CHAPTER XVII 



OLD WELLS 



TN the early days on the farm the settler who was 

 * so fortunate as to have had a bubbling spring 

 of water was likely envied by his less favoured 

 neighbours. Hilly and gravelly farms, those along 

 streams or rivers usually had springs, where good 

 drinking water for man or beast could be had with- 

 out effort. But there were many farms that were 

 not well-watered, and wells had to be dug. In 

 those good old days wells were stoned up, that is, 

 the sides were walled up with field stones, conse- 

 quently the shafts sunk into Mother Earth had to 

 be made large to admit the stoning up process. 



It was a stout job to dig a well six or seven feet 

 in diameter and, perhaps thirty, forty or fifty feet 

 deep. Dry wells were not uncommon and it must 

 have been real disappointing to sink such a shaft 

 and fail to get water. 



FINDING WATER WITH A FORKED STICK 



Was it any wonder then that in the days of the 

 digging of such wells, the farmer turned to the 

 *' water-finder" or '' dowser," to locate a hidden 

 spring before starting to sink a well? Talk to the 



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