A new windmill in secluded Sandhill country

[Soapweed]

Drilling a water well in sparsely grassed Sandhill country

Pulling up the old pipe out of the old well

Mixing mud

Drilling the well

A competent father-son crew

Hard working well drillers

Attaching the 2 3/4" cylinder to the 3" pipe

Handy little Vermeer digging machine, eat your heart out, Jinglebob

Sun's about down

Welding a few cracks in a fan blade

Water truck in the waning light

[Jinglebob]

Pooh! That ain't no machine!

So do they drill them or pound them in, Soap?

We used to have a guy who pounded them into the ground, but the last one I had done, was drilled. Dug it 120 foot deep in a day and dropped the pipe in and put pea gravel on the outside of the casing. Good water. We always use 2 1/4 inch cylinders, but we are pulling the water a lot farther than you are, I think.

My father in law was raised in the sandhills and claimed he and his brother could drive a sandpiont in and have a mill up and pumping water, all in one day. I never knew for sure if he was tellin' a windy or the truth.

[JF Ranch]

This past June, I had this same Father/Son crew put in two new wells in the Sandhills.

Both were drilled 60 feet deep and pumping in one joint of pipe. They easily drilled the wells, dropped new pipe and had the tower & motor up in a day, with time to spare.

This was the first time in my life I'd ever seen a completely new well and windmill system put in. Always in the past we've put in a used tower, motor, pipe, tank or any combination of the four. This time both wells were brand spankin' new from the top of the fan to the bottom of the pipe including the tank. The cost averaged $4,262.25. This cost spread over a lifetime isn't bad for plenty of good water.

[JF Ranch]

I should have been more specific: that each well took a day to put in.

Not both wells in one day.

Sorry!

[Soapweed]

This one of ours was also drilled and the windmill put up in one day. Keep in mind that it was also miles from nowhere, and done within a week of the "shortest day" of the year, sunshine wise. It's a good thing the Northern Lights were shining for our exit back through the hills.

Jinglebob, the well was drilled and cased, and was not a sandpoint driven in. Your dad and his brother worked pretty hard to put in a sandpoint, and get up a tower and a windmill in a day, but I'll bet he was telling you the truth. They sure didn't have the sophisticated equipment to work with that these three gentlemen had. The "little machine" that looks like a Shetland pony compared to your big Steeldust Steed sure saved this crew a lot of work.

[Mike]

Do these wells have "screen" in them or do they suck from the bottom of the pipe?

[Soapweed]

[Shortgrass]

My bro-in-law drills wells. His rig is a lot heavier. Last week he finished a deep hole at 2000 feet. He dropped a submersible pump at 1700 ft I think is what he said. I won't say what he said the bill was! My latest stock well is 600 ft with a submersible. We put a smaller cylinder on 1 1/4 pipe for windmills. Most of them are near 200 feet. We have to pull pipe and all to leather the cylinder. When I tell these guys that I carried leathers in my glove box and could leather a well in 20 minutes up in your country, they always seem to look at me funny. I sure like those working barrels and shallow wells. Great pics. I found them very interesting. Where you live is the finest cow country that God made out of doors. Missed ya last week Soap.

[TimH]

Great photos Soapweed. Worth at least a thousand words each!
How deep do you have to go for water?
We are pretty lucky here. Some neighbors use drilled wells, but we have sandpoints at about 20 to 25 feet. We can pull and replace them or put in new ones in a matter of a couple hours. We use 1"1/4 pipe.
I like to have at least one of my football playin' boys around when it comes to driving the sandpoints down, though...... that slide hammer always seems to bother my "tennis elbow".

[Soapweed]

[Mrs.Greg]

Being one of your photo groupies I for one am jealous of your windmills

Neat pictures,thanks for taking the time and effort to take,then post them

[JF Ranch]

I always think of clarifications after I've hit the "submit" button!

The average cost of the new wells I mentioned earlier did not include the tank. The amount I mentioned was what I payed the well driller, which included everything but the tank. One was a 3' cylinder and the other 4".