In March 1871, Santa Fe engineers surveying and platting the Newton town site on Section 17 coincided with Captain David L. Payne, a state legislator from this district, and other early settlers recognizing the urgent need for domestic drinking water. Payne agreed to supervise the digging of a well at the center of the intersection of 5th and Main Street. For several months, it provided Newton’s only domestic drinking water, and for several years afterward it was considered the town’s best water.