“Mr. Cole!”
The old man smiled.
“Morning, son.”
He lifted the box.
“Thought you might like to see something.”
Noah's heart began racing.
“Is it about the spring?”
Ezra nodded.
“Some of it.”
Grace joined them carrying three glasses of iced tea. She invited Ezra to sit beneath the porch awning, where a weak breeze offered a little relief from the heat.
The old man opened the box.
Inside were black-and-white photographs, folded letters, yellowing maps, and a small notebook held together with a strip of leather.
The first photograph showed six men standing beside a shallow trench. Behind them, the Bennett farmhouse looked new, and the surrounding fields were almost entirely bare.
Ezra pointed toward the youngest man.
“That's your great-great-grandfather, Isaac Bennett.”
Noah stared.
Isaac wore suspenders, a flat cap, and a serious expression.
“He looks like Grandpa.”
Ezra smiled.
“He does.”
Then he turned the photograph over.
A date was written on the back.
September 12, 1914.
Noah looked up.
“That's more than a hundred years ago.”
Ezra nodded.
“The system was started around then, though some of the work continued for years.”
Grace leaned closer.
“What were they building?”
Ezra pointed toward the trench.
“A small gravity-fed collection and distribution system.”
Noah frowned.
“Like irrigation?”
“Somewhat. The old families were trying to manage water from a spring-fed area above the hollow.”
He explained that the system was built when several neighboring farms still shared labor, equipment, and certain maintenance responsibilities. Its purpose wasn't to irrigate hundreds of acres. The natural source was too limited for that.
Instead, the settlers arranged shallow conveyance channels and a covered collection chamber to carry modest amounts of available water toward small garden plots and livestock-related uses, subject to the agreements and laws of the period.
Six families had contributed labor.
The Bennetts.
The Coles.
The Harkers.
The Lawsons.
The Masons.
And the Reeds.
Noah stared.
“Harker?”
Ezra nodded.
“Dale's family.”