Ozona's Water System

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Now, you might wonder what makes a piece of West Texas dirt worth planting a county seat on. Well, out here in Crockett County, the answer was simple: water.

In 1891, this very site was chosen for the county seat because of a producing water well, sitting about two hundred feet to the northwest of where you're standing right now. That's it. That's the whole conversation.

You've got water, you've got a town. You don't, you don't. A fella named Joe Moss, who made his living drilling for water throughout the area, dug that well for E.

M. Powell, born 1847, died 1925, a man who wore a lot of hats: railroad surveyor, financier, land developer. Powell didn't just hand over a hole in the ground, either.

He laid out the town itself, then turned around and donated the water well, the windmill, the storage cistern, and the land for public buildings. Just gave it all over. And the commissioners court, moving with a speed that government bodies rarely achieve, immediately designated that well site as county property.

So now you've got a town, and you've got water, and you've got a whole lot of people who need to get that water from one place to another. Residents hauled it home by hand, on horseback, by wagon. Later, a wagon made the rounds delivering barrels of water right to people's doors.

It was a system. Not a glamorous one, but a system. Then Ozona started growing, and growing fast.

By 1900, a man named Judge Charles E. Davidson saw what was coming and organized a locally-owned outfit called the Ozona Improvement Company. That business drilled more wells and laid a pipeline right through town.

This hilltop, up here where all those windmills stood turning in the wind and sprawling storage tanks stretched out across the ground, folks started calling it Waterworks Hill. And the Ozona Improvement Company wasn't done. In a few years, they added power equipment, and suddenly this same operation was providing electricity and ice to the community.

Then in the late 1930s, under the guidance of a man named Joe North, a municipal water district was formed. Now here's the part that ought to make any West Texan sit up a little straighter. Ozona has not suffered from a decrease in its water supply during times of drought.

Not once. The secret is underneath your feet: vast underground limestone formations, storing moisture the way this land has always kept its best things, quiet, deep, and out of the sun. The town picked this spot for a well.

Turned out, the well was the town.

What the marker says

This site was selected for the Crockett County seat in 1891 because of a producing water well (200' NW). Joe Moss, who drilled for water throughout the area, dug the well for E. M. Powell (1847-1925), railroad surveyor, financier, and land developer. Powell laid out the town, donated the water well, windmill, storage cistern, and land for public buildings. Immediately the commissioners court designated the well site as county property. Residents hauled water home by hand, on horseback, and by wagon. Later a wagon delivered barrels of water door-to-door. As a result of Ozona's rapid growth by 1900, Judge Charles E. Davidson organized locally-owned "Ozona Improvement Company." The business drilled more wells and laid a pipeline in town. This hilltop, a familiar site of windmills and sprawling storage tanks, was called "Waterworks Hill." In a few years power equipment was added to provide electricity and ice. A municipal water district was formed in the late 1930s under the guidance of Joe North. Ozona has not suffered from a decrease in its water supply during times of drought. Its water system utilizes the vast underground limestone formations in which moisture is stored. (1979)