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Cool pics looks like an interesting place

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

― Alexander Fraser Tytler

Great quote. I’ve never heard of him but he was spot on.

There was an old dugout homestead on the ranch. I was looking for arrowheads and found the collapsed dugout and stone-lined well. The boss had the mexicans dig out around the first 20 feet or so with an extend-a-hoe. They then hauled the stone back to the house. We dug another hole and they re-stacked the stone to make a well in the front yard. The new well sticks outta the ground, but the old one was flush. He had a lattice built to keep kids from falling in.....

One like that here on our Ranch too. GrandDad said it was dug in the 1880’s. It’s at least 20 feet down to the water. Don’t know how deep it goes beyond that.

This may be a stupid question but what did they use to bore out the hole back then? I can’t imagine that just jumping on a shovel would have worked, short of a massive crater and backfilling afterwards.

I have a few on the farm. 1 is close to the road and covered with an oak pallet that I replace every few years. Used to have an Uncle that would cut Thistles and haul them over by the pickup bed load and stuff them down that well. Got to the point that he was filling it faster than they were rotting down so he would hop down in it and walk them to pack it. That's when I started getting worked up and told him to do something else with them I didn't need him or his boys getting hurt. Of course I'm younger and don't know [bleep]. This kept on until he couldn't pack them any more and decided to burn them out. Poured some deisel down the hole, let her soak, poured some more and lit it up. It flashed so hard it blew him back 20 ft or so, burned the shirt and all his hair off, knocked him out cold. He got to ride the helicopter that day. He inhaled the flame, damn near melted his eyelids off and you could have read a newspaper through his left ear. They believe that it was a buildup of Methane from the decay. His son was there to call 911. He lived through that and the subsequent staff infection. Tough old bastard. Rode in at least 3 maybe 4 choppers in his day. Died last month from Cancer. I will miss the entertainment, and he provided a lot of good stories.

Well, I was entertained by that tale....

And they didn't have anything else to do.

Yep. No TV or Radio to distract them.

We get our house water from an old hand dug well.


Shallow well pump in the basement draws it in.


Its not very good water....and I think its going dry.


I will double as a cistern in an emergency.

Like this one no doubt...

Found an old spring box at a Pennsylvania homestead site, there was only a rock foundation. We lifted the cool stone lid and found a cut crystal glass stored safely inside.

That quote has also been attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville. Regardless, as you said, it is “spot on.”

Ummm, what part of "hand-dug well" did you miss? Yeah, they dug them out with shovels and large balls, and strong backs. That's how they did stuff back then. That's why the life expectancy was a lot shorter than it is today, too.

Yep.

I admit I was wondering the same thing. I knew they were dug by hand, but was wondering how they lined them with stone. Was there some way they lined them as they dug to keep the hole from collapsing, or did they line them after the hole was completed?

So they “hand dug” them with a shovel Vs some other form of low tech labor intensive device. Thanks for the info.

I filled up one like that with old shingles. Didn’t want Timmy and Lassie falling down into it.


I’ve dismantled (demolished) two limestone chimneys like that and hauled all the rock here at the house for projects. Must have been some big boys back then, some of my rocks are 300 lbs easy

Took about 5 trips with a 16ft trailer.

Our first home had a dug well down to 40 feet. Never went dry. Maybe if we didn't have today's distractions - phone, tv, internet, we'd have time to do those things as well....