Columbus Waterworks

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Columbus Waterworks. Now, every good story starts with land, and this one starts with land and water both. Back in 1824, the Mexican government granted Elizabeth Tumlinson and her heirs the land and water rights to this very area — right in the heart of Stephen F.

Austin's colony. That's the foundation. From those beginnings, the town of Columbus grew up out of a small frontier community, slow and steady.

But towns have a way of staying comfortable until something forces their hand. And something did. May of 1883.

A fire broke out and took down a livery stable and a hotel, and it threatened the whole of downtown Columbus. Now, when fire comes for a town that has no real way to fight back, the people in charge tend to wake up in a hurry. The city council was spurred to action — those are the marker's own words — and the commissioners court got to work.

They erected a water tower on the courthouse square. They put in a brick pump well on Spring Street. They laid a water main with seven hydrants around the business district, all that same year.

And by December 1883, the city organized a fire department. From ashes to infrastructure, all in a matter of months. Now, you'd think that would be the end of the water troubles.

It was not. The water they were pulling from the Colorado River — it was processed through a filter before it traveled along the pipes to the citizens of Columbus. Processed.

Filtered. And still, it was not always suitable for drinking. That's a polite way of saying the river water was, by 1909, considered flat-out unfit for drinking.

So the city looked elsewhere. In September 1890, Columbus contracted for an Artesian well. Sounds simple enough.

It was not. Work on that well was difficult. Completion took six months, on account of several delays.

At one point, the project was nearly abandoned. Nearly. But they pushed through.

By 1909, the public water well had about a hundred consumers. It could hold around five hundred gallons at a time. It was cut off each night.

Meters went in around this period too. A city learning, piece by piece, to manage what it had. Then 1912 rolls around, and Columbus faced a water shortage.

A new steel tower and reservoir were erected to meet the demand. Progress marching forward. But here's the thing — and this is the part that sticks with me.

Long after the new steel tower went up, long after the pipes and hydrants and meters became ordinary facts of daily life, the people of Columbus kept coming back to that old Artesian well. Not for convenience. Not because they had to.

They valued it for its purported purity. For its medicinal properties. All the way into the 1930s, folks held onto the belief that something in that hard-won water was worth keeping.

Sometimes the infrastructure moves faster than the faith does. And maybe that's not such a bad thing.

What the marker says

In 1824 the Mexican government granted Elizabeth Tumlinson and her heirs the land and water rights to this area in the center of Stephen F. Austin's colony. The town of Columbus developed from a small frontier community. A fire in May 1883 destroyed a livery stable and hotel, threatening downtown Columbus to such a degree that the city council was spurred to action. The commissioners court erected a water tower on the courthouse square and a brick pump well based on Spring Street. A water main with seven hydrants was laid around the business district that year and by December 1883 the city orgranized a fire department. Despite the fact that the water from the Colorado River was processed through a filter before it was carried along the pipes to the citizens of Columbus, it was not always suitable for drinking. The city of Columbus contracted for an Artesian well in September 1890. Work on the well was difficult and completion took six months because of several delays. The project was nearly abandoned. In 1909 there were about 100 consumers of the water from Columbus' public water well, which could hold about five hundred gallons at a time and was cut off each night. The river water was considered unfit for drinking. The city installed meters at this time. By 1912 the city faced a water shortage. A new steel tower and reservoir were erected, though citizens continued to value the Artesian well for its purported purity and medicinal properties well into the 1930s. (1999)