"We reached Jacob’s Well at
ten o’clock. It would be well to give a brief description of
this most singular place. It is a hole a hundred and
twenty-five feet deep, surrounded by a perfectly level plain,
so level, indeed, that if you did not know its locality you
might easily pass it at a distance of a quarter of a mile. Its
circumference measured by myself with a chain is five hundred
yards and eighty feet. There are one or two large arroyos
leading down to the water, one of which was followed by our
animals." --May Humphreys Stacey, 1857
"At Camp 73, a remarkable well
was found. This is described by Captain Whipple as a
funnel-shaped depression, about 300 feet wide at the top, and
125 feet deep. Water is found at the bottom. It was evidently
not the work of art, as there was no vestige of any removed
earth around the pit. Several other pits of a similar
character were also seen in the vicinity. It is most probable
that these depressions are caused by the caving in of the
ground over cavities or caverns, caused either by the flow of
subterranean streams or the gradual solution of thick beds of
gypsum." --Jules
Marcou, 1853
"The water at the
place of camping to-night is the greatest curiousity we have
yet seen. In a wide level prairie, with no streams, there is
an immense well about one hundred and fifty feet deep and six
hundred in diameter. At the bottom is a large, deep pool of
water - which it cost one a few minutes hard labor to
reach." --David
S. Stanley, 1853
"This is decidedly the most
wonderful place of the kind we have yet met with. The
traveler, following the trail on a level plain, comes suddenly
to the brink of a perfectly circular hole of about a quarter
of a mile in circumference, and a hundred yards in almost
perpendicular descent. The sides of this hole slope very
steeply nearly to the bottom, where a basin of apparently very
great depth, and about sixty yards in circumference, completed
the picture. Around the edges of this pool grow rushes and a
few small willows and cedars. The water is agreeable to the
taste, though a little brackish, and it in it are quite a
number of fish. It is only accessible by one trail, which
follows the nearly precipitous sides, winding gradually
down." --Edward Beale, 1857
In November of 2001 I went to investigate the area
further with 3 friends. To read about our findings click on this
link: Finding Jacob's Well
