Very old well uncovered

irwin · Jun 7, 2009

My house was built in 1850..
I've known about two old wells on the home property, an older well (a good walk from the house) has been filled in many years ago, but this one was covered with old rotted planks and then had some rocks on top of the wood. I walk by it all the time going to the barn, etc.

After I finished working today I put away the tools and tractor and decided to uncover this old well. I had no idea what I would find.

I removed the rocks and planks, then I scooped the dead possum out. (yuck) also got most of the rotting leaves removed, it looked pretty good. It's about 4 feet down to the water and about 4 1/2 feet deep. Looks to be "well" made,

sorry about the pun. Not sure if I'll use it for anything, it's kinda neat just having it...and yes I know, keep it covered and blocked off from wandering feet, little or otherwise. I'm trying to figure the best way to cover it to protect the water (from possums, leaves, mice, etc.) might dig around it and pour some concrete, then get a big round piece of 3/8 steel with a lip welded on as a lid.... still thinking. Any ideas or thoughts? I acknowledged I need to keep people protected from accidentally falling in.

JESSE1 · Jun 7, 2009

Pretty neat craftsmanship in the stone work. Might want to pump it out to see if it refills with groundwater or if it's filled with rainwater. Maybe build a waist high wall around it and a pump house around the well that can be locked.

irwin · Jun 7, 2009

JESSE1 said:
Might want to pump it out to see if it refills with groundwater or if it's filled with rainwater. Maybe build a waist high wall around it and a pump house around the well that can be locked.

Very good ideas JESSIE1, much better than what I was thinking, although I was going to pour a gallon or two clorox in there and then pump it out a few days later. Maybe I can find a large doghouse to modify for a pump house. Lawd knows I have enough rocks here to build it up some.

weldingisfun · Jun 8, 2009

If it refills itself, you may have found a free source of water for your lawn and garden and save ($) having to use water from whatever water source you are on.

Soundguy · Jun 8, 2009

yep.. if it refills.. after to clean it out you could put a wood or other cover over it, and then install a hand pump and cover shade.. would look great and be useable.

soundguy

jimmyj · Jun 8, 2009

Great post. It's neat to think of the old timers digging wells by hand. Very cool.

Can you find out what a well-house would have looked like when your home was built? It'd be neat to replicate - a little bit of history.

Cat_Driver · Jun 8, 2009

I found an old well one time by driving over it with a skid steer, it almost swallowed me and the skid steer, that was a close one.

inveresk · Jun 8, 2009

In an old property I bought way back, one of the previous owners had covered the dug well with a wagon wheel with wire mesh on the underside. My daughter was four at the time we moved in and we lived there for eleven years without a problem for children or pets. Looked pretty neat too.

irwin · Jun 8, 2009

weldingisfun said:
If it refills itself, you may have found a free source of water for your lawn and garden and save ($) having to use water from whatever water source you are on.

I wasn't thinking it would be this nice. I walked by it for three years, thinking that I should do something better as a cover to keep people safe. This is good, I'm excited by the possiblities...

I live in wet Connecticut, I'm pretty sure this well will refill itself... but we'll see. I'll pour a couple gallons of bleach in there in the next few days, then I'll empty it. Good excuse to buy a pump with a fairly good output

I'll make sure to get one that I can use as a service pump also. The barn is only about 60 feet from the well.

gotrocks · Jun 9, 2009

Tim, In my opinion you have uncovered a treasure. I would be delighted to have it on my place.

Please don't just "cover" it. A "well house" or pump set up would be a great asset to your property.

Here's a shot of mine. It was concrete block and I "rocked" the outside like the wall showing. Rosemary has covered the well sides from this angle.

More pictures of your final decision if you please.l

'"Great post. It's neat to think of the old timers digging wells by hand. Very cool."
Seems like a great number of "young timers" want a job similar to that....
they want to START AT THE TOP. (and work down)

irwin · Jun 9, 2009

Tim, In my opinion you have uncovered a treasure. I would be delighted to have it on my place.

Please don't just "cover" it. A "well house" or pump set up would be a great asset to your property.

Here's a shot of mine. It was concrete block and I "rocked" the outside like the wall showing. Rosemary has covered the well sides from this angle.

More pictures of your final decision if you please.l

That is beautiful! Good job gotrocks.

I've got a long...... ways to go

toy · Jun 10, 2009

I have a well like that on my property, the rock work looks somilar perfectly round. I have a stainless mesh wire covering over it and then a pump house on top of that. The water is crystal clear , good drinking water. It is 20 feet deep and supplies water year round for a tennant that lives on the property. People used to stop and draw water out of it all the time for drinking water before we put the pump house and wire over it. On my brother's property he has a hand dug well that is over fourty feet deep and is walled up like that , but it has a concrete slab poured around it and a large round pipe about three feet tall sit on top of that. It also has good water and it is hard for me to even imagine how they dug it that deep and kept the water out and got the dirt out even though the men that dug it told me about how they did it. It is just a great example of the determination of our ancestors. When we were kids they would draw up a bucket of water and we had a dipper that we all drank out of and never gave it a thought. There was a lot of these hand dug wells back then but over the years they have been filled in with dirt and people had wells drilled and cased off, and now many have city water. These two wells that we have don't have anything near them to contaminate them and we had the water tested and they said that it was safe to drink, of course that was a long time ago that we had it tested.

ZetorShaun · Jun 15, 2009

Nice well. I love that stone work. I was equally perplexed by water features on my farm, especially as what to do with them. I posted a thread about them.

I was wondering what you thought you would gain with the bleach? I had worried that would cause problems and I was curious to know why you were doing that, maybe I will too. I am guessing to clean out possum gut bacteria.

I have two manhole covers in odd places in addition to my water features my thread below, one in the center of a pasture, with concrete collars and they go at an angle into the ground. I did not want to open them (looked like it would be work) and I have found that sometimes I do not want to start new projects I am not prepared for.

Anyway, FYI, here was my thread, not intending to hijack yours:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/144091-what-do-spring-fed-cistern.html

I am always looking for information on old wells and the hard workers who somehow built them. Good pictures.

dillo99 · Jun 15, 2009

If that is in a nice prominent spot I would definitely make the most of it. build stone around it to raise the wall - like a wishing well. If you want to have an electric pump for watering, just make a hiding spot for that out of stone as well. You can have free water and a nice visual addition.

irwin · Jun 15, 2009

ZetorShaun said:
I was wondering what you thought you would gain with the bleach? I had worried that would cause problems and I was curious to know why you were doing that, maybe I will too. I am guessing to clean out possum gut bacteria. .

A few years ago a friend had a shallow well in Vermont. He had the water tested and it was found to have fairly high bacteria levels. He was told to douse the well with bleach and have it tested again after a period of time (can't remember exactly how long) I figured to just do the bleach, pump it out, clean the well sides and bottom, let it refill and have it tested later this year.

ps: If someone knows more than me (not hard to do) I'd like to hear from him/her, and if bleach is a bad option, please fill me in with the why.

Lasgambler · Jun 15, 2009

Hey Irwin, I think the bleach is a good idea. If you have a sump pump to lower in there You can add the bleach, use the pump to wash down the sides with the bleach water before you pump it out.

I found a well very much like yours from the early 1800's while removing an old back porch on Long Lots Road in West Port, CT. That was pretty scary since I had no idea I was working over it, sawing and removing old rotten lumber. Terry

jimmyj · Jun 16, 2009

It's pretty common around here to "shock" a well with bleach to kill e coli or other bacteria. You don't need a lot though, just a couple of cups usually.

There are tables on the net if you search about bleach and wells.

The Dougster · Jun 16, 2009

Obviously the amount of bleach used is totally dependent on the volume of water that needs to be sanitized... if the water isn't used for anything, a large amount of bleach will not harm anything and might be the best thing for the well... in a brief period, the bleach will dissipate...
There all sorts of nasties that can be introduced to a water well. In Texas, well contractors are required to disinfect well casing as they install it and always, always, disinfect the well before putting it into service.
Old, abandoned water wells is a constant source of contamination to our ground water. Imagine, during heavy rainfall, the contamination that can be washed into an open well.... Abandoned wells should be properly plugged or developed in a manner that will prevent runoff and covered to prevent injury to animals or humans... Okidokers?

irwin · Jun 16, 2009

The Dougster said:
Obviously the amount of bleach used is totally dependent on the volume of water that needs to be sanitized... if the water isn't used for anything, a large amount of bleach will not harm anything and might be the best thing for the well... in a brief period, the bleach will dissipate...
There all sorts of nasties that can be introduced to a water well. In Texas, well contractors are required to disinfect well casing as they install it and always, always, disinfect the well before putting it into service.
Old, abandoned water wells is a constant source of contamination to our ground water. Imagine, during heavy rainfall, the contamination that can be washed into an open well.... Abandoned wells should be properly plugged or developed in a manner that will prevent runoff and covered to prevent injury to animals or humans... Okidokers?

Thanks Doug, it all makes sense. I'll be doing something to protect the well soon.
We had some heavy rains lately and the level rose to within a foot of the top. I think it got a large amount of the water from the woods behind it, run off from the slightly higher ground out back. Of course it could be the water table here. The other side of a slight hill is a boggy area, stays damp most of the year. Either way it needs my attention.