Barry,

We have similarly constructed hand dug wells in Kansas from the same period.
In some cases, the wells were blasted out of the limestone rock here and
then the larger blast holes were lined with chased stone and infilled behind
the walls. In one peculiar case there was a local man who widened the outlet
of a spring, dug a channel in the solid limestone, covered the channel with
chased limestone, reburied the channel, and then fed it into a blasted,
lined pit. Fort Scott in SE KS had both well and privies blasted out by
military enigneers in the 1840's. I'm pretty sure the NPS has the info on
that.

Local wells in floodplain or terrace complexes were dug by hand, shored with
wood, and then lined with limestone.

John Dendy
Archeologist
Fort Riley, KS

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Barry Vermillion [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2000 2:47 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: Hand dug well
>
> Carl
>
> Thanks for the note.  I looked at the photo of the well.  It is really
> interesting and your stratigraphy work is amazing.
>
> There are two wells here in Denton County, Texas, that are of primary
> concern and will be examined thoroughly.  These are probably typical of
> hand
> dug wells of their time period, which is probably circa 1840.  Each is
> approx. 1 m diameter, over 50 ft deep, and lined with our ever abundant
> sandstone with no mortor added.  One is an open well that still retains
> water, the other is dry and has a pipe held in place by sandstone.  Local
> history indicates the well with the pipe was dry, or went dry, very soon
> after it was dug.  I'm not sure if the pipe was part of the original
> construction, or placed in the well some time later by an overly
> optimistic
> newcomer.  I'll have photos of them on our web site in the next few days.
>
> Thanks again.  I'll send a note when I get the photos posted.
>
> Barry