Clark County’s St. Jacob’s well

It is 84-feet wide, but at 58-feet deep it is not bottomless and there are no blind fish swimming in its depths.

It is reported while St. Jacob of Nisibis Mesopotamia was on a pilgrimage to find Noah’s Ark, he rested near the top of Mt. Qardu. In his sleep an angel placed a piece of the Ark close to him and woke him. At the spot where he rested, a sacred spring with healing powers emerged.

It is fitting that St. Jacob’s Well in Clark County 15 miles south of Minneola is named for him. It sits in the Little Basin which is in the 1,818-acre Big Basin Prairie Preserve managed by Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, which is located in prairie land within the Red Hills region. The State acquired the land in 1974 from The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. government designated the Big Basin a National Landmark in December 1978. Mrs. C.G. (Janie) Stein had formed the Big Basin Foundation in 1972.

Mrs. Stein’s desire was to allocate this land for the conservation of American Bison (buffalo) and pronghorn antelope.

The Big Basin, Little Basin and St. Jacob’s Well can be reached easily from the east side of US Highway 283/160 south of Minneola and west of Ashland. There are often buffalo at the site.