Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire About the Well

I'm coming up on the 20th Anniversary of owning the farm-- 200 acres to the SE of Cincinnati.

Before closing on the place, the owner took me down into a hollow and showed me a spot. "There's a well here," he said, pointing to a spot on the ground. I realized there was a cover over it, buried in the leaves. "Nobody has touched it for 80 years," he said. "I'm pointing it out to you, because you need to warn people not to go near it." The cover was rotten. I threw a stone through a hole in cover. It took a while for the splash to happen.

After that, I made sure everyone in the family knew not to go down there. It's an easy place to point out. It's easy to avoid. I've maybe walked past there 3 times. I invited #1 granddaughter down with me, and she refused to go. Her Dad and uncle had already told her. We have folks coming to camp. We always point the spot out, and no one goes on the property without first getting a briefing about the well.

Q: What should I do with that well? Options:

1) Do nothing. I warn everyone that comes on the property with my permission.
2) Put up a warning sign
3) Fill it in.
4) Put a new cover over it.

I see all 4 having possible upsides and down sides.

Put a new cover on it plus a warning sign

I would put a new cover over it. Preferably one made of concrete.

What Bob said.

Cover it with something sturdy.

Animals can and will fall in as well.

Signage is a good idea too.

Exactly right.

Personally... I would weld up a very nice aluminum lid potentially even anchor it down with bolts.

Chain link fence. Than start shopping for someone to shoot it.

Additional info: The current cover is 10 feet across. It's a big hole, although I can't say for sure.

Kind of a no brainer..........those old hand dug wells are dangerous, if left uncovered. I have two on my farms, one I filled in, the other I built a new cover for.

If you know you'll never use it, fill it in. There is absolutely no reason to leave it as it is.

Make a cover out of PT wood

Tell no one about it use it to hide any future bodies you need to dispose of

Given the period of time we're living in, that could come in handy.

Shhh!

Shhh,,,

Dig a footer around the perimeter, weld up frame and cover with a steel plate,, worked well for me,, sign is an excellent idea also,, Ive pulled coon hounds out of these wells and cisterns before and also seen dead calves, deer,squirrels and any number of animals in them, even had some bodies pulled out one about 20 yrs ago,, turned out they were mob union bosses from chicago that got whacked and dumped,,, years ago a high sought after stud dog est value at the time was$40,000 fell in one in the land between the lakes, and drowned was found with a tracking collar,,peace of mind with kids around would easily cover cost

Shaman, do you think you. or anyone will ever need to ;pump water from the well?

If not, the safest thing would be to fill it in.

Otherwise some if the above ideas should work, solid cover, tight fence.

I like the way y'all think.

The cover at this point seems solid enough to hold up a dog, but not a kid or an adult. I think what I'm going to do is put a sign up first.

Would I want water out of it? It's 90 feet lower than the house, so it would be a bit of a haul I could fill it in with surrounding clay and still be able to pound a pipe down in the future. What future would that be? Heck if I know. I get all my water from rain catchment and I'm only utilizing less than half the roof space. I also have the option now of hooking up to city water. As long as the S doesn't HTF, I've got more water than I'll ever need. This well is probably contemporary to the 1850's farmhouse, whose foundation is about 300 yards from our place, the 1902 house. That must have been a hard life: schlepping water up 90 feet of vertical across 200 yards of hilly pasture. Yikes! So much for the good ol' days.

I think the sign ought to do for now. I'm moving out there full time in a couple of years and adding on the place. When I have a bulldozer handy for digging the cellar, I'll send him down to fill in the hole. That is probably the cheapest and most permanent. fix.

'...I think the sign ought to do for now...'

Attorney: 'so you put up a sign'

Ans: 'yes'

Attorney: 'so, knowing there was a problem, all you did was put up a sign'????

Ans: 'yes'

Attorney: 'can the sign be seen from all directions, what about people that cannot read'?????


As others have opined, fill it in, or make a no-chitt cover that forces someone to WANT to get in............

IMHO!

I filled one in with torn off roofing shingles.

Fill it in.