Digging out the old spring

I finally got a chance to dig around the area I thought was the main spring on Laurence Lingle’s Property (See post titled German Dovetailing). Earlier I had dug out another place I thought might have been used as a water source for a sawmill that had operated on the property probably in the 1950’s. Sawmills back then used water for the horses and the boiler. When I finished digging that hole out, I still wasn’t sure whether it had been used as a water source or not. I was disappointed about not knowing for sure and I guess that is what kept me from digging out this other place any sooner. When I purchased the property, the only thing visible was one rock. I hoped it was the top of the spring. I wasn’t disappointed. When I got down 3 courses of rocks, the rest of the spring had bricks around it. So far I have gone down 8 layers of bricks and I am not sure I have got to the bottom yet. The bricks look newer than the ones used in the house. They look the same as the bricks around the surface of the well. My guess on the age of the well is early 1800's. If that is true, then the spring was redone after the well was already in use. That would make sense if the spring was more reliable than the well.

(I have attached a picture of the handmade brick with the dog print that was used when the house was remodeled after 1850. The other picture is the well which has newer bricks on top. )