32 THE FAT OF THE LAND 
It took nearly three months to finish the water 
system, but it has proved wonderfully conven- 
ient and satisfactory. During seven years I have 
not spent more than $50 for changes and repairs. 
We struck bed-rock at 197 feet, drilled 27 feet 
into this rock, and found water which rose to 
within 50 feet of the surface and which could 
not be materially lowered by the constant use of 
a three-inch power-pump. The water was milky 
white for three days, in spite of much pumping; 
and then, and ever after, it ran clear and sweet, 
with a temperature of 54° F. Well and water 
being satisfactory, I cheerfully paid the well man 
$448 for the job. 
Meantime I contracted for a tank twelve by 
twelve feet, to be raised thirty feet above the 
well on eight timbers, each ten inches square, 
well bolted and braced, for $430, —TI to put in 
the foundation. This consisted of eight concrete 
piers, each five feet deep in the clay, three feet 
square, and capped at the level of the ground 
with a limestone two feet square and eight 
inches thick. These piers were set in octagon 
form around the well, with their centres seven 
feet from the middle of the bore, making the 
spread of the framework fourteen feet at the 
ground and ten at the platform. The founda- 
tion cost $32. A Rider eight-inch, hot-air, wood- 
burning, pumping engine (with a two-inch pipe 
leading to the tank, and a four-inch pipe from 
it), filled the tank quickly; and it was surpris- 
