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Neppel and Water: Adaptation Three hundred people lived in Neppel in 1938. In that year a group of residents organized and incorporated the town, changing its name to Moses Lake. 1937 aerial view of Neppel. Photo by Gordon Nicks Hoping to improve the town's water system, women in the community pushed for incorporation. "We had the hardest water in the Northwest," Eric Peterson recalled. Women gathered signatures and convinced the county commission to incorporate the town so that they could issue revenue bonds to "get a decent well." Wells provided an additional source of water for the residents of Neppel. Water from wells helped serve the daily needs of families and was used for irrigation. Building a well was no easy task. My dad said, "well boys, if you want water, you have to dig a well." So we said, "let's dig a well." So when we were 11 years old we dug a 47-foot well there on the lake. It was a 36-inch inside diameter, square, and you would add to the bottom. The first two feet were real easy . . . . One guy would climb down in the well and fill the bucket full of gravel and the other one would crank it and pull it up. The hardest part of digging a well is the last six feet. You want at least five feet of fresh water in the top of the well. So you have to dive down below the surface of the well to dig down deeper and then you bring that gravel up and haul that out. The last five feet was the tough part. We dug this well in 1947; it's still there now. They irrigate the lawn, and so forth, with that same old well. Dick Deane   forward Table of Contents <> Photo Archive Oral History Archive <> Documents Archive <> Bibliography To Top of Moses Lake Exhibit