Greeley County, Kansas, is arid.
In the northwest portion of Greeley County, Kansas, was Barrel Springs. In an arid area, this became an important spot in the early days. It got its name when a traveler sank two barrels into the North bank of a stream across from a hole many knew as Jumbo. The spring flowed into the barrels and out into the creek bed. It lay near the Colorado state line on what was known as the Fort Wallace-Fort Lyons Trail, which ran from the northeast to the Southwest through the county.
By 1889, many people had settled in the area and often had no wells. They came from within a ten-mile radius with wagons filled with barrels, and one man who lived nearby said he often saw them from dawn until after night, two men at a time, dipping buckets and pouring into barrels. They never could lower the water level lower than 18 inches.
The spring was located ten miles West and four miles North of Tribune.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated February 2025.
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