Christensen family entrenched in well-drilling

HARTINGTON — A rural Hartington company known for drilling water wells has hit its golden anniversary.

Christensen Well & Irrigation Inc. is commemorating 50 years of business in 2023 and inviting people to celebrate during an open house set for 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at its location just south of the Cedar County seat community.

The event will feature lunch for attendees and equipment set up outside to show people the kind of machinery – such as drilling rigs and service trucks – the company uses for its work.

'I can't believe it's already 50 years since I started it,' said Bill Christensen, 76, who co-founded the company with his wife, Connie. 'Time goes fast when you're having fun.'

The couple's sons – Cody, 50; Carly, 47; Jimmy, 44; and Casey, 42 – started buying their parents out of the business in 2008 and have fully owned the company together since 2012.

Cody described the half-century mark as 'obviously a good milestone.'

'It's kind of how the well-drilling business is,' Cody said. 'If you've got enough family members to keep carrying it on – that's how most of them are across the state of Nebraska.

'Most of the companies are that way,' he said, noting they are 'family-owned and they try to pass it down.'

Carly noted he feels 'fortunate to be able to make a living in small-town rural America' and to work with his brothers.

'The older you get, the more you appreciate that,' Carly said. 'It's an opportunity to make a pretty good living in rural Nebraska. That being said, you grow up with it, so you kind of learn the work. I do enjoy it. Working with each other has worked well.'

The Christensen brothers have been asked several times over the years how they work so well together.

'It's an anomaly,' Cody said. 'Everybody always says that. People can't hardly believe it. You make it work.'

Carly agreed, saying, 'People are always very surprised.'

As far as any challenges of working together with his brothers, Carly said, 'I've never really felt that way too much. You're a lot better together. We all seem to get along pretty good.' Jimmy noted he is surprised that he owns the company with his brothers as it turns 50, but he is happy that is the case.

“So far it’s been good,” Jimmy said. “So far it’s worked.”

Cody explained he always knew as he grew up that he was going to work for the family business.

“I never went really anywhere else other than I went to college and worked a part-time job when I was there, but I always knew I was going to be here,” Cody said of Christensen Well & Irrigation.

Carly, Jimmy and Casey all worked at other places earlier in their respective careers, but eventually they all came back to work for the company their parents started.

“It’s not like we all sat down at the same time and said, ‘Hey, are we going to work together?’” Cody said. “Everybody kind of slowly came back to the business because we’re busy, always busy.”

Bill noted he has been pleased with his sons returning to work for and then owning the business together.

“It was all on me for years – the after-hours and weekend (customer service calls),” Bill said. “The way it’s working out is a lot better.”

Bill got started in the water well-drilling industry working for Hartington well driller John Rahn during the winter of 1967-68.

“(John) was drilling a well out on my grandpa’s place, where my uncles lived then,” Bill said, noting the location was about 4.5 miles east of Hartington. “We were done picking corn that fall so he wanted me to help through the winter if I could.

“The guy he had working for him was an older gentleman and he didn’t like the cold too well anymore,” he said. “I ended up working for (John) all winter.”

Bill worked for John for more than six years before he began his own water well-drilling company.

“When I started my business in ‘73, I actually drilled wells that winter and then (John) put the pumps in,” Bill said. “I just was drilling wells till I got on my feet a little bit and he was putting the pumps in.”

Since starting 50 years ago, Christensen Well & Irrigation has constructed irrigation wells, domestic wells, livestock wells and geothermal heat loop wells in Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa.

When he first began the business, Bill was mostly busy with replacing old domestic wells, but that has changed over time.

“Now it’s new (wells) for new houses, or more water on a farm place – expansion,” Bill said.

Speaking of expansion, Bill and Connie’s family grew along with their company.

The business became a familiar location for the couple’s six children

as they got older.

“They kind of got big in a redwood stock tank in the old office that was on the north end,” Bill said.

Carly added, “Our playpen was a cattle tank.”

The four Christensen brothers and their two sisters – Angie Becker and Shelly Banks – have all worked for the company at one time or another.

“As we grew up, we were always working here and helping,” Carly said.

Members of the next generation of Christensens – Bill and Connie’s grandchildren – also have been working for the family business.

For example, Bill recalled as many as nine of his grandkids would be working for the company at one time or another last year.

“Two of the grandsons last summer already – all they did was outof- water (customer service) calls,” Bill said. “They were well-versed enough to go out on their own and repair wells. That was a big boost.”

Casey agreed, saying that is “a huge help out of the day to have that part handled.”

The company has a mix of family members and non-family members who are full-time and part-time employees.

Carly noted the business has been “very fortunate to have really good employees.”

Casey agreed, noting, “We have really good help.”

The company can see as many as 25-30 employees during the summer, especially when the Christensen kids are out of school.

However, the business is busy all year, especially since it bought out the Salmon Well Company of Wakefield in 2017.

“It’s year-round,” Carly said. “The demand’s there year-round.”

With the acquisition of Salmon Well, not only did Christensen Well & Irrigation expand to a second location in Wakefield, it added another business’ customer base to its own.

Salmon Well, which had existed for 102 years, assisted Bill in 1975 when his company started drilling irrigation wells.

“It stays in the family for many generations, it seems like,” Bill said of water well-drilling businesses.

Service calls are one reason the Christensen brothers and their employees are so busy, especially during the past six years.

“It’s actually a job where you’re literally helping the planet survive,” Cody said. “We’re providing water for people and livestock and crops. We are literally the people that make this world go. That’s a pretty rewarding thing. “Now that being said, I always knew I wanted to be in the business,” he said. “When I was growing up, wintertime we’d get slow, which meant fishing and hunting time, but it’s not that way anymore.” Casey noted people are loyal to the businesses that drill their wells for the most part and he and his brothers are thankful for all of their customers. Bill agreed, noting Christensen Well & Irrigation has received several thank-you notes throughout its history from people the company has served, with many of them being multigenerational customers.

“That’s pretty rewarding,” Bill said.

Casey said he and his brothers want to continue the family business’ “good reputation of years of service” that Bill and Connie built, as well as Salmon Wells.

“You hate to drop the ball when it’s been handed to you on the years of hard work leading up to it,” Casey said.