I remember the year that the "Day Place" was purchased and we moved in to the Day's old house. Just prior to moving I was over there with Gram and the only bathroom facility was a 3 holer just in back of where the kitchen is now. Gram wasn't all that impressed and although we both used it, I was made to stand over it and aim down in. Gram didn't think things were all that sanitary. When we moved in I noticed that a new bathroom had been added.
Anyway, getting back to the subject of this post. Drinking water always seemed to be a problem at the "Day Place". Initially, a well north of the house, and out past the garden provided a limited amount of water. One day Jim Tucker and I were exploring and we found the well, unsuitably covered with flat stones which we removed the better to look in and also to throw stones in. At dinner that evening a lack of water pressure and quantity was discussed by Grampa and my mother, and after dinner Gramp and I journeyed out through the garden to check on the water supply. Gramp looked down the well and remarked that there seemed to be a lot of rocks in the well. I indicated that I didn't know anything about rocks in the well (which was quite shallow, probably 6 or 7 ft in depth). Gramp was a little dubious about the origin of the rocks, but allowed that there wasn't much water anyway even with all the rocks. The strainer on the pipe exiting the well was crushed and Gramp had to climb down into the well to recover it, repair it, and remove all the mysterious rocks.
The well never recovered from the event, and after that a couple of gathering tanks were placed in the cellar, and we supplemented the water that did come from the well by pulling another gathering tank out to the center to a fire hydrant, filling it there and dumping it into the tanks in the cellar. My job was to hold the fire hose in the tank which was on a hay wagon pulled by Gramp's jeep. The hose was big, there was a lot of pressure, and a good deal of the water was spilled on each fill. I was supposed to tell Gramp when the tank was almost full so that he could shut off the hydrant, but it took him so long to get the hydrant shut off that water squirted out of the top of the tank everywhere, soaking me, the wagon, and everything close. I decided to tell Gramp that the tank was almost full well before it was so that I didn't get soaked each time. Gramp got much quicker at shutting off the hydrant, and we only got about half a tank. I didn't dare to tell him that we weren't full, and so we went home with only half a tank. When we dumped it into the cellar tank Gramp remarked that it emptied out a lot quicker than it filled. After that he climbed up on the back of the wagon and looked into the tank before each return trip.
Things seemed to me to be a little tense around the house from time to time between my mom and Gramp whenever we ran out of water, and the next summer Gramp advised that we were going to have a new water supply from a stronger spring across the road from the house. The spring was dug out with a local back hoe, and Gramp and the back hoe operator set concrete tiles down in the resulting hole. I remember remarking that the tiles didn't seem to fill up much, but Gramp told me to be quiet and that this was much better and would solve the water problem. The back hoe dug a deep trench from the house down to the road, and from the other side of the road to the concrete tiles. Someone came with a pump and a hole was basically squirted under the road so that a pipe could be run to the well. My job for the summer was to fill in the trench, which I and the Arnold boys worked at diligently(?) for most of the summer without visible results.
As it turned out, the spring below the road provided about the same amount of water that the well north of the house had, and I remember several more trips out to the center to haul water during that summer.
When we returned the following summer, a well driller was brought in and a well was drilled right next to the house. The new deep well solved the water problems at the Day place, but I think Gramp was a little disappointed at the over all economic picture when all was said and done. The well drillers set up a charcoal brazier and heated and sharpened the tips right on site. That was an impressive feat. By the way, "well driller" is somewhat of a mistatement, the Day well was pounded down through the bed rock inch by inch over several days. I remember feeling that dull thud that the driller made for several days after the event was over.
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Yes! I remember this happening. Well, actually I don't remember that the Day place had a three-holer. Talk about changes in plumbing in water. Nice post.
It reminds me that one of the better parts of every summer when I was a kid came when the Demarests would come to the farm, visiting Gramp at the Day house. This would have been the mid- to late 50's and continued through until the farm was sold. Usually, Aunt Ruth, Charles, Brian and Rick would come up for a month or more, while Uncle Harrison would come for a couple of weeks or so vacation, but then go back home to northern New Jersey to his job. This is before the Interstate in Vermont, so Uncle Harrison couldn't easilty drive up for a weekend - maybe a 7 hour trip?
I'm guessing the writer on this is Charles Demarest. Charles and Jim Tucker are the oldest of the boy cousins. They were always doing interesting stuff, like building a tree house. Gramp, semi-retired from the farming, would sometimes get involved, or alternatively, as Charles points out, involve them in something.
By the way, I noticed the blog assumes that a writer is "Dan", unless you notice the "Choose an indentity" option and click on "Other". Then you can choose your own name. I'm trying to fix the "Dan" default.
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