Site of Sonora Town Well

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of what once stood right here in Sonora, Sutton County, Texas. Now, picture this, you're a pioneer pushing out into arid Sutton County, lookin' for grazing land, and the land is beautiful, sure enough, but dry. Dry in the way that makes a person think hard about every single drop.

Back in 1887, the whole county had five wells to its name. Five. And the closest one to where Sonora stood was three miles off.

Three miles is a long way when you're thirsty, and it's a longer way when your cattle are. So something had to be done. In 1889, a man named Charlie Adams took matters into his own hands, and into the ground.

Using a horse-driven drill, he sank the town's very first well right here at this site, what would go on to become the courthouse square. A windmill went up to pull the water to the surface, pumping it into a storage tank, and just like that, Sonora had something it could count on. Now a well doesn't stay the only well forever.

By 1893, another had been drilled nearby, the town was growin', the needs were growin'. And then in 1895, a man by the name of T.D. Newell bought the original waterworks and removed it.

Just like that, the thing Charlie Adams put down in 1889 was gone. But one witness stayed. That large live oak tree you're looking at, it stood at the southwest corner of the waterworks lot, through all of it.

The well came and went. The windmill came and went. That tree is still here, keepin' its own kind of record.

What the marker says

Pioneers seeking grazing land in arid Sutton County needed a reliable source of water. In 1887 Sonora's closest well, one of five in the county, was three miles away. Using a horse-driven drill, Charlie Adams sank the town's first well in 1889 at this site, which became the courthouse square. A windmill pumped the water to a storage tank on the surface. In 1893 another well was drilled nearby, and in 1895 T.D. Newell bought and removed the original waterworks. This large live oak tree stood at the southwest corner of the waterworks lot.