Right after I scheduled a post grumbling that a favorite artesian well was closed, the universe called my bluff. Someone messaged me about one I’d never heard of, tucked near Hoover Road a couple miles south of Losantville. I went to check it out the next day. I found it, stopped, scoped it out, and, well…nothing. There wasn’t a drop! That’s the thing with flowing wells sometimes.
The artesian well between Losantville and Hagerstown was the thirty-ninth I’ve been to in East-Central Indiana. Under normal circumstances, it flows on its own thanks to some underground magic: drilled into pockets of water trapped between layers of rock, water flows up and out of the well casing without the need for a pump when the pressure is high enough.
I’m calling this new-to-me well the Hoover Road well. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if it started life as an old gas well or not since the map I used to rely on has vanished into the digital ether. Getting close doesn’t reveal much either, since the pipe is plastic. It doesn’t offer as many hints as a metal casing might.
Still, the spot has its charm. When you pull off Hoover Road, a set of wooden steps leads you down towards the well. After that, the scene starts to unravel. What began as bucolic quickly gives way to something more weathered. For example, the well itself drains into an old bathtub of all things.
The spot where the tub’s faucet used to be features a hole that lets the tub’s overflow to trace a winding path toward a nearby pond. It’s a curious mix of the idyllic and the improvised, but somehow, it works. At least, in theory: even without the well flowing like it normally does, something remains endearing about the whole setup. It’s almost like time patched the place together with whatever material was lying around!
When it rains, it pours, just not from this newest flowing well I’ve been to. I won’t be surprised when the Hoover Road well starts flowing again! I drive from Muncie to Richmond every month, and I’ll be back soon with hopes of catching the flowing well on Hoover Road in action.
