By Tammy Whitaker,
Editor Lost Creek Sentinel
If you’ve driven anywhere in rural Colorado, you’ve likely seen them—those metal beasts out in the fields, rhythmically nodding away like they’re listening to old country tunes through invisible earbuds. To the untrained eye, they’re just oil pumpjacks. But around here, we know better. They’re the prairie’s personal trainers—doing squats since before fitness trackers were cool.
Locals say they never rest. Rain, snow, or 40-mph wind gusts—they’re out there, bobbing away like they’re on a mission to out-repetition each other. Some even seem to compete: “Oh, you’re doing 12 pumps per minute? Cute. I’ve been hitting 15 since the Reagan administration.”
At night, their silhouettes against a Weld County sunset could almost pass for a synchronized dance troupe. You half expect them to break into “YMCA.” And if you’ve ever been stuck behind a slow tractor on County Road 49, you’ve had plenty of time to appreciate their choreography.
Of course, pumpjacks have personalities too. The squeaky ones are the talkers—always have something to say, usually about “kids these days switching to solar.” The slow, quiet ones? They’re the wise old-timers, taking their time, just happy to still be working after all these years.
Maintenance crews have the best stories. One swears his favorite unit, “Ol’ Bessie,” starts pumping faster whenever Garth Brooks comes on the radio. Another insists that the one near Lochbuie “bows politely” every morning when the sun rises—because even a machine raised on the plains knows its manners.
So next time you’re out for a Sunday drive and you spot those tireless prairie gym rats nodding away, give them a little wave. They’ve been keeping rhythm with Colorado’s heartbeat for a century—and let’s be honest, they look better doing squats than most of us ever will.
Take away that animated personality perspective and you’ll learn that the purpose of a pumpjack is to “mechanically lift liquid out of an oil well if there is not enough bottom hole pressure for the liquid to flow all the way to the surface.” Pretty boring, huh? But, if I’ve piqued your J.R. Ewing interest, you can head on over to Wikipedia to learn more.
