Orson Hyde Well

By midweek, Elder Carlson and Pleshek were working on the cover for the well at the Orson Hyde home.  It was a lot larger than expected.  But for safety sake, it needs to be this size.  It needs to cover the hole in the ground.  The four corner posts are not going anywhere since concrete holds them in place.  They needed to be far enough away from the well in order to be sunk into the ground without knocking the brick and stone into the hole.

There was something floating in the water and the men working there could not fish it out.  They thought is was a snapping turtle or a basketball.  It was actually a dead skunk.  Once the thing got punctured, they knew exactly what it was and then it sunk out of sight. 

Jordon, the FM manager, came over to inspect and wanted the skunk removed.  Therefore Darryl and Casey, the plumbers, were called and they pumped the water out of the well.  Then Casey and Elder Pleshek descended into the well to find it.  They couldn't.  It had disintegrated and was probably sucked out the hose with the water.

It's so interesting that below the limestone on top are bricks in pristine condition.  A lot of roots have made their way into the interior but they are still hanging tight.

The well is probably between 16-20 feet deep.  Two guys came up out of that well quite dirty.  Especially Casey.  What interesting experiences these FM missionaries and employees get to have.  We see a lot of basements and attics and other out of the place places and now I've even seen the inside of an historic well in Nauvoo!