Neightbor's daughter falls 45ft down into well...

[texasjohn]

We bought our property 25+ years ago... first tractor was an old Case with tricycle running gear. I got a shredder and went after it.... weeds near wet weather drain/creek were over my head. Shredded back and forth admiring how well the weeds were getting whacked when WHAM..... ALL HECK BROKE LOOSE AND I BOUNCED ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Reached for clutch, brake, anything I could get hold of to stop...

I had bounced over/thru the top of an old well which had rotten timbers covering it. Fortunately, the front tires just managed to hit the far rim and climb out of the well because of tractor momentum. Rear tires straddled the hole and shredder was a 3PH. From the seat I was looking down and could see water about 3 feet down.

I put her in GO and kept on shredding..... then went back and put an improved cover over it and T post with upside down bucket to mark the spot.

I managed to collapse another hand dug well on the place. It was a good one right at the head of a spring. One time I wondered what the refill rate of the well would be, so pumped out all the water and it was about 15 feet to the bottom. Recharge rate was a trickle.....just a little water when I left for the night. Next day, the supporting rock walls had collapsed into the well....

 

[SnowRidge]

We recently bought some additional property. There was an old house on the property that burned down many years ago. I can't even find the foundation, but did find a mound of old bricks. I have been told that they came from the chimney. I didn't see anything resembling a well anywhere near that point, but after reading this thread have come to realize that I darn well better check into it.

So thanks for the thread and all the posts. It has been illuminating.

 

[Renze]

When my sister just got married, about 15 years ago, they hired an appartment at a farm on the other side of the county.
Grandma had died and they could hire the (very small) appartment which was built against the main farm house. But they could live with the lack of privacy and crampy old house for the time being.

One sunday when we visited them, we heard the farmers wife yelling. She fell into a manure pit and could just hold herself up with her arms hanging on the deck. the square concrete lid was crumbled on the edges, and flipped diagonally when she stepped on one edge.
The farmer comforted his wife in his arms, felt truely bad about this accident, and helped her inside the house, to the shower.
when the wife was taking a shower and disinfecting the abrasions, the farmer fished the concrete lid out of the sh*t pit.
He took no preventing measures, just put the same faulty lid, back on.

When 2 weeks after, i asked my sister if the pit cover was replaced, she said that he never looked back to the pit cover after the sunday his wife fell in.
At that time his kids were 3 to 14 years old, and this manure pit was just 3 meters from their back door.....