Life on the farm

[wmfamily]

My grandfathers house the day of the auction. My dad was born in this house almost 100 years ago.
View attachment 835737

That reminds me of our old farm house before we tore it down. The buzzard on the chimney is appropriate. The house served us well but had termite cancer when we bought it. My parents built a new house in the mid 80s so it didn't get much use after that.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Amazing pictures my friend. Incredible how quickly nature engulfs everything.
Farms are disappearing fast around here. Is there a Land Conservancy involved?

No.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

my brother did some work at dad's yesterday. he raised his well pump 14", as it is sucking in a lot of mud. He went to change the house water filter, and discovered no filter in it. hopefully raising the pump some will help. THis is a dug well (cistern) feed from the barn roof. In the past, when the well would go dry, dad would climb down the well with a ladder and clean the bottom out, this hasn't been done in 40 years probably. There is another dug well near the barn, and if the well went dry we would pump over from that well, or pump water, or use the water tank in this trailer to haul water from the spring to the well. View attachment 854517

For drinking water, we used a hand pump well in front of the house. Many years ago I put a submersible pump in that well and piped it to the kitchen sink, cold side only. It has a separate filter, and my brother couldn't get the bypass to work in order to change that filter (if it has one).

 

[LouNY]

I've had good luck cleaning out dug wells with a trash pump. Recirculate from the pump into the well till the sediment is well agitated and in suspension then pump some out then agitate again and pump more out.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I've had good luck cleaning out dug wells with a trash pump. Recirculate from the pump into the well till the sediment is well agitated and in suspension then pump some out then agitate again and pump more out.

good idea!! Thanks!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I've spoke of the RR that ran next to our farm, just down the creek from the NW corner of our farm was this little stop. When my mom rode the last train in 1931, she got off at this stop. 1898 map shows the location, and shows our farm under the name of prior owners. Mom's maternal grandparents lived just south of our farm, and her paternal grandparents lived to the right on this map, so the station was between them. 3rd pic shows the post office that was at that site. This picture generated some controversy from me, as I didn't think it matched the terrain, and the map does not show a dot representing a structure in that area between the road and the creek. but this map may be prior to when the PO was built. Picture would turning 90 deg to the right of the station picture. 4th pic is the location of the PO when I was there in 2020. It's possible the current road now passes thru where the PO was located. The last picture is the trestle over sunfish creek, 180 deg from the first picture. contrary to the caption, I have found no evidence it was named Schumacher. The earliest mentions of the bridge from 1879 when it was being built was sunfish, and the earliest mention of the station was sunfish.

 

[MossRoad]

Nice you have that history!

 

[MossRoad]

I've got the history of the RR that ran through our property as well. And we have a RR trestle on our place as well. Tracks were pulled in the 80s, I believe. RR officially abandoned the line about 10-12 years ago.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The first spike of the Bellaire and SouthWestern narrow gauge RR was driven on 27 Nov 1877. 2 yrs later, the first construction locomotive arrived in Woodsfield on 26 Nov 1879, and formally opened on 2 Dec 1879 to woodsfield.
On Jan 20, 1882 the BSW RR consolidated with the Zanesville and Southeastern RR to form the BZ&C RR (Bellaire, Zanesville & Cincinnati).
In 1883 the railway was extended to Zanesville.
On aug 14 1902 the BZ&C was renamed the OR&W. (Ohio River and Western)
In apr 1912 the RR became the property of the Pennsylvania RR.
May 30, 1931 was the last OR&W train out of woodsfield, which my mom rode.

2nd pic is an OR&W narrow gauge engine next to a Standard Gauge in Bellaire.

3rd pic: OR&W Bellaire freight station site, next to the B&O RR just south of the B&O Benwood Train Bridge over the Ohio River. This picture is prior to the 1905 rebuild of the B&O Benwood bridge present today. The Tracks pass under the B&O bridge where Rt 7 today passes under.

4th pic: OR&W tracks passing under the 1905 rebuilt B&O bridge. This bridge is the one used in the movie Unstoppable, as the stanton curve. State Route 7 now passes thru this area.

The 5th map shows the BZ&C depot next to the B&O yard in Bellaire. Today a Mcdonalds sits in the B&O yard. To the left of this picture was a B&O roundhouse and turn table. On 2/19/1884 the BZ&C turntable from Bellaire carried away by the flood. 3 box cars, from 3 different RR's were washed to John Martin's farm below Clarington.

 

[riptides]

The first spike of the Bellaire and SouthWestern narrow gauge RR was driven on 27 Nov 1877....

Is good you are capturing all that history. So much is lost even within one generation.

Good for you, and all of us, really.