Digging a well by hand on the Miller farm at Orcadia, near Yorkton Saskatchewan. Circa 1915. Emmanuel Miller is seen going down the well. The person on the left is unknown. A rough windlass was constructed to take down a bucket, fill it with dirt and haul it up to empty. There was a horizontal cylinder that rotated by the turn of a crank. A winch was installed on both ends and a chain or rope was wound around the cylinder. A pail was hooked up to the rope and lowered to bring up the dirt when digging, or if you were lucky and struck water, you had yourself a well, and it was used to raise up the water. The equipment was versatile, as you could use it to lower the person down the well, and bring him back up. You could also clean the well using this process. What a disappointment it was in some areas of the prairie, if after digging some thirty feet, the well was dry!
Photo from John Miller Collection
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton, Box 400
37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
historian@yorkton.ca
