The Jonathon Browning Home and Gun Shop was excavated in the 1970s by Dale Berge
of Brigham Young University. He has written a nice article about the excavations
and restoration of the site in which this underground cistern is discussed. If
my memory serves me well, the cistern/well is dug into the floor of a root
cellar, which sits beneath one wing of the structure.

The full reference to the article is:

Berge, Dale L., "The Jonathan Browning Site: An Example of Archaeology for
Restoration in Nauvoo, Illinois" (1979), 19:2:201.

You can purchase a copy of this issue for $3.00 at:

https://byustudies.byu.edu/productitem.asp?id=120&type=6

Good luck.

Benjamin C. Pykles
University of Pennsylvania



Quoting Ron May <[log in to unmask]>:

> Last January, following the SHA in St. Louis, I rented a car and drove
> around
> Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana just looking for historical sites. The
> reconstructed houses in Nauvoo, Illinois included the Browning Gunshop (I
> cant
> recall his first name). He built his house over a cistern so his wife could
> climb
> down to fetch water during winter and not freeze. It is still there, but
> closed
> wiht a trap door now.
>
> Ron May
> Legacy 106, Inc.
>