Seems like every 30 minutes or so a train zips through east central Iowa's Belle Plaine. On this day Union Pacific's 6589 pulls cars filled with Wyoming coal eastward. Behind the train is Belle Plaine's former depot building used for years when trains stopped and unloaded people and freight. The building has been closed for a number of years (if not decades) and its future remains unclear. Belle Plaine's history is comprised rail traffic on these lines and is celebrated at the town's museum. The town is also known for being along the Lincoln Highway and for 1886's runaway Jumbo artesian well. These rails run parallel to the former Lincoln Highway route (one block away) and seven blocks from 8th Avenue and 8th Street were a concrete stopper tamed Jumbo.
Take a look at these smiling boys. They stand on a monument to a monster that still lurks below the city's surface. In 1886, at the intersection of 8th Avenue and 8th Street, in 42N's Belle Plaine, Iowa, a water well drilling crew tapped into a forceful artesan well. The Iowa River aquifer sent some 30,000 to 50,000 gallons per minute into the air along with 500 to 1000 railroad cars of sand downstream and chunks of petrified wood. News of the well spread quickly around the world. It became known as the Jumbo Well, the eighth natural wonder of the world!
Thirteen months after the tapping of the ancient aquifer, the flow was finally capped with pipes and tons of concrete. Almost a hundred years later a geologic crew retapped this location to survey the current underground situation. While the recapping only took hours, the project manager commented that they were five minutes away from making Good Morning America.
This afternoon these boys helped identify the actual site of the well (mid-intersection at 8th and 8th.) The young Belle Plainians were very much aware of old Jumbo. The orange shirt boy already studied Jumbo in class, and claimed that he knew all about it.
