In 1929 Oklahoma DRILLERS Struck AN IRON PUMP 300 Feet Down — 6 Years Later the County BLEW AWAY
The Underside
209 views
Three hundred feet under an Oklahoma wheat farm, the drill bit rang like a church bell.
That night, with nothing pumping, cold water climbed the hole.
August 1929, Cimarron County, at the far western tip of the Oklahoma Panhandle. The wheat farmers here are deep in debt, wheat sells for a dollar a bushel, and the only thing no one can buy on credit is water. A farmer named Dell Haskins hires a Texas well driller to go deeper than anyone in the county has gone. At three hundred and four feet, the bit strikes iron that nobody put there.
The pump gives forty gallons a minute, from sunset to sunrise, with no windmill and no engine, and the county brings in the biggest wheat crop in its history. But the county agent who measures everything notices that every field it waters comes out of harvest a shade paler. What does a pump drink when it is not drinking water?
Tell us in one word in the comments: what are you borrowing from your own tomorrow?
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This story is a work of fiction. Real places and historical periods serve as the backdrop; the characters and events are invented. Images are illustrative.
#DustBowl #AmericanHistory #Unexplained
In 1929 Oklahoma DRILLERS Struck AN IRON PUMP 300 Feet Down — 6 Years Later the County BLEW AWAY
The Underside
209 views
Three hundred feet under an Oklahoma wheat farm, the drill bit rang like a church bell.
That night, with nothing pumping, cold water climbed the hole.
August 1929, Cimarron County, at the far western tip of the Oklahoma Panhandle. The wheat farmers here are deep in debt, wheat sells for a dollar a bushel, and the only thing no one can buy on credit is water. A farmer named Dell Haskins hires a Texas well driller to go deeper than anyone in the county has gone. At three hundred and four feet, the bit strikes iron that nobody put there.
The pump gives forty gallons a minute, from sunset to sunrise, with no windmill and no engine, and the county brings in the biggest wheat crop in its history. But the county agent who measures everything notices that every field it waters comes out of harvest a shade paler. What does a pump drink when it is not drinking water?
Tell us in one word in the comments: what are you borrowing from your own tomorrow?
Subscribe for more stories from the archive.
This story is a work of fiction. Real places and historical periods serve as the backdrop; the characters and events are invented. Images are illustrative.
#DustBowl #AmericanHistory #Unexplained