Our History

Benes Well Drilling was started by Ed and Eleanor Benes in 1962. There was nothing glamorous about starting a well drilling business, just hard work. Being new to the business, the hardest part for Ed were the fundamentals, like knowing when he was in water and differentiating the various ground formations. Running the drill itself was no problem. But it was exciting when a customer would call and even more exciting when water was found.

Prior to the decision to start a drilling business, Ed and Eleanor tried their hand at a number of occupations including a dray line business (which consisted of delivering freight from the railroad), hauling mail from Grand Rapids to Carlton, Remer, Longville and Deer River, and hauling Hormel meats after they sold the mail runs. It was about that time the Benes moved to their present office location and as luck would have it, next door to a well driller (Ole Hukee) who needed occasional help. Ed decided to try his hand at helping to drill and was soon figuring things out on his own. When Ole decided to retire, Ed and Eleanor knew they had to find the courage to start their own well drilling business.

Fortunately for Ed and Eleanor, the local building contractors supported the Benes decision to start their own business and went so far as to say they would help him get the money. In the ensuing years they continued to support the Benes' bringing them enough jobs to stay solvent. In any case, $500 was borrowed to purchase the first "rig" which was actually an old mining drill that was placed on an old logging truck they had. Being fresh in the business, buying pipe presented a financial difficulty. Eleanor had sold Avon products for a number of years and had earned some bonds from that business. The bonds were sold and garnered enough money to buy enough pipe for perhaps 2 wells. As finances didn't warrant buying more than a little at a time, they were forced to drive to Duluth after each well was drilled to pick up more pipe for the next well. Obviously, it was necessary to be paid upon the finish of each job.

Each morning Eleanor would follow Ed out to the day's well site to help him crank up the boom - by hand - return home to do the office work and the job of raising a family, and then return to pick up Ed at night when the job was done, and then the same again the next day. Soon Ed started taking the boys - Dale and Bruce - along to teach them about well drilling and also in order to get more time to spend with them as Ed worked on his wells 7 days a week. In those days, wells were being drilled at around $4.50 a foot.

Eventually Ed built his own power unit for cranking up the boom (it was so nice they felt like millionaires!) and made their next purchase in a 1957 International 4-Wheel Drive to haul pipe. As the business grew, Ed had 3 cable rigs drilling until 1976 when he bought his first rotary rig which replaced all 3 of the cable rigs. That rotary driller was eventually traded in on a 42 Schram (which is still in use today), along with 2 other rotary drill rigs. At that time, monthly drill payments were well over $6,000 a month and in those days that was a tremendous amount of money. Ed and Eleanor had still to become well known in the community, so every Saturday evening they went out somewhere to "show their faces". They joined clubs and met many people, but never talked business. It was inexpensive advertising - when someone needed a well, they thought of Benes. Although, in those days the names was still pronounced "Benish". The pronunciation was changed to Benes as it seemed that no one could find them in the phone book. (Grandma was not pleased!)

A significant thing happened in the early drilling days for the Benes'. They never charged for a dry hole and one day Ed was down about 180' when a man came up and offered to dowse (also known as water witching) it for him. Ed was a disbeliever but allowed the man to try to find the water. The man was bearing an axe on his hand and about 8 feet away he passed a spot where the axe flew onto the ground. The man invited Eleanor to try and she came up with the same result - though was a bit frightened by the axe (in subsequent years, she switched to dowsing rods). Ed then tried his hand at it, but it didn't work. So, with every intention of showing the man up, Ed proceeded to drill in the spot and water was found about 40' down! After that Eleanor had a new job in dowsing the well locations - a legacy that she has passed on to Dale. No one seems to know why it works for some people and not for others, but it is clearly an asset where other drillers have tried and failed. A good dowser can also tell you how far the water is down to within a couple of feet.

In July of 1979, Benes Well Drilling was legally formed. A godsend in the form of Bill Summers helped the Benes' secure their first major loan so they could have stock on hand and also have the ability to buy at a better price due to larger orders. We were able to stock the shelves with supplies each spring and make no payments until the fall. Without good friends like Bill we couldn't have made it.

In 1989 Ed's sons - Dale and Bruce - bought the business from their parents. For several years, they were only able to run 2 of the rigs until the time came that Dale's sons -Rob and Casey - got old enough to help out. From starting out with a simple 1-rig drilling company, Benes Well Drilling expanded into rotary drilling and is now licensed in geo-thermal drilling (IGSHPA rated) as well. With two young sons picking up the company reins, Benes Well Drilling will continue to be YOUR well drilling company for many years to come.