out the wa
ter was running out from the casing.
OF course it was muddy and came
slowly, taking three minutes to run a
bucket full. The well was then 142
feet deep.
Cox drove six miles to get an eel
bow and when he got back the water
o1e-f,1 IN
amount slowly until it more than
doubled the first amount of flow.
The well was put down to the $50
foot mark, but with no further results.
This was on Friday. August 8, 1887;
and they had tapped the first artesian
water in Meade county
They Come for Miles.
Before evening of that day over
thirty had come to see the water run
ming from the ground. On Saturday
and Sunday the yard was not big
enough to hold all that came for miles
and miles to see the curiosity.
The first man to begin hauling wa
ter from Cox's well was a man who
was too stingy to subscribe anything
toward making the trial and who
helped himself without asking per-
mission.
The complete cost of the well was
S1S7.5O.
ST. zortnan. who still lives in
Meade county, was there when the
Cox well was brought in
Just as soon as the water cleared
a little Uncle Ben got down in the
mud to get a taste c9 it, said Mr.
Zortman. "AIl around him stood a
circle Of men anxious to see what
would be the result of the test It
was a happy crowd wien Ben Cox
jumped and yelled. It's good. sure as
HI The old fellows joy was with
out bounds. and for the next few
weeks he shook hands with about as
many people as President Taft did on
his recent swing across TIE continent