As I look back it seems that for most of my life, I have lived on well water. My grandfather had a well, my father had a well, our neighbors all had wells and there was one shallow drilled well in a field where we played that simply had a hand pump on top. We thought this was the best water around. There was a bucket of water beside the well that was used to prime the pump. Once primed, the pump began to work and the water flowed. The first priority was to refill the priming bucket for the next user.

  Most places I have lived there was a well. Some were better than others, but they all served their purpose of providing water for the family. Today I have a well that provides the water. I said all this to establish the fact that I am very familiar with the function of a well. I have seen all shapes and sizes: dug wells, bored wells, and drilled wells, and I have witnessed folks down in their dug wells doing the annual well cleaning.

  Anyone who has spent time walking in the woods has come across old home places. The first thing you notice is the beautiful flowers all lined up where the house used to be. While some are admiring the beauty my mind immediately starts to wonder about the location of the well. Is it still open, covered by debris or are we about to fall into it? This was especially true when we were on search and rescue operations with the dogs. Any time I spied a place resembling an old house place, I immediately put my dog on lead and looked for a possible well. I have therefore spent a good bit of time looking for old wells.

  A while back a lady called the office to ask for help locating the well for the house they were buying in Locust Grove. This is not what I normally do, but I thought, how hard could this be? The house was located on five acres of thick undergrowth and there was a well tank under the house. The search began with a thorough search of the area immediately around the house, no well. There were some folks cleaning up on the adjacent property, so I asked them, no luck. After one more pass around the house, I stopped the search. As I was leaving I noticed a fire hydrant across the road. Surely this house is not on county water and if it is why is there a tank under the house?

  Back at the office I called Environmental Health to get the plat showing the location of the well. The plat shows the well about one hundred feet in front of the house. Back out to the property, but there is no well in front of the house, so I go back to the office and called the company that installed the well. I gave them the address and the lady just laughed, she then said that they had a plumber out working on the well next door to this address. She gave me his number and said that he could show me the location of this well. I called and he described the location, it was not anywhere that I would have looked. It was down the property line towards the road. Apparently the people who built the house were related to the folks next door and both wells had been installed at the same time. One was on one side of the line and the other on the other side of the line. I was happy to see the wells and happy that this mission was completed. So if you lose your well, don’t call me, it took me three days, three phone calls and three trips to find this one!