Tales of well drilling are many and varied.  Good pure water has been found at fifteen feet.  In New Hampshire there is a well 900 feet deep that gushes so powerfully that it is capped and still flows at forty pounds pressure.  It supplies an elaborate country place and a large stock farm.  It is performances like these that indicate the water is there if one will just keep on drilling and paying until it is reached.

Where to locate a well is very much a matter of guess.  Even in the Sahara Desert there is water.  How far down is the question.  For generations much faith was placed in diviners.  They were supposedly endowed with some occult talent that enabled them to pick a sure spot for water.  They were known for miles around and were summoned when a new homestead was under consideration.  With a forked hazel wand held in both hands, such an one would pace solemnly around until the stick gave a convulsive twist downward.  This indicated that water was directly beneath.  The spot would be reverently marked; the diviner would depart and the well diggers who had followed his performance with proper awe would begin work.  As the ceremony failed to stipulate just how far down the precious liquid was, a successful well was presumably the result.  The prowess of the well diviner is acclaimed even today by some people, although scientific investigation has proved that his services are worth just about as much as those of a witch doctor.

After the country home owner has attended to the little matter of a well, be it old or new, dug or drilled, the next step is installing a pump.  If the water level is less than twenty feet below ground, a shallow-well pump will be perfectly adequate and as it is much less expensive than the more elaborate deep-well pump, we recommend its use if possible.  Most plumbers invariably advise the deep-well pump, especially for driven wells.  They do this in all honesty and with no ulterior motive.  There is always a bare chance that the water level may drop below the suction limit of the shallow pump under abnormal pressure.  If it does, an irate customer can descend on the luckless installer of the less expensive pump and cause general unpleasantness if not loss of custom.

The difference between these two kinds of pump, aside from price, is that with a shallow-well one, suction is produced in the cylinder of the pump itself, while the deep-well pump has its plunger and cylinder at the bottom of the well.  Water is forced up the pipe by the up and down movement of the plunger within the cylinder.  This plunger is connected to a geared wheel by the well-rod that extends downward from well-head to cylinder in the center of the same pipe through which the water is forced upward.  Because of its design, a deep-well pump must always be located directly above the well itself.  With a suction pump, on the other hand, the pipe from well to pump may bend and turn to suit conditions.  These should be as few as possible since each right-angle bend of the pipe reduces the pump’s suction power one foot.