My name is Dale Harmon. I bought a thousand acres of farmland and I didn’t tell anyone what sat beneath it. Not because I was hiding anything, because no one asked. The HOA next door had been drawing water from a well that crossed onto my property for 11 years before I arrived. They had no easement, no agreement, no legal right.
They just assumed the land was abandoned and helped themselves. That assumption cost them everything. This is the story of how Dale Harmon documented it, reported it, and watched the whole thing unravel slowly, legally, and completely. I spent 23 years working as a civil engineer. I specialized in land grading, drainage systems, and water infrastructure.
I knew how water moved across property. I knew how rights were assigned, transferred, and contested. When I retired at 54, I had one goal. I wanted land. real land, not a subdivision lot with shared fences and community rules. I wanted something I could work with my own hands, manage on my own terms, and leave to my kids without strings attached.
I found the property in early spring, 1,12 acres in a rural county, rolling terrain, a seasonal creek in the northeast corner, two natural springs, 160 acres of tillable soil. The rest was timber, brush, and open pasture. The asking price reflected its isolation.
