old water wells

[Detectoroligist]

Hey everyone, New to the Forum and Metal Detecting.

On Saturday, if the weather holds out I’m going to a site that has two old public water wells on it. The problem is, WHERE! I know, look for a hole in the ground. Has anyone searched such a sited before and have any suggestions?

Stan

[NB Digger]

Hi Stan and welcome to the forum. One of the places I dig here has an old well that the soldiers drew water from. I have not been back to it yet but have been told I might not find it till I was down in the bottom of it looking up!!!!! The area it is in is thick with foliage/ tall grass/ and vines! So...my point is be careful!!! You may want to try to get hold of an old map that may hint as to the general location of the wells before you head out looking.
Travis

[coindetector]

Wells can yield a lot of excellent finds! Make sure you serch the entire well and all around it.
To find it... Look for water!
Seriously, try to find the lowest point (ie, walk downhill), look for streams or intesive vegitation. They shouldn't be hard to find.

[GREENGIANT]

You also might not find the well itself at all, I drill new water wells now and our state has requirements to cap or plug old wells if this has happened a well log might be on line we have to log each one we cap/plug and give GPS cordinates, thought it might help good luck

[coindetector]

Originally Posted by GREENGIANT

You also might not find the well itself at all, I drill new water wells now and our state has requirements to cap or plug old wells if this has happened a well log might be on line we have to log each one we cap/plug and give GPS cordinates, thought it might help good luck

This is probably not an issue if the well is old though. I am pretty sure they didn't have GPS system set up two centuries ago...

[Kenneth Huddleston]

Hi Stan !!! I did some research in my area and discovered that there was an OLD toll gate at the Caney River bridge that is now a two lane road leading over the bridge and on the south side was a family that collected the toll to cross the bridge with there buggies and Modal T"s !!! There is a well that has been capped off with a cement slab and I have had some EXCELLENT finds around this well and where the old house used to be !!! The article I read said the toll keepers charged 3 cents to cross the bridge !! Try doing that today !!!! The oldest coin I have found is a 1862 Coronet Large cent at about 6" deep !!! Be prepared for ALOT of rock digging !! At least around this well is alot of small rocks BUT the digging is worth it !!! STEP LIGHTLY around the well !!! AND HAPPY HUNTING Stan !!! KENNETH

[Gregory]

Good luck in finding that well Stan & be careful

[Joe(TX)]

Try using about 50 foot of rope connected to a powerful magnet and throw it into the water well and see what it brings up. Wells were used to discard and hide many different types of items.