A new chapter for me in the U.P.

[Jeff]

The well may well be not worth finding. Lou was pretty sure there was an old long handled pump in the near right corner of that building in the photo.  Searching that area, I found a couple chunks of what look like well pipe that had been torched off. Someone probably stole the pump and had cut it off. That being said, there is potential good news about a well. The neighbor across the road says his well there was hand driven and it is only 26 ft. It was driven in one day. He said if you can get through the first 5 feet without hitting a boulder, that the rest is easy going in sand.  I may very well be able to put a well in myself.  There is a new drive point down to the cabin with 20 feet of pipe in 5 ft sections with drive couplings. We are using it for a t.v. antennae pole.  :D    I can probably go out an cut a spruce pole taller, and use the pipe available for a well.  I'm really looking forward to this next spring.  8) 8)

[Autocar]

Jeff is your property close to Paradise ? Years ago there were propertys for sale and it was called Lost Lake the drive circled the lake and they were selling 7 acre lots. The price was eather four thousand or seven I forget now , we wanted it so bad but it might as well been fofty thousand. To bad but still a good memory.

[pasbuild]

Jeff is your property close to Paradise ? Years ago there were propertys for sale and it was called Lost Lake the drive circled the lake and they were selling 7 acre lots. The price was eather four thousand or seven I forget now , we wanted it so bad but it might as well been fofty thousand. To bad but still a good memory.

Its a good thing ya didn't get a lot and develop it, that whole area burned ta da ground a cupala years ago.

[Jeff]

That was the duck lake fire wasn't it Bob?

Autocar, my property is near Detour. About 100 miles from Paradise. In U.P. standards, not that far. :D

[pasbuild]

That was the duck lake fire wasn't it Bob?

Your right, looking at the map it missed Lost Lake by about 7 miles
OOOPS :

[Autocar]

What I remember about lost lake was the hemlock it was a very pretty place, glad its stil there.

[Jeff]

That is the unusual thing about our new property versus everything I have seen around our area. We have several nice hemlock. I've only explored the front 1/4 of the property, so not sure what is back farther. This is the wettest year anyone up there can remember, so getting around is a challenge right now.  We had 4 more inches of rain when I was up there last week. The front hardwoods though, not a puddle. 8)

One of the hemlocks I have found.



This whitepine might qualify as a "wolf tree"  I should probably post it on that topic. It's a pretty poor example of a whitepine, but it's unique. If I was a kid, I'd love to climb it! I may some day anyhow!



 

[pineywoods]

A driven well should do just fine. If you run into problems, I have had a little experience at drilling your own well. There's a couple of posts on here about drillin your own, yeah, I know, no pics so it didn't happen. ;D Grumpy ole men buddies and I drilled a 6 inch 30 ft deep irrigation well using a pto driven post hole auger..Sounds like a perfect excuse to have a FF work party  8)

[Jeff]

I think I'd rather put in a PVC well as I think I'd get more volume.

[Autocar]

Only explored the front quarter, I couldn't stand it I would explore the whole property with hip boots if needed  ;D. That would be alot of fun for sure and what I remember about water wells up there they sold sections of galvanize pipe at hardware stores the first section had a point then it was drilled full of holes to let the water in then you would screw the next section on go deeper.

[pineywoods]

I think I'd rather put in a PVC well as I think I'd get more volume.

Most likely true, especially if you install an electric pump. We used a 6 inch auger and cased it with 4 inch pvc with loose rocks taking up the other 2 inches. The thread is several pages long, lots of detail, sorry no pics..

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,36335.msg525362.html#msg525362

[Jeff]

I wonder if I could use a 6 inch hand auger since this is mostly sand? It would be work, but maybe doable if I didn't hit anything hard. Especially if I can get water at 26-27 feet as predicted.

[pineywoods]

Hand auger, yes, it's do-able. The water well at my old homeplace was drilled in 1949 with an overgrown, home-made T handle auger. 30 ft deep, still usable today. The handle was about 8 feet long, the drill shaft was pine 4X4. Requires at least 2, preferably 4 big stout not-so-bright friends, and a home-made tripod and winch to lift it out of the hole. Unfortunately, I don't have pics, but I still remember the details of the auger made from a 4 ft piece of 6 inch steel pipe. Come spring, if you are crazy enough to try, I can cobble up some drawings..You will have to handle the friends part  ;D

[chet]

Count me out. As I don't fit da  big stout not-so-bright friends part.  ;D

[beenthere]

If'n in sand, seems would be hard to keep the sand from falling back into the auger'd hole. Or would you try to case it with plastic pipe as the auger went deeper (have to be large enough id on the casing to get the auger bit down the hole.

Grew up in blackdirt Iowa, and a neighbor auger'd his well by hand. Regular fence post hole auger, and he just kept threading on lengths of pipe to go deeper, but had to unthread pipe everytime an auger full had to be brought to the surface. I admired his determination to get a well.

Seems in sand, a sand point as described would be the best bet and the simplest to do.

[WDH]

Count me out, too  .

[Jeff]

I guess I'll have to just help Tammy do it then. :-\ ;)

[JohnM]

"Conveniently" hold the pigroast up there next year.   Btw I can't make the pigroast next year. :-\

[Sheepkeeper]

It all depends on the type of sand you have and the moisture content of it. Bone dry sand will tend to cave in because there is no moisture to stick it together. Quicksand, on the other hand, will flow because it has too much water in it. The area where I live is sand with layers of hardpan at different depths and what I have done on several occasions is drill down with a post hole auger until I hit the water table and the hole starts to cave in. then I drop in the sand point and drive it the rest of the way (average of 30 feet). Saves a lot of pounding.

[OneWithWood]

"If I was a kid, I'd love to climb it! I may some day anyhow!"

Sounds like still a kid at heart.  8) 8)
Don't bother growing up it ain't all its cracked up to be...  :D :D ;D

[Jeff]

That's what Lou keeps telling me too.  :D

[SwampDonkey]

Neither is growing old. Mother (70) and father (75) both a little lame with arthritis lately. Mother in the shoulder and father in his hip. Mother said she's ready for the home across the river. Dad said you have to be able to look after yourself over there, we need the old folks home. :D :D

[chet]

Jeff I hope ya have better luck with da well thing than I've had at camp. We've drivin' 5 2" points about 40' each, at which point we hit solid rock.  :(  Da most water seems ta be about 2 gallons an hour.  :
We've gottin' da drivin' part down pat, not so luckly wit da suckin' da pipe back out part.  :-\

[WmFritz]

We've gottin' da drivin' part down pat, not so luckly wit da suckin' da pipe back out part.  :-\

:D :D :D :D :D

[Mooseherder]

Chet, dat was a gold vein that stopped you. :D