The Flowing (and Unflowing...) History of Artesian Wells in Texas

The sinking of the Grenelle Well in Paris during the late 1830s and early 1840s captured the imagination of the Western world as to the possibilities of free-flowing, limitless water supplies from deep within the ground. This prompted some early water well wildcatting that ultimately became a frenzy across the United States, and Texas was no exception. After a few successful wells were drilled in Fort Worth, Dallas, and Waco in the 1870s and 1880s, artesian wells were drilled all over Texas in search of easy water, and, in many places, people found it. Early prognosticators, including government scientists, were upbeat about the longevity of the supply and the resulting economic impact. However, rapidly declining hydraulic heads due to the drilling of thousands of wells, many simply left flowing, indicated otherwise. In 1913, in its first foray into groundwater law, the Texas Legislature banned the wasteful flowing of artesian wells; however, the laws were too late to protect the artesian flowing status of many of the state's aquifers.