Some of the forty-five flowing wells I’ve tracked down have taken a little hunting, but most stand right out in the open, ready for anyone (and their brother, as mine has) to stop, take a sip, or fill a jug. At first, I didn’t think that was the case with the old Neal well in Grant County’s Liberty Township. I figured I’d have to admire it from behind a farmer’s fence! Thankfully, I was wrong.
One of the most effective ways I’ve learned about artesian wells is by joining local history groups on social media. Typing “artesian” in the search bar at the top right of the screen is a simple method, but I bet it’s uncovered at least half of the wells I’ve been to. A couple of mentions of a well at the corner of County Roads 600-South and 100-West led me to some online sleuthing.
Google’s Street View cars had been through the area at least twice, so that’s where I started. I scanned every ditch, driveway, and fence line, but nothing looked even close to a flowing well. Just to be sure, I double-checked my coordinates. I had them right, but there was still no sign! I shelved the search and let myself get pulled down into another rabbit hole. For a while, I gave up on finding the well entirely.
My search didn’t stay cold for long. When I found myself planning a trip to Marion, the well shot right back into my crosshairs. That’s when I remembered that flowing wells have a habit of hanging out near water like creeks, rivers, brooks, and streams. I zoomed out on the map and, sure enough, Deer Creek ran just a fifth of a mile east of the intersection I’d scouted.
With renewed hope, I parked my virtual Google car just west of the bridge and crossed my fingers. There, in all its pixelated glory, was a metal pipe sticking out of the ground with what appeared to be water flowing out towards the creek. Later that day, Mom and I headed out to find it.
To get there, we took McGalliard Road out of Muncie and followed its extension to State Road 9. We bypassed Alexandria and passed the turnoff for Fairmount before we headed onto a county road about a mile south of the Marion Municipal Airport. The well sits about three-fifths of a mile west of the crossroads.
Before heading out, I’d read a few comments suggesting the well was fenced off and out of reach. I brought my Pentax K10D just in case I had to rely on its optical zoom from the roadside. When we pulled over, I scanned the scene and sized things up. The well stood a few feet off the road and another hundred west of Deer Creek. To my relief, there was no fence in sight! I slid down the hill in my Crocs, caught my balance, and started my investigation.
This well traces back to Indiana’s gas boom era. It shows up on a Petroleum Database map1, but that’s about all I could find until some digging revealed that F.M. Neal owned the land back in 19032. Lacking a better name, I decided to borrow his.
Like another I’ve visited lately, the old Neal well doesn’t gush from the top of its pipe. Instead, the water shoots out near the base, about a foot off the ground, and it does so with surprising force. It splashes into a rust-colored pool before winding its way down a narrow rivulet that drains into Deer Creek.
I didn’t sample the water this time. Instead, I spent a minute or two taking it all in as I snapped some photos. Even in that short window, though, I felt the same sense of awe I always do when I encounter a new-to-me artesian well. There’s something powerful about seeing water surge from the earth under its own pressure, untouched by pump or pipe. It never gets old, and I’m still hoping to come across more flowing wells in Grant County.
Sources Cited
1 Well Events For IGWS ID: 136374 (2025). Well Record tables. The Indiana Geological & Water Survey. Indiana University. Web. Retrieved June 7, 2025
2 Map of Grant County, Indiana (1903). W.B. Westlake [Madison]. Map.
