Well

My theme for the A to Z Challenge is Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura Ingalls Wilder was the author of the Little House books and there was a television series very loosely based on the books. I began reading the books when I was eleven years old (which even I have a hard time believing is over 40 years ago!). If you would like to read about my feelings about Laura, visit this site. I have also listed helpful sites and blogs in my sidebar if you would like to learn more.

W is for Well.

Water well that is.

Water wells are mentioned a handful of times in the Little House books.

The most memorable, of course, is Chapter 12 in Little House on the Prairie. It's rightly titled "Fresh Water To Drink".  Pa trades work with a neighbor, Mr. Scott, who will help dig the Ingalls well first then Pa will help dig the Scotts a well. If you've read the chapter, no doubt you will remember how Pa sent a lit candle down in the hole every morning to make sure "everything was okay" (that a poisonous gas hadn't built up over night). Mr. Scott thought that was a lot of hooey...until the morning he went down the hole without sending the lit candle down first. He passed out and had to be rescued and brought back up by Pa with Ma's help. He was a believer then! And they finished digging the well until:

Laura thought she had never tasted anything so good as those long, cold drinks of water. Pa hauled no more stale, warm water from the creek. He built a solid platform over the well, and a heavy cover for the hole that let the water bucket through. Laura must never touch that cover. But whenever she or Mary was thirsty, Ma lifted the cover and drew a dripping bucket of cold, fresh water from that well.

 I have never had the pleasure of visiting the Little House on the Prairie Museum homesite in Independence, Kansas. I have heard, however, that this very well is how the spot was found where the Ingalls family lived in 1869 - 1871. Someday I will go and I will see that well!

Oh, how things have changed over the years!

I once blogged a little about our business. It's here if you're interested in learning more. My goal was to get out and take photos of the complete drilling process and I haven't yet. I will. I guarantee that it's much different than when Pa and Mr. Scott dug that well in Kansas!

 **Join me and many other Laura fans at LauraPalooza 2012 (the second-ever Laura Ingalls Wilder Conference), which will be held July 12-14, 2012, in Mankato, Minnesota. For more information visit Beyond Little House and look for the heading "LauraPalooza 2012". The pull down menu will have all of the information that you are looking for!**