Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
Spring Near Milano Defies Drought
by Jeanne Williams - Temple Daily Telegram
November 6, 2011
MILANO - Whether it bubbled out elixir or thirst-quenching dippers full of cold, clear
water, the natural occurring drinking fountain documented in state records as Rock
House Spring south of Milano still boasts the same hydrating capabilities today as it
did for the George W. Beard family of the 1890s.
Stories about the spring’s pure, crystal, palate-pleasing fluid and reliability during
some of the state’s most devastating droughts has drawn almost as much interest as the
homestead it served - the two-story, red sandstone George W. Beard hacienda that stands
sentinel beside busy Texas 36.
“I have heard a number of stories about the spring and how it had a good reputation by
the locals,” said Dr. Donny Hamilton, Texas A&M University’s renowned anthropologist
and archaeologist of College Station, who is restoring the landmark Beard house and
grounds.
Long before the impressive red rock house was built, the spring was known as a prime
watering hole for passersby, ranging from thirsty pedestrians, and horses and riders to
travel weary stage passengers. In researching the George W. Beard family history,
Hamilton learned that the spring enticed the patriarch into building his house on the
property. Neither time nor the Beard family’s occupancy dampened the public’s thirst
for Rock House Spring’s cool, tasty water, Hamilton said.
In one tale, a Temple man walking overland stopped at the Beard House at night and
asked for a drink. Beard handed him a small brass lantern and directed him down the
hill behind the house to the spring.
“He was dying of thirst, and said the water was the best water he had ever drunk,”
Hamilton said.
Then, there are numerous testimonials of the spring’s curative qualities, in which a
lingering childhood sickness would be cured after the victim’s thirst for Rock House
Spring water was quenched.
Recently, Hamilton excavated the spring site, rebuilt to historical accuracy the stone
and mortar cistern, and replaced an iron pipe that kept the water source circulating
and supplying a small utility pond.
“I checked the flow from the pipe coming out of the spring head and the spring at
present is flowing 192 gallons a day, one gallon-plus per eight minutes,” Hamilton
said.
Even more impressive is the spring’s staying power.
“From what I have heard, it never has gone dry,” Hamilton said. “When other people’s
wells have gone dry they have come up here to get water.”
In the drought of 1925, the family cistern of G.W. Beard’s nephew James Sevier Beard
dried up. James Sevier Beard’s son James Stanley helped collect drinking water from the
spring behind G.W.’s house in five gallon glass bottles, Hamilton said.
Someday when the well head has been thoroughly cleaned out, is clear, free flowing and
has been tested in a laboratory for possible toxins, Hamilton will probably take his
first drink.
Beard’s granddaughter Mary Beard Haley said the spring over the years “seemed to be the
central point of interest to every visitor, and there were many.”
Aside from being a vintage thirst quencher, the water was no Panacea other than it was
always cool. Three towering English elm trees shaded the spring, Haley said.
“I carried water from the spring to the pot for washing our clothes,” she said. “The
spring was covered by heavy, good boards and had a hand pump on top.”
Through her grandfather’s engineering, the pump pushed water to the kitchen to furnish
running water for the sink, north to a water trough for livestock, and south to the
bath house, she said.
The spring is deeper than it appears today because of silt sediments, she said.
“It was our only water source,” Haley said. “I remember the neighbor to the north
coming with a barrel on a slide to get water from the spring.”
One Rock House Spring water aficionado was Milam County Judge Jeff Kemp, who came to
visit on Sundays “and his first stop was the spring He brought his dipper for his
water,” Haley said.
Dr Ronald Kaiser, Texas A&M University professor and chairman of the university’s water
program said the secret to long-running springs is the competition. For example,
pioneer springs in the Edwards Plateau endured until aquifers were tapped for
development. Yet, enduring springs are not uncommon in Texas, and some springs have
been producing for centuries, Kaiser said.
At one time, more than 3,000 producing springs were documented in Gunnar M. Brune’s
1981 “Springs of Texas,” including those in the Milano area, such Sipe Springs and Lee
Garden Spring. How Brune by-passed the Rock House Spring is a curiosity. The spring had
been recorded and tested by the Texas Water Development Board in 1972. Rock House
Spring either is tapping the minor Queen City aquifer or taking in waterthrough a fault
in the major Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer, said Dr. Robert Mace, Texas Water Development
Board deputy executive administrator of water science and conservation.
“A spring must go down pretty deep for the flow to be constant,” Mace said. “When you
see a spring with such constant flow, it suggests it is tapping into a long groundwater
flow path.”
While the aquifer supplying this perpetually producing fount might be at question, the
1972 lab analysis showed zero curat ive elements, but left no doubt that the Rock House
Spring was a producer of clear, clean “good quality water,” Mace said.
jwilliams@tdtnews.com
All articles from the Temple Daily Telegram are published with the permission of the
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Jeanne Williams and the Temple Daily Telegram
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Jeanne Williams and the Temple Daily Telegram
Despite drought conditions across the state, Rock House spring near Milano, has acted as nature's water fountain for more than a century. Dr. Donny Hamilton, left, stands next to the spring recently. At right, the G. W. Beard family pauses for a photo at the spring in 1915.
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