Again, Marion approach to life and its challenges is admirable if not amazing. I am surprised by the similarities in our experiences. The old Stillman Gibson cellar hole had a 22 ft deep well next to the old stone foundation. It had been filled in with trash (since the place was on a remote dirt road with no neighbors it was attractive as a dump site) and debris (from a fire) as was the cellar hole. After clearing the cellar hole we tackled the well. I was 12 and weighed 100 lbs, my father was 6ft 2in, thus I was the one lowered into the well to fill a bucket which he pulled up. We made down 22 ft and the water looked good but upon testing it had a high E coli count. We then used that well as a 'dry well' for the kitchen gray water. We dug 3 more 22 ft wells, 2 of which produced good water, one for the garden, the other for the house. The last one was 300 ft from the house which meant a long 4 ft deep trench had to be dug by pick and shovel! The septic system was also done all by hand. This is why for the past 43 years I have owned a backhoe.
Again, Marion approach to life and its challenges is admirable if not amazing. I am surprised by the similarities in our experiences. The old Stillman Gibson cellar hole had a 22 ft deep well next to the old stone foundation. It had been filled in with trash (since the place was on a remote dirt road with no neighbors it was attractive as a dump site) and debris (from a fire) as was the cellar hole. After clearing the cellar hole we tackled the well. I was 12 and weighed 100 lbs, my father was 6ft 2in, thus I was the one lowered into the well to fill a bucket which he pulled up. We made down 22 ft and the water looked good but upon testing it had a high E coli count. We then used that well as a 'dry well' for the kitchen gray water. We dug 3 more 22 ft wells, 2 of which produced good water, one for the garden, the other for the house. The last one was 300 ft from the house which meant a long 4 ft deep trench had to be dug by pick and shovel! The septic system was also done all by hand. This is why for the past 43 years I have owned a backhoe.