Marshall County History: Lifeblood

Water, the lifeblood of human civilization, is a universal necessity. It supports the vital functions of life, allowing civilizations to flourish. This truth holds for every community worldwide. A reliable source and supply of water is essential for a community to be settled, flourish, and ultimately survive.

That is why the earliest settlements in Marshall County were established near rivers or creeks. Oakland, the first organized town in Marshall County, was established along Glasses Creek. Willis was settled along the banks of the Red River. Woodville was founded near the junction of the Washita and Red Rivers, and Aylesworth was founded on the banks of the Washita River.

When Madill was established in 1900, there was no nearby natural water source, so the town constructed two water wells on the town square. The first well was dug by hand and was located on the west side of what is now the courthouse lawn. The well was topped with wooden sides and a peaked roof to protect it from the elements. Water was obtained by a rope and pully system with two oak buckets. A bucket was attached to each end of the rope so that when one bucket was pulled to the top to empty, the second bucket was lowered into the water to fill. This sped the water retrieval time substantially. Eventually, a hand pump was added to the well tomakedrawingwatereasier and more efficient.

A few years later, a second well was added on the southeast corner of the courthouse lawn. This well was bored with an auger. A well bucket, about three and a half feet long and about four inches in diameter, collected water from this well.

In those early days, the entire community was involved in the water-sourcing process. Drug stores, cafes, and restaurants had to carry buckets to one of the wells, fill them with water, and then carry them back to their respective establishments. Many of the early homes in Madill also had their own water wells, but those who could not afford a well or who had no viable groundwater under their property also used these two wells on the square.

Groundwater was plentiful in the north side of town, particularly around West Wolf Street between 5th and 9th Streets, so the city council had three wells dug in that location. These wells were about twelve to fifteen feet in diameter and about ten feet deep. Thiswaterwasmainly used for watering livestock. On Saturdays, area farmers would travel to these three wells and fill barrels to take back to their farms. These men would spend much of the day congregated around the wells, talking about the news and topics of the day. After spending several hours togethersolvingtheproblems of the world, each would return to their respective farms, only to return the next Saturday.

In February 1906, the city council decided that the town's water well system was inadequate for its growing population of over 2000 residents. So, they called an election to obtain $40,000 in bonds to build a new water system. However, because Oklahoma had not yet been granted statehood, the city had to get permission from the United States Secretary of the Interior and the Chief Inspector of Indian Affairs of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations to build the system.

Permission was finally obtained, and on June 19, 1906, the citizens approved the bond proposal. Seventy acres of land west of town were purchased from W. N. andD.B.TaliaferroandIsaac Overton Lewis to construct a city lake. This marked a significant step forward in the community's water management, pavingthewayfora morereliableandsustainable water supply.

While the lake and pump station were being planned and constructed, the city let contracts to drill two new wells to supply water for the town. One well was abandoned at a depth of 140 feet when no water was found. The second well was drilled near the current city hall. While drilling this well, natural gas was encountered at a depth of only a few hundred feet, forcing the abandonment of this well. The gas was so abundant that a flare was installed and was lit. The flame from this flare lit much of that part of town for several months.

By early 1908, the city lake dam was completed, and the lake began to fill with water. However, in late May of 1908, an epic flood occurred in southern Oklahoma that nearly destroyed the new dam. Flooding occurred across the Red River Valley, and Madill was not spared. So much water filled the lake that the newly completed dam began to wash away. To save the new lake and dam, citizens from across Madill

Courtesy photo

beganfillingsandbags,which were taken by the men of the city to the lake to reinforce the dam. It was later reported that “had it not been for the people going out and building those levees, the dam would have been ruined.”

The new lake improved the city's water supply but was insufficient to meet its growingneeds.Becauseofthe shortage of water, businesses and manufacturing firms were passing on opening in Madill. Within just a few years, the city was looking for other water sources.

First, the city investigated drilling new wells, but those efforts had previously been unsuccessful, so that idea was quickly abandoned. But then, a decision was made that would turn out to be the biggest white elephant to pass through Madill.

In 1918 or 1919, the city hired the Benham Engineering CompanyfromOklahoma to study the situation and develop a plan to improve the city’s water supply. Webster LanceBenhamwastheowner and chief engineer of the firm. After a few weeks, Benham advised the city to obtain the righttopumpwaterfromMill Creek in Johnston County. The plan required that the city construct a dam across the creek, a pump house and a distribution system from Mill Creek to Madill.

On January 15, 1920, the proposition to adopt Benham’s plan was put before the citizens of Madill, and the citizens approved the plan by a six-to-one margin. The bond issue called for the expenditure of $350,000 for the project. In today’s dollars, the project would cost around $5,000,000.

Within a few months, construction began on the dam and the large pump house. In addition to the dam and pump house, the city had to build a pipeline from the dam to the city lake. The dam spanned a distance of over two hundred twenty-five feet and was twenty to thirty feet high. The distance from the dam to the lake was almost eleven miles. However, that is eleven miles as the crow flies. The pipeline was longer than eleven miles in length because it had to travel through the hilly terrain of the Pettijohn Springs area of the county. Around July or August of 1921, the first water from Mill Creek was pumped into the Madill City Lake.

From all appearances, the new Mill Creek water system was a rousing success. Water fromthecreekwasabundant, the city's needs were met, and businesses and citizens were happy. But the happiness only lasted for a few years.

In 1934, Marshall County and all of southern Oklahoma began to experience a serious drought. During that summer, the city lake went dry. The city attempted to increase the flow from Mill Creek, but no water was available. At that moment, the city fathers realized that Webster Lance Benham's design had a serious flaw.

When Benham designed the dam across Mill Creek, he failed to account for a serious problem encountered when damming rivers or creeks with moving water: sediment. Sediment is an everpresent problem in every creek or river. As the water flows down the creek or river, it brings with it sand, dirt and mud. When the sediment reaches an obstruction like a dam, it begins to collect. Over several years, the trapped sediment eventually filled the reservoir, preventing the collection of any more water as it began to flow over the top of the dam. Benham failed to design any procedure for the sediment to bypass the dam or floodgates that would allow for the release of water and sediment.

By the drought of 1934, sediment in Mill Creek had filled the reservoir behind the dam,andthewaterdepthwas only about two inches. This caused a complete failure of the water system, and no more water was available from Mill Creek. The system that cost the city over $350,000 was a complete bust. As then-Madill Mayor Fred Carter, Sr. said, “It was an excellent system, but no water.”

In addition to the failure of the dam and reservoir, the pipeline had been plagued with problems. Instead of welding each pipe joint, each section of pipe was bolted together. This caused multiple leaks from the pipeline. Fred Carter later told the Madill Recordthat“anytimeanyone walked the old line, they could find at least 40 leaks” in the pipe.

With the city lake and Mill Creek Reservoir dry, the city began to look for a cheap way to get water flowing back into Madill. In fact, water had to be found quickly, as the only water left for the city was what little was left in the settlement pond located next to the city lake.

Because of the lack of water, insurance companies were beginning to cancel insurance policies for businesses and homeowners due to the city's inability to respond to fires. If water was not found quickly, the city would have been declared a fire hazard, and all insurance policieswouldhavebeen canceled.

Thankfully, the city found a place near Russett where water could be obtained from several shallow wells near the Mill Creek system pipeline. Drilling started on the wells, and water was found at levels between twenty-five and thirty feet. After water was found in the first well, the city decided to drill six more wells. To move the water from Russett to Madill, the city took the pump from the pumphouse at the Mill Creek dam and another pump from Madill, which were placed at the well site in Russett. Piping was then connected to the Mill Creek line, and water was pumped into the city lake.

This gave the city enough temporary water to cause insurance companies to reverse their decision to cancel policies and meet the citizens' minimal needs. Finally, later in the summer, rain began to fall, and the city lake was finally full. But a permanent arrangement was mandatory.

On May 6, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) by presidential order as a key part of the Second New Deal. The WPA was an American New Deal agency that employed millions to carry out public works projects, including constructing public buildings, roads, water systems, lakes, schools, and many other public projects.

After the WPA was created, Mayor Fred Carter attended a meeting of state WPA officials at Ardmore. In theearlydaysoftheWPA,the state administrator was William S. Key, and his assistant was Otis Smith, a long-time friend of Mayor Carter.

As a result of the meeting, ayor Carter believed that the WPA would assist the city with creating a permanent water supply. After returning to Madill, Mayor Carter began looking for locations to build a new water reservoir. A few days later, he found a location north of town where he believed a new reservoir could be built. For a flat fee of $300, A. B. Carson was then hired by the city to do all the engineering work. This included surveying, laying out plots, and planning the intake structure.

In the meantime, the state was divided into different WPA districts, and Madill was placed under the Ardmore district. George Bernard was named district supervisor, and the Ardmore District Engineer was none other than Webster Lance Benham, the engineer who had designed the failed Mill Creek water system.

The plan that Madill submitted to the WPA called for constructing a water reservoir north of the city to serve the citizens' needs. Sadly, Webster Lance Benham tried several times to block the Madill project, claiming that Madill “did not need the water system” because of the one he had previously designed for the city. Mayor Carter even had a serious “run-in” with Benham at a meeting, which caused quite a row. But Carter pressed theWPAand,inonemeeting, stated that the planned lake “didn’t mean only water for the city, but a change for the city to get on its feet and pay off its bonded indebtedness” caused by Benham’s failed Mill Creek design.

In November 1935, work on the lake began even before the land was formally purchased. Because of the Mill Creekbondindebtedness,the city could not buy the land or issue new bonds to pay for it, so Mayor Carter approached Mrs. John Ables, Norman Brillhart and J. W. Little and borrowed $500 from each of them to buy the land. Because of other indebtedness, the city was not even able to borrow the money from the three, so Mayor Carter borrowed the money in his own name. Five years later, the city was able to pay back all three.

The city brought in and rentedalltheroadequipment of the Ables Construction Company on the credit of Mrs. John Ables, and it was usedfortheconstruction.The WPA furnished all the labor, barbed wire, hand tools and gasoline needed to run the equipment. All in all, the lake cost about $85,000. Of this, the city only had to pay about $10,000.

As constructed, the top of the dam was ten feet above the water line, allowing the city to raise the height of the water in the lake by four feet if needed. This added four feet would nearly double the city’s water supply. The dam was twenty feet wide at the top and one thousand fifty feet long and three hundred fifteen feet wide at the widest point on the bottom. The dam was so well built that the investigation engineer from the WPA said it was the best dam construction he had seen.

When the dam was finally completed in 1937, and the final report was ready to be delivered to the WPA headquarters inWashingtonD.C., state administrator William S. Key said the lake had to have a name. So then and there, Administrator Key namedthelake“CarterLake” inhonorofMadillMayorFred Carter.

Today, Madill obtains most of its water from Lake Huaini, but Carter Lake and Madill City Lake are still part of the city's water supply system and provide some of the city's lifeblood. It is vital that the city and its citizens do everything possible to protect these precious resources. If these reservoirs ever failed, it would be catastrophic for Madill.

Many have declared the Mill Creek water system the “biggest white elephant” the people of Madill have ever purchased. The bonds from the Mill Creek issue, which were approved in 1920, were not paid off until late 1959, just a few months short of forty years after they were issued.

After one hundred years, the Mill Creek dam and the foundations of the old pump house and powerhouse are still standing.

The first Madill water well, constructed in 1900 on the square's lawn, is still visible today. It sits next to the west sidewalk on the northwest corner of the courthouse lawn, covered by a round slab of concrete and a steel plate. Even though there is no marker on the well, it is likely the oldest structure in Madill, even though it is underground. And though it is hardlynoticedbymostpeople and probably unknown to the majority, it is still there. It stands as an unmarked memorial dedicated to the men and women who built a life on a dry plain in Indian Territory in 1900.

It should always be remembered for providing the lifeblood necessary for a small town to be built, and it enabled the town to flourish and grow from a few dozen citizens to over two thousand before it was replaced with a newer system.

It deserves a plaque or marker memorializing the life-sustaining waters it produced for Madill's forefathers. Without that well, the city likely would not have survived.