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Spring Pole and Other Hand-Powered Drilling Rigs (Part 1) Maybe they realized that the desperately-needed water was too far down to dig by hand, or maybe they got tired of burying friends and family killed digging deep wells. Whatever their motivation might have been, someone long ago began developing the means for drilling wells rather than digging them. Until the mid 19th century, the primary means of powering drilling machinery was by hand. The drilling rigs themselves were typically hand built from local materials and ranged from very simplistic rigs used to drill shallow wells to fairly complex systems capable...

RIBTA, Djibouti, March 22, 2007 ? A recent Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa site survey to find water in northern Djibouti turned into a lifesaving medical assist for a young Ribta child. Members of the North Carolina-based 1132nd Engineer Detachment (Well Drillers) were conducting a mission with hydrogeologists from the Naval Facilities Engineering Command to identify potential water well sites when they were asked by a local leader for medical assistance. A Ribta girl suffered third-degree burns to her left arm that had become infected, necessitating lifesaving medical attention. The local leader requested the team help the young child....