Well….How did they do it?

[hitekcountry]

There’s a hand dug well on my property, it’s about 3’ dia. And maybe about 25’ deep. Not real sure on the depth. The wall of the well is brick lined, they seem to be dry stacked in place, no mortar.

I was wonder how that type of well was dug back in the old days. I’m a bit on the old side but that would have been way before my time.

Would they dig down to the full depth then start from the bottom and stack the bricks from there back up to the top?
If they did it that way, what kept the wall from collapsing in while they’re digging?
I’ve dug some deep trenches with my backhoe on my property and had them collapse on me so they had to have supported the wall somehow.
Could they have lined the wall with bricks as they were digging down?
How did they dig, there would not be enough room to swing a shovel.

 

[Unregistered2013]

to me, they'd us a cylinder to reinforce it, pulling it up as they ascended, adding brick row by row --

 

[SteelDust]

Here's a link to a project in Africa. They still use the same techniques to reinforce the hole, with minimal modern equipment.


http://www.consallen.com/Hand_Dug_Wells.pdf

 

[hitekcountry]

Here's a link to a project in Africa. They still use the same techniques to reinforce the hole, with minimal modern equipment.


http://www.consallen.com/Hand_Dug_Wells.pdf

That’s really interesting. I wouldn’t of thought of that.
Very labor intensive but in a situation where labor is more available than resources, that would work.

That’s probably as safe as you could make it but you’d still never get me to go down in that kind of hole.

Thanks for the link

 

[jinman]

That’s probably as safe as you could make it but you’d still never get me to go down in that kind of hole.

Thanks for the link

I grew up on a place with five hand-dug shallow wells about 30' deep. All were rocked up with about 1' oddly shaped sandrocks. When the wells were originally dug, they shored up as they went down and then rocked from bottom to top. Even so, many deaths have been recorded due to wall collapse.

On at least two occasions, I have repeatedly passed the bucket down to my uncle to fill with silt at the bottom of his well as he dug it out. We used a pulley and well-rope at the top on an A-frame. I remember it as a scary and tense time even with electric lights. The ladder he used was two wooden ladders nailed together. I've never been at the bottom of one of those wells and I'd never want to have to do it.

 

[schmism]

my septic guy's grandfather hand dug wells in the our area. he said that most of the ones in the area date to the 1900's. Macoupin county IL has kinda gotten **** about them because untill about 10 years ago, about 80% of the county residents still lived on shallow wells. The modern number ive heard is still well above 30%

I have 2 hand dug wells just like that I use one for watering my garden. (we also have "city" water)

The way he (the septic guy) explained it, they would dig down by hand, filling up a bucket with dirt which a helper would pull up and dump, send it back down.

once at the bottom they would start bricking it up.

they said it would take about a month to dig a well, but back then it was the only way to get non-surface water.

my dad said, oh ya, and before they had refridgeration they would drop there milk and stuff down on a rope to just above the water to keep it cool.

there was an artical in one of my hobbyfarms? about shallow wells.... said it was usually a yearly event to send the smallest kid in the family to the bottom on a rope to scoop out silt and mud durring the dry summer.... Think the neighbor would object if i asked to borrow his kid?

 

[woodchuckie]

I had someone dig a 40 foot well for me 37 years ago. (dang I'm geting old) We used it for maybe five years till we installed a rural water service. It was in a very hard sandy type dirt. It seems like clay but once exposed to the the elements it erodes like sand. He didn't use anything to reinforce the walls. Well tile was lowered into it when he finished. More like concrete culvert 36" X 36". I allowed myself to be lowered into it once to clean the sand out. I think I was too young to be scared.

 

[Thomas]

Interesting...a lot of old farms here in New England has such style wells,but line w/field stone...also makes a great home for snakes.

 

[Jimbrown]

I have one on my place. It is in the middle of nowhere. No one has been able to tell me who dug or when. I suspect this one was dug around 1920 or so but could be as new as the 1940's. It has a steel casing is about 60ft deep and has started to cave in about half way down.

 

[mwechtal]

How did they dig, there would not be enough room to swing a shovel.

That's the easy part. Or at least the easiest to answer! ;-)

They just use a D-handled shovel, or cut the handle off to the required length.

I've never dug a well, but we're rockhounds, and sometimes you get a lack of shovel swinging room even in a fairly shallow pit. So, I have a GI folding shovel, a D-handled shovel, and a cute little mini D-handled shovel that's just a little bigger than the GI shovel. I think TSC had them. Of course, you also have to have a garden trowel, and one of those claw type cultivators, a couple of cheap screwdrivers, a few sledge hammers, a bunch of cold chisels, 5 gallon buckets, Ben-Gay, bandages...


Mike