What did our ancestors do about water in winter?

[MaggieJ]

I need some help. I am writing an historical novel set in rural Ontario Canada in the 1880s. Through research and considerable first hand experience of simple living, I have a lot of the information I need to portray daily life in the country, but I've come up against something I don't know about. I hope someone can fill me in.

What did people do about water in the winter when everything was frozen? There would be a yard hand pump, of course, but during the most bitter cold of January and February, would it freeze? And if so, what did people do?

I knew one family back in the hills of Hastings County who in the 1980s had a water barrel in the kitchen for wash water and their drinking water came from a spring about half a mile down the road. The water table there was so low that they could not afford to have a well put in. They had electricity, but no other amenities. I was only there in summer, so have to imagine how grim it must have been in winter. They had to draw much of the water for the vegetable garden, the sow and piglets and the chickens as well as an old horse. In summer, they often took the old horse a mile or so along a trail to the creek to water it, rather than haul the water to the horse. It gave me some insight about how people managed without a well... but I'd hate to imagine how their winters must have been.

The family in my novel is a little better off than that. They do have a well, a spring house and a small creek maybe two hundred yards from the house. Can anyone out there tell me how things would have been for them in deep winter, having to water two draft horses, a cow, a small flock of sheep and poultry... as well as the needs of a household of two adults and five children?

(And we grumble about having to carry water to our chickens, geese and rabbits two or three times a day in winter. We've got soft.)

Thanks!
Maggie

Wouldn't they cut ice out of the creek or melt snow on the stovetop?

[chas]

Well I grew up with no electric till I was in the fourth grade I believe.
We had a pitcher pump in the kitchen at the sink.It had to primed by pouring water into it.
We also had a potbellied stove in the kitchen to keep everything from freezing.
The day they brought me home from the hospital dads boots froze to the floor but I was warm on the oven door of the wood burning cookstove,which is possibly why I seem half baked by times!
My job was to go out by the barn to man the pump to water the livestock.Since I was a wee bit small yet I would jump up on the pump handle and pull it down,push it back up fast and jump on it again to get the water flowing into the 5 gal. bucket.Then when it was full slide it to the side and fill the others before the water settled back down into the well,making it harder to get it flowing again.Dad would carry the buckets because I wasn't tall enough to hold them high enough to carry!
It's funny that was just a natural thing to do winter or not,I didn't think anything of it back then
Chas

[mamajohnson]

Well, not sure what they did, as I am a southerner....
But, I have been reading a novel series by Ruth Glover, and it is all about the northern territories in the late 1800's, you might find them at the library and see if that helps? This lady evidently grew up in that area, and writes about the bush country up there....she does reference winter and hardships, how they pioneered etc..... and that is about all I can tell you!
Best of luck to you!

[tinknal]

The old hand pumps didn't freeze, they were designed so that the water drained back down the pipe when not in use. Kind of like the hydrants of today. Of course many people settled along creeks or rivers so there was water available.

[Cyngbaeld]

Years ago I knew a missionary in the bush in Alaska. Her husband would go to the river and cut blocks of ice and stack next to the door outside. They would bring the blocks in and set them in a pot on the stove.

[fordson major]

pm'd you a source maggie, know few others that come anywhere near her knowledge base! good luck with the novel!

[pancho]

They also used quite a bit less water than we use nowdays. One thing they had to remember with the old hand pumps, save enough water to prime it.

[keljonma]

Maybe you can check with your local historical society. They may have local family journals available with this daily life information you're searching. You may also have luck at a family history center run by the Latter Day Saints. I will pm you the center addresses for Ontario.

Good luck!

regards,
keljonma

[The Paw]

I think most would have had a well, and used a hand pump as others have noted. Where they were near a river, creek or dugout, they likely would have chopped a hole in the ice and dipped buckets.

In the town where I presently live, all the aquifers are saline. They could be used to water cattle, but not for human consumption. The town history says that they used to bring water in barrels by horse and wagon from Mosquito Creek, which is about 5 miles away. A little later on, they began using dugout ponds to trap surface water.

[Freeholder]

Most of the animals would have been taken to the creek for water (chop a hole out of the ice), as your friends used to do with their horse sometimes. It's much easier to take the animals to water twice a day than to haul enough water to them -- a cow in milk drinks a lot of water! They would have had to carry water for the poultry and for the house. It works to melt ice; snow takes forever as it's mostly air. But if you have access to water, even if you have to keep chopping a hole in the ice on top, that is the easiest way.

Kathleen (who grew up in the Interior of Alaska with no running water or electricity -- I remember my mother carrying water up to the cabin from the lake)

[Jenn]

Mom says their artesian well ran all winter so they'd just hold the bucket under it (a pipe cut at a slant protruding from the ground; later in my childhood it had a tap about 3 ft off the ground although the stock tank was always continuously running) and bring it in the house. If they wanted soft water (to wash hands, bathe) they'd melt snow. They did not have a rainwater cistern- too little rain- but collected it in summer (for soft water) in a barrel and if it actually rained a lot they'd scramble to transfer the water to catch it all. Kept a large ceramic crock (20 gal? It was as tall as I was when I was 6) next to the 'sink' and a dipper to put a dipperful in a pie pan we'd wash our hands in. Reused the water until dirty- we kids weren't allowed to empty it (into a slop barrel under the 'sink').

They brought bottles of water from her sister's (my greataunt) softwater artesian well for drinking when I was a child- dunno about earlier.

They got indoor plumbing about 1976 but still got water from her sister to drink.

All in eastern SD in Jim River watershed.

[MaggieJ]

Wow! I'm delighted at all your responses... You are all so helpful with authentic details. I sure know where to come next time I have a question like this!

It's useful to know that the hand pump would not freeze. I just wasn't sure about that.

I remember when I was a kid I visited an neighbour who had a handpump in the yard and we thought it was great fun to pump water... for about two minutes. I seem to remember the kid who lived there saying to leave the handle up... Presumably so it would not need priming the next time. (This was in summer.) Anyone know what would happen if someone did this in winter?

Many thanks to all of you!

[Sand Flat Bob]

You might check on how they get water in Russia. I saw a film on a northern settlement in Russia and they got their water from a lake several miles away. Cut through the ice and loaded the water in containers on a sled. It was frozen by the time they went back to the village. Every thing including milk was sold and transported as a frozen block. Russian villages live in much colder temps. than Canada, at least southern Canada. Try searching on PBS. I am sure I saw the film on PBS. Lots of the people I grew up with in Western Kansas were the Volga Germans, used to living in temp. much colder than Kansas in the winter. Their coats were too heavy for Kansas, but nice for Russia.

Bob

[poorboy]

Our cattle watered out of creek, most of our hogs and horses drank out of pond about 70yds. from barn had to chop ice twice a day our house and chicken water came from 120 ft. deepwell, drawn with a thick rope and a cylinder shaped deepwell bucket. Had exceptional upperbodie strength by 8 yrs. of age, we got electric pump when I was 12..

[Batt]

When I went to my grandparents place (Electric, lights & radio only) I used a well bucket to pull water from the well. A well bucket is about 4' long and 4" in diameter. It holds about 2 gallons at a time.

Drop the well bucket on a rope, when it stopped gurgling (3-4 seconds) you started pulling the rope up and over the pulley hung from the top of the wellhouse. Every second pull, you flipped the rope over the hanger so it was ready to go out for the next bucket. Hold the well bucket over the bucket or the cattle trough and pull the little ring handle to let the water out.....Start over.

Sore arms for awhile, but you soon got used to it.

[DaleK]

Maggie I'm in Hastings County. Have you been over to see the new Amish settlement here yet? My parent's are still using the old well that's at least 150 years old now, no way it ever freezes. A lot of the old farms had wells inside the barn or in the basement of the house. Plus it didn't take nearly as much water then, the milk cows were all dry in the winter so they didn't drink as much as when they were milking the rest of the year and the horses generally weren't working unless they were logging a bit.

[DaleK]

Forgot to mention, a lot of times in the hills in Hastings they liked to let gravity do the work, in the hamlet up the road the older houses were all hooked to the same spring up at the top of the hill and the water just ran through the basements all year. It's still running out one barn today with a pipe at the side of the road and a trough, runs over the trough and down the ditch 365 days a year and has for well over 100 years.

[mtn.mama]

We live this way now, with no plumbing etc. Our water consumption is the bare minimum and it comes from a hand dug spring with an insulated cover.

Note that the cover keeps the spring from freezing in the winter (our groundwater temp is 35 degrees F year round, and the outside temps range from -35 F to 72 F).

We melt snow in the winter for animals and washing etc. Only drinking water gets hauled up from the spring.

My father-in-law cuts holes in the river ice and gets water for him and the horses this way.

[Spinner]

Did they build windmills that far back? I know there are still a lot of people in SE Missouri that didn't have running water in their homes in the 1990's. At least one family I used to know up there hauled water from a artesian well about 2 miles from their house.