Big Bend Real Estate Guide July 2021 | Page 7

The windmill pipe and mechanism .
Saul and his son cover the well head to prevent a geyser .
Three years ago we bought 40 acres that adjoins our property , 40 acres that came complete with a decrepit mobile home , a windmill , and a dry well . Our neighbor had left and abandoned everything there about five years before that , and it all became an eyesore he had finally sold to us .
The well was thought to be 100 years old , and had produced good water for many years , until it was abandoned by our neighbor . Perhaps it was its disuse after being abandoned that made it dry up . Perhaps it was that several other wells had been drilled nearby in recent years . We didn ’ t give it much concern or try to figure it out when we bought the place . We were used to rain catchment at our house , and since the mobile home sat under 2,300 square feet of roof , we immediately purchased a 3,000-gallon tank and began catching rain .
Charlie spent those first three years resurrecting the mobile home , renovating it into quite a nice guesthouse . We imagined friends and family coming to visit , and we thought we might perhaps even rent it out at times , once the danger of Covid passed .
But if we really did have a string of guests , 3,000 gallons might not be enough of a supply . We were thinking this as we were leaving for Washington state this past July . So , anticipating the usual summer rains , we purchased a second 3,000-gallon tank .
But as mentioned , we returned at the end of November to find the tanks at our house not replenished and both tanks at the mobile home less than half full . “ Drought ” was now part of everyone ’ s conversations . For the first time in our 25 years here , we were worried about water .
So , what would be our Plan B ? Sitting right there were the windmill and the dry well . Could it possibly be resurrected ?
Charlie was motivated to find out if we could make the well functional again . To begin , he dropped a string with a small weight attached down the hole , and when he pulled it up , he learned that there was wetness at the bottom . Perhaps the well was not totally dry after all ?
All it took was a phone call to Skinner ’ s Well in Alpine and out came Saul , an experienced well man , with one of his sons . They pulled all 150 feet of pipe out of the ground which revealed that the bottom fourfoot length of pipe which held the various parts of the windmill ’ s pumping mechanism , including what is called the “ leathers ,” had become disconnected . This was good news , an actual tangible problem . Saul then dropped a special camera down , which confirmed Charlie ’ s finding that there was water at the bottom of the well .
Saul posed a choice for us . Should they return to do what they refer to as “ blowing out the well ” to clear out whatever had caused the disconnection ? Oh yes !
Two weeks later , Saul and another of his sons returned with an enormous compressor to blow out the well . With a hoist , they lowered 150 feet of a different type of pipe down the well and then started this powerful and thunderous compressor , forcing air to the bottom of the well . We were so excited , expecting a geyser would shoot up . To our surprise , they covered the hole with an upside-down metal tub so that the geyser was contained and no one needed raincoats . Indeed water was forced up , but was trapped by the tub , creating lots of noise because the water was full of sand and gravel and rust that had been at the bottom clogging the works . They did this a couple more times , and Saul decided to attach another 20 feet of pipe to send farther down , past the original 150 feet the well had measured . Indeed he
The windmill pipe and mechanism .
was able to send pipe down a total of 173 feet until he hit “ rock bottom .” He found that there was water from 120 feet down to 173 feet , a veritable lake !
Although all the wells of our neighbors rely on solar pumps , Charlie had decided to preserve the windmill . I love the sound of the blades , called ” sails ,” spinning in the wind and our friend Brad , a windmill expert , assured Charlie that all the parts were still there and just needed a little repair . Before lowering the windmill pipe back down into the well , Saul replaced the “ leathers ” which need to be tight enough to cause the suction that brings the water up . He also climbed the windmill , hanging from the frame to replace the brake ( you have to be able to stop the “ sails ” from turning so you can control how much water is pumped out ).
Saul is not a young man and yet there he was , suspended and remarkable .
Saul and his son drove away that day leaving us dazzled . We were mesmerized by the sails going around , the suction pipe going up and down , the water coming out of a hose Charlie attached in order to direct the onegallon-per-minute flow into a 500-gallon portable tank we had on our utility trailer . With a small transfer pump and a generator , Charlie was able to fill our tanks and ease our worry . And then it snowed . And then it rained . And did you know that there is water under the ground you walk on ?
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