October 2020 • Nebraskaland 37
— an invitation to disaster to someone who might by chance
fall into one. The best known instance of such an accident
was that of F. W. Carlin, which is widely known in Nebraska
history. While Carlin was on business 15 miles north of
Broken Bow late in the evening, he inadvertently took the
wrong road, which led to some old sod buildings. When one
of his horses stopped, Carlin got out of the buggy and walked
along beside it to see what was the matter. In the twilight, he
stepped into one of these unused wells.
"A well man himself, Carlin immediately realized his
predicament. Placing his feet together, he uttered a prayer:
'Oh God have mercy on my soul!' When he struck the water
143 feet below, he was stunned, a rib broken, and an ankle
painfully sprained, but the water was only chest deep. On
examination he found that it was a square well curbed with
wood; and by sheer nerve, indomitable will, and ingenuity,
he was able to whittle footholds with a pocket knife and
otherwise devise means of scaling the diffi cult walls. After
two days and nights of eff ort, he reached the top where he
grasped some large sunfl ower stalks, pulled himself out, and
lay exhausted on the ground for a time. Then he knelt and
thanked God for his deliverance. With a sprained ankle and
a broken rib, he could not walk, but crawled painfully toward
the only house in the whole country, a mile and a half distant.
Famished, he pulled seed pods off wild rose plants along the
road and ate the red meat as he inched his way along to the
house, where he found help."
Professor Dick says that the incident prompted the state
legislature to pass a law requiring owners of abandoned land
to fi nd these wells and fi ll them. Not only did this remove
a hazard, but it also provided employment for the poverty-
stricken settlers who remained.
N
Visit History Nebraska's website at history.nebraska.gov.
Mortimer Kress is seated by his well. His sod house was said to be the fi rst in Adams County. History Nebraska RG2035-0-65
Digging a well near Cliff Table, Custer County, in 1890.
History Nebraska RG2608-0-3537
Surviving
By David L. Bristow, History Nebraska
The well at Len Bisco's place in West Union Township, Custer
County, 1886. History Nebraska RG2608-0-2207-c
