Old Water Wells

[BillG_in_TX]

Same here. I have property in Burnet County and have wondered about old well also, but there is nothing listed for Burnet County either. You might check with your county extension agent and see if they have any suggestions. Or the Texas Water Development Board might have more records that aren't online.

Good luck!

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Depending on when it was dug, it might show up on the USGS Topo maps. I know the old water wells in Oklahoma are marked.

The National Map: Historical Topographic Map Collection

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

thanks GM, will check that out.

Bill, ive tried virtually all sources to find out but no official agency has any records.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

If the A frame story is correct I may have been a ways from the house. Depth will be the water table level of the era it was dug most likely. People had to stop digging soon after they hit water especially if it was under pressure.

I would consider doing going out from the house place in circles up to 300 feet out. If you are going to build a home I would consider just digging a modern well. Open wells that can take on surface water are not safe off due to run off of chemicals, etc. It is a good chance the well got filled as noted.

If the rock curb around the well can not be found it may be at the bottom then filled on top. Is it a place that is safe to burn off at a certain time of the year. That could help find it, old cars, tractors, etc.

 

[Wagtail]

Have you considered contacting/hiring a "Diviner"?

 

[Treesanddust]

Might want tokeep an eye open for any metal like old tin roofing laying on the ground. Old barn tin seems to have been a common cover for old wells...at least in these parts of East Texas.
We've found several old wells / cisterns that were covered with roofing tin, which over time had enough dirt on top to grow grass and weeds.

 

[forgeblast]

What about a metal detector?

 

[stuckmotor]

To answer your question about how hand dug wells were lined. In my part of the country, some were lined with rocks others with bricks. Good luck in your search.

 

[tcreeley]

Up here our 13' dug well had been filled in with rock. I noticed it because there were two apple trees growing on this small rise, a a small pile of stone and rock. It just seemed right and I took all of the rock out. We used it for a few years. Found a clay pipe at the bottom. It was a circular stone well that went down a foot into a chiseled piece of bedrock before they gave up. I think I've found another on our neighbors property. Another neighbor has a 25' well he still uses. It was filled in with rock and he was lifting each out 1 by 1. He went to step on one and it suddenly gave under his foot. It went down another 15 feet.

I look for something that does not belong to the natural lay of the land - brush, a mound, etc. When they dug it, a lot of dirt came out of the hole and went somewhere- that's where the mound comes from.

Good luck and be careful. Try a diviner, or do it yourself- nothing to lose.

 

[wotalota]

I'm in a house from around 1900 there are two or more old wells no longer used that fed this house and some other neighbor house. One is capped with a round stone of some kind I have not looked close. Mine is still open with a little tiled house like structure over it. They are about 400' up hill from this house and perhaps double that to some nearby house. The feed was through lead pipe perhaps a inch or less diameter. They can be located by water that seems to come out of the ground around where the wells are. The route of the probably burst pipes seem to also produce water from the ground but could just be other seepage points on the hillside.