One of my old notes childhood memories, I found in my files --

A picture of a well bucket about 5" diameter & 3 foot long got my attention. Funny how something awakens a series of memories. The 'torpedo bucket' name they called it is new to me but that was the only kind of bucket that could go down a bored well. Looks like it would be hard to pour out the water but it has a ring at the top that you pull to let the water out the bottom.

Bored wells were about six inches in diameter that were bored or drilled by machine. Usually they had a galvanized iron casing, About 1930 my uncle sank a well in his place about half mile East of the turn-off to Gene Autry out East of town. It had to be bored bigger because he used cypress wood casing he considered the latest and greatest. It was made by six fitted planks about an inch thick. Probably cost him a lot. Water had a strange taste for a while.

Galvanized was probably good enough because in my back yard is one 115 feet deep sunk in the 1920s, still OK as far as I can tell.

There were also 'dug' wells but rarely seen around here. A dug well had to be 4 or 5 feet in diameter because it was dug by manpower. It had to be big enough for a man, down in the hole, to bend over and dig and shovel the earth while someone else pulled it to the surface. The hole could have the walls lined with bricks or stone depending on the ground it was dug in.

Another kind of well drilling used in the oil fields was the 'spudder' that just pounded its hole into the earth. The "Fort Worth Spudder" was being replaced by the rotary rig in the 1920s. I recall spudder's 'walking beam' going up and down as it pounded its hole, while water carried its mud out into the slush pit. The rotary rig (drilling rig), modernized is used today. My Dad had worked in the oil fields and took me out around Healdton where he knew a lot of the people, rough-necks, drillers, pumpers, etc. Reminds me of a pump station with a huge one cylinder natural gas engine, 12 inch cylinder bore and 6-8 foot flywheels. It powered a turn table that pulled rods going out several hundred feet to the pumpjacks 6 or 8 wells at a time. Today mostly replaced by diesel or electric pumps at each well.

What you call a spudder is actually a cabletool rig. I cut my baby teeth on the brake handle of a cabletool rig. When I was 19 years old I bought out an old cabletooler and started in the business. When money became more common rotaries were bought and the old cabletools were sold. When the environment movement came into vogue in the 1980's certain contract specified cabletool work only, so back to the old ways. While I have ran all type of rigs from oil rigs, rotaries, core rigs, and augers, I am proudest of saying I am a jarhead, a slang for cabletool drillers, at heart.

I remember the old pipe bucket. My Grandparents (Dad's folks) had one for many, many years. In fact, they never did get city water or even a pump. That old well was there only source of water until they passed. As a kid, I drew many a bucket of water and carried it to the house for them.
Fond memories indeed.

Two well stories.

A friends family has an old farm. The house is a bermed house meaning the foundation was built (out of huge granite blocks). Then dirt was pushed up to it. The well is right outside the front door. The well is only 15 feet deep, the foundation is 8 feet deep. So really the well is only 7 feet deep! The bottom of the well is actually above the road which is only about 50 feet away!
It ever runs dry, and gives the coldest best tasting water.

A different friends wife said their water tasted funny, he opened the well cover and found 2 dead posums floating bloated and the skin peeling off.

I serviced wells for over 30 years and never once have I open a hand dug well that I did not find dead critters floating. Chipmunks and mice were common. But I have found all kinds of dead animals from a bovine calf, bat, and even a snake.

I just googled pipe bucket, pretty good idea for an emergency back up. I never heard of them before. The new ones have a drop door controlled by a thumb lever, so you don't have to dump it. Thanks.

Nope, sorry.
"Colder than a jarheads arse" just doesn't sound right...

When my kids were small, I tried to explain a well bucket screwed on a restaurant wall.
I don’t think they believed me!
The concept of the trigger at the top and the water coming out of the bottom seems to stump some folks!
I have seen plastic and galvanized well casings.
But down South old school would be homemade wood.
Usually about 3 inch wide Cypress boards, I think 8 nailed in a circle using a homemade jig.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

One of my treats as a boy was going out to a friend of my Dad's farm. His well water was so cold it hurt my teeth. He made good cherry wine with it too.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I was a well "digger" and worked in the Klondike. and a truer description can not be found. While other profession have to deal with cold weather they seldom stand and work in the elements 12 hours a day 300 days a year with no ability to get inside of anything to get either warmer old colder. The coldest I ever worked was a 20 hour day at 29 below and the hottest was 12 hours in the 127 degree sun.

In my part of "Dog patch USA" the wells were hand dug and had a wood pole at each corner that had wood boards nailed to the poles to make square walls. A rope with tin or wood bucket attached to draw water.
Tadpoles would be in the well water to eat the mosquitoes larver. One poured water though a screen or net to keep the larvers out of the drinking water. It was a great idea to have the well away from the barn, stable, and pig pens.

grew up with one of those and it was replaced by an electric pump in the mid 1960's that water out of that pipe bucket always tasted better than when it was ran through the pump.

it might have been the expectation of that cold water on a hot day and having to haul it up the pipe with the rope, we kept and old 3 gallon galvanized bucket by the well to dump in and it would fill the bucket. and there was always a long neck gourd dipper on a nail to dip it out of the bucket with

our last hand dug well was filled in about the time of my birth, the old house had burned down and my grandparents were afraid one of us kids would fall in, so they built new in 1952 and put in the pipe well

great memories thanks to the OP

Forgot to say on my friends farm you had to prime the pump. There was always a gallon bottle of water to poor into the pump while you pumped the handle. Proper etiquette mandated you made sure you filled the jug for the next guy.

When I was about 6 yo I went on a fishing trip with my dad and his buddies to a place on Cape Cod. They had the pitcher pump at the kitchen sink. I guess the well must have been under the house. Surprised that's not more common, sure beats carrying buckets from outside. Of course you still had to carry a bucket to flush the toilet.

Like the OP said this is bringing back a flood of memories.

We had well water thru the 90s.
It was terrible tasting with a high iron content. The nearest city' water was over a mile away.
I vividly remember Great Grandma's well. The concrete back porch was built around it for convenience. It had a stainless bucket mounted with a rope and pulley that you lowered down to draw' the water up where you used a dipper to get your drink...her water was cold and sweet.
Don't know how she always caught us but we'd get the stern stop throwing rocks in the well lecture every time.
Dowsing or water witching was also a big deal back then. I had to voice scepticism both times I witnessed water witches at work. They both handed me the dowsing rod ( forked peach tree limb with the bark whittled off the handles) saying here you try it.
Both times that rod would slowly turn towards the ground where the witches' said water was located. I would squeeze those handles with all my might to try and keep that dowsing rod from turning downward...that would only make that rod jump around even harder. Try as I might've, I couldn't keep that dowsing rod from moving...the water witch would laugh and say: "I told ya so!"

There was also drinking springs for folks that didn't have a well. I never saw a creek dammed up but where the spring came out of the ground a pool was dug and some kind of border built around it. The spring would be 2 or 3 feet deep and 5 or 6 feet across with crystal clear water that was always flowing. The few springs I saw were always down in the hollow(holler). I can remember seeing two at farm houses, one at the old time Baptist Church and one I can see from the dirt road driven daily now.

This post is making me feel old😟

I believe every word of that! That tells me that a brick lined well inside of a home that critters (hopefully) can't get to must be rare as hens teeth.
5 years ago I bought a home (built in '48) to eventually retire to outside of a nearby town. Up until about 7 years ago the only water source was the well. The property was annexed and eventually connected to city water and sewer. It's unnerving to look down in the well, which is 22 1/2' deep. I keep cinder blocks stacked on the lid for now, but i may have to build a secure room around it for the safety factor
It's nice to have 2 water sources if any emergency arises. I'll get the old pump going again just for that reason, and will also connect it to outside taps. The attached pic shows how low the water gets after 6 weeks of no rainfall.

Being city raised i knew very little about wells, especially how the brick wells were safely constructed without a well digger being buried alive. I did some research to find out... the method explained by one source states that as the well was dug by one (brave) employee, bricks were stacked on top by another employee and the entire wall of bricks would slide down the hole...fascinating.

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