Artesian Well Park

 Artesian Well Park in Salt Lake City is a tiny little park that features an artesian well. This has been on my radar for quite a few years now, but I never really thought about it when I was in the area. So I made special note to do it today on my random oddities tour.

Quick Details:

Length: The park is only about 80 ft. x 40 ft. So not much. Just however far away you park
Trail Type: Get out and see.
Difficulty: It’s paved and flat and really just a get out and see, DR1.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: No.
Dogs? Leashed. Please clean up after your furry friends.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

It is located at 808 South and 5th East. Take i15 to the 6th South exit and head east. Turn right on 5th East and it will be on the right just after 8th South.

The Trail:

Itty bitty little park.

The artesian well is on the north east corner.

This is very similar to The Stump in Ogden, though maybe not as unique.

Information sign.

While pulling granite stones from the Temple Quarry Trail to bring to the Salt Lake Temple early Mormon settlers and their oxen stopped here to imbibe the refreshing water.

Artesian water is held in a porous rock layer, under a small amount of pressure, between 2 solid rock layers. An artesian well differs from an artesian spring in that water doesn’t surface through a natural opening; instead a pipe must be put in to the ground. The fact that the water flows through the pipe under natural pressure, without pumping, makes an artesian well different from other wells.

Which kind of begs the question, how did the early settlers know to jam a pipe in the ground here?

Like The Stump, the water is often tested to ensure it is still safe to drink.

They also remodeled the park back in 2019 to use native, water wise plants and improve dark skies.

I dug around on Google Maps and discovered they also changed the location of the well, about 10-15 feet to the north east. This is what it looked like in 2019. The original well is in that grey stone alcove to the left. We'll come back to this is a moment.

I thought this might explain why I never thought to stop here before, because well it didn't look like much. But, it still doesn’t look like much so yea.

The well again. I totally forgot to bring a jug or something so we just had a couple sips with the help of our hands. It was nice and cold, but otherwise, it was like most water you can find anywhere in the valley. Nothing exceptional.

Park rules.

The other side of the well.

The rest of the park from the east end.

Here is another shot from Google Maps from 2017 showing the original wells location to the left. Now it is to the right.

Random art.

The park again.

As I was getting ready to leave I remembered I had a water bottle in the car. So I ran back and collected some water, because why not?

Well that was neat, I am glad we finally stopped by. I kind of wish I had seen it before the remodel but, that’s not the end of the world. Ultimately I think the improvements look great. As neat as it was, I don’t think it warrants a trip on it’s own. We added it on to our hike in City Creek Canyon and a short list of downtown oddities I had yet to check out. I think I am going to go with 8 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it really is just drive up and see. DR1.

Dogs are allowed, but must remain leashed.