Read time: 5 min.

I’ve noticed an odd pattern lately: it seems like every recent dental appointment has been followed by the discovery of a new-to-me artesian well! I know correlation doesn’t equal causation, but at this point I’m suspicious enough that I’d happily endure thirty root canals and thirty extractions if it meant finding sixty more flowing wells. Fortunately, unlike my last post-dental adventure, Madison County’s Rent Well was still doing exactly what an artesian well is supposed to do- flow with water. 

Until recently, I hadn’t discovered a new flowing artesian well since August 2025. Fortunately, my streak finally ended in an unexpected way! Just minutes after I clambered out of the dentist’s chair three weeks ago, a reader named Jocelyn tipped me off about an artesian well along Muncie Pike north of Mount Summit in rural Henry County. I headed there immediately and returned to investigate the site more closely the following day. 

The well itself wasn’t flowing, but the story took an unexpected turn when the property owners found my post and reached out. They invited me back, explaining that their land is home to several more artesian wells that all ceased flowing to various degrees around the same time. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to seeing what else is hiding out there on the farm.

Today, history repeated itself. There I was in the dentist’s chair with my feet up when my phone buzzed with a notification. I pulled it out and found a comment on a post I’d written back in May 2025 about a well near Middletown. The comment mentioned another well near Markleville in Madison County. Most importantly, it was said to still be flowing.

As the dentist waited for the numbing agent to do its job, I did mine. A quick look at Google Maps revealed exactly where the well was. Suddenly, I had a new destination! The thought of tracking down my fifty-first artesian well did more to get me through the procedure than anything the dentist could have prescribed, and after swallowing 800 milligrams of ibuprofen, I pointed my aging Hyundai toward Markleville. I’d spotted what I thought was the well casing on Google Street View near the intersection of County Roads 300 East and 640 South, just north of Fall Creek. It sat about four miles south of Valley Grove Elementary.

I turned off the road just north of Fall Creek, hit the hazard lights, and hopped out to find an odd arrangement. A squat iron casing featured a pipe that seemed to pour downward into a green plastic cylinder from which tons of vegetation sprouted. I couldn’t see any flowing water, but I could certainly hear it!

The well was flowing, but it discharged its water right into that pipe. An old-school handwheel spigot tempted me, but it wasn’t mine to twist. Wary of accidental trespass, I shot a quick video, took some photos, and absconded into the yonder.

Even from a quick glance, it was obvious that years of moss, roots, and leaf litter had accumulated around the elbow where the water discharged. A flow was still audible beneath the tangled mass, but much seemed trapped under the debris before slowly seeping down the pipe. It made me wonder how much stronger the discharge might appear with just a few minutes of careful cleaning! That said, I was just happy to see it.

I looked up some information after I left the artesian well. Like nearly all of them around here, it began as a gas well. The Rent family leased it to the Irondale Steel and Wire company around the turn of the twentieth century. At the time, J.H. Rent owned about 22 acres spanning both sides of the road. That’s how I gave the well its name.

At this point, I’ve made it something of a personal mission to find every flowing well I can. That’s exactly what happened on my latest hunt. The moment I learned about another possible well, it was all I could think about until I went to see it for myself. I’m glad to have found the old Rent well! It’s another amazing piece of history.