# I found and old well on my property, any thoughts?



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

View attachment 24978
View attachment 24979
View attachment 24980
View attachment 24981


We thought there was an animal hole but when I shined a flashlight down the hole I quickly realized that this was something special.

Here's the back story, I bought this property in fairfield county South Carolina last year, it was a tree farm that was clear cut in 2011. There was not even a street address for this property. As far as I know, no one has lived here, there are no buildings of any type, no power, gas, water or phone on this land. It's just a chunk of land with some trees. 

It was interesting to find this well, maybe there once was an old homestead here. We have also found red bricks, broken pottery, very rusty horse shoes. 

I'm trying to date this well, and to eventually find out if there was a homestead here. It was interesting to see that the stones lining the well were various sizes and shapes. The well is 12 feet deep and 32 inches wide. There is a lot of debris on the bottom, I believe it fell in when the heavy equipment was processing the trees. There is no water down there. I plan on going in and cleaning out the bottom, maybe another 10 feet to see if I find water. 

Has engine ever done that? Does anyone have information regarding the age of this style well? 

I cleared up the opening some, this is what it looks like. 
View attachment 24983



Sent from my iPad using Homesteading Today


----------



## partndn (Jun 18, 2009)

I don't have anyting to offer you for information  

but what a cool find! :grin:


----------



## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

You could not pay me five million dollars and have me work for ten minutes in a well like that. The risk to reward ratio is insanely bad. Even if there was water, I doubt it would be regular enough for reliable use. What you might find are a few pottery shards, old bottles, and possibly bones. A historical society is a much more likely source of information. Most areas in the east were extensively mapped during various periods and the maps commonly held the names of the property owners. The bricks are also a major clue to age. Most of the brickmakers had some distinguishing feature to their bricks. Agewise, if there were no deed records going back at the county courthouse indicating a home or farm, I would guess Antebellum, perhaps 1830s.


----------



## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

i would not bother with it at all other than to fill it in properly to 
prevent someone from hurting themselves in it. one wrong move and it will be your grave! a layer of small stone and then clay if you had it to prevent movement of contaminants to the aquifer


----------



## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

I had a guy clean out a 52 ft dug well for me in 1965, first thing he did was send a metal bucket down with paper and he torched the paper to see if there was air down there. He then set up a windless and I cranked him down the well and he filled up buckets with sand and I windlassed them back up then sent the bucket down again, he finally said I'm coming up this time , all done.....Make absolutely sure you always have someone with you when you are working around this well, the other option is to use it for irrigation if it doesn't test o.k....or maybe just fill it......


----------



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

So your well was 52 feet deep? How many feet of debris did you have removed? How many feet of water did you end up with? How long did it take? 

I'm aware of the possible safety issued. Thank you all for the concerns. I will take every safety precaution and will not enter the well until I'm sure that it's safe. 


Sent from my iPad using Homesteading Today


----------



## bigjon (Oct 2, 2013)

been there dreaded that,did one for an uncle 40yrs ago-BEST ADVICE ur EVER GONNA GET-FILL IT IN!


----------



## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

Don't know seems like he dug out about 2 0r 3 ft of sand to clean it up, shortly after that I had a drilled well put in about 190 ft deep with a submersible pump.......


----------



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

Tomorrow is the day. I'm going in to clean out the well. I'll post up some pictures of how it went. Wish me luck and water. 


Sent from my iPad using Homesteading Today


----------



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

View attachment 25402
View attachment 25403
View attachment 25404


Did some digging. About 5 hours and 5 feet. Got some friends to help out. Used a metal bucket to bring up dirt. Had an electric winch to bring me up. Got a few small pottery chunks, some blue glass and random metal. Had one huge rock that came out with the help of a burlap bag and rope. More to come tomorrow. 


Sent from my iPad using Homesteading Today


----------



## PasturedPork (Jan 22, 2014)

Cool.

Keep us posted. I would be doing the same thing if it was on my place


----------



## Dutchofsc (Feb 23, 2014)

So no well digging progress to report today, but I did burn a whole bunch of wood debris. Lots of left over junk from when this place was clear cut in 2011. I probably won't be able to get out here for 2 more weeks, but I do have a good digging system in place.

One person gets lowered down the hole with an electric winch attached to the boom pole on my tractor. The person on the ground lowers a metal bucket with a post hole digger and small shovel down. When the bucket is full, the digger yells bucket and the person on he surface pulls the bucket up with the rope. This process is repeated until the person is the hole is ready to come out. 

It's nice and cool in there, very humid. I use a leaf blower to blow fresh air in the hole for about 30 minutes before going in there, then I have a small fan to circulate some fresh air. The tractor is parked in place, left in first gear and wheels chucked. 1956 case vac does well and is very heavy, hydraulics work great and does nor even budge. 

I'm hoping to find water, I know it probably won't be good to drink, but if push came to shove, I could filter and boil it. Plus I could use it for watering or maybe animals in the future. If there is no water, I will build up the stone wall about waist high and build an a frame type of roof over it, like in the old movies. It will be a cool conversation piece and I could charge people money to throw coins into it 

Someone lived here many moons ago, and I'm very interested in the story of this place. We've been finding all sorts of old things in this general area. Old solid bricks, blue glass, parts of a hoe, horse shoes. 

Enough rambling for now, this is not a diary forum. I'll update once more progress is made. 

View attachment 25485

My work horse, 1956 case vac 14

View attachment 25486

The wood pile, about 75% smaller than yesterday. 


Sent from my iPad using Homesteading Today


----------

