In and around Shoemaker Welding, Mark Shearer is affectionately known as "the Wizard." The magic he performs—often with tools and equipment in use since the turn of the 20th century, if not before—make him a treasured asset to the regional farming community and help burnish Shoemaker's national reputation for producing must-have farm drainage pumps. If not for pumps and tile systems moving countless gallons of groundwater, some consistently and others on an as-needed basis, a good portion of the exceptionally fertile farmland in the Kankakee River Basin would be unworkable before and during much of the growing season.