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Can someone help identify this old metal pole in the backyard? It's very tall and seems to have a a hookup for water supply. The house was built in the 1940s and is located in the California East Bay hills

Full image of pole

Base of pole

detail of pole, with water hookup and valve.

user133324
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    At first I thought an antenna mast because prior to sutro tower going up in the late 70’s we had horrible TV reception , with the water??? Are there any nozzles up at the top? – Ed Beal Mar 30 '21 at 18:20
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    Perhaps a prior owner was an amateur radio operator, and the pole was used to support an antenna, or one end of a longwire or dipole radiator. – DavidRecallsMonica Mar 30 '21 at 18:37
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    Can't really tell what is at the top, aside from it's a metal, cross-shaped structure, because it's very tall. I do agree the water connection and valve is a key clue. I'm thinking of hooking up a hose, turning the water on, and see what happens :) – user133324 Mar 30 '21 at 18:38
  • Irrigation for vines growing on strings to be attached to the cross bar? I kinda like "giant rotating sprinkler" but I can't convince myself the cross arm rotates (just the thing for fire season - water the whole house!) Got any elderly neighbors who have lived in the area a long time you could ask? – Ecnerwal Mar 30 '21 at 18:46
  • Looks almost like a power pole repurposed to hold a sprinkler. Are metal power poles used in your area, maybe due to termites? It seems awful high to hold a sprinkle, but I think they spray fruit trees in California on cold nights. You should also consider whether it could have held of the far end of a clothesline running from the house. – David42 Mar 31 '21 at 14:48
  • Happy Festivus! – Steve Wellens Apr 11 '21 at 04:39

1 Answers1

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I really like "what is this old thing left from a previous time" questions. This is just a guess, but here it is.

windmill

https://www.rockridgewindmills.com/photo-video-gallery/early-california-windmill-photos/#rockridgewindmills-1/0/Redwood_Windmill_Water_Tower.jpg

What you have left was once the center pole from a water pumping windmill. You must imagine the windmill and the wood frame, and the water tank that was once filled by this windmill. But a windmill and a water tank in the Bay area seems right, from when this was still an agricultural area.

Willk
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    What is really interesting about the "left-over center pole from a water pumping windmill" suggestion is there is actually quite a bit of groundwater that flows beneath the property! – user133324 Mar 30 '21 at 22:00
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    Apparently there is a long history of water-pumping windmills in California! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankhouse – user133324 Mar 30 '21 at 22:44
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    Center pole ...and well casing (extended far above ground) I have to suspect. This makes sense with the direction of the hose connection on the small pipe, which is correct for "supplied from above" and backwards for "connect something to spray above" – Ecnerwal Mar 31 '21 at 02:04
  • This makes a lot of sense, however one must wonder about the sense of historical value that the person felt who tore down the rest of the windmill leaving this one artifact. Was it a strong sentimental value that left it behind? Was it a sense of "I'm really going to mess with people's heads in 50 years"? _Why_ in the world would someone have left this one bit? – FreeMan Mar 31 '21 at 13:41
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    @FreeMan the obvious answers is that the rest of the setup was wooden or fragile: it burned up, it rotted, parts started falling off, etc. – fectin Mar 31 '21 at 13:57
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    Given this, I would advise *against* hooking up a hose to that spigot and pumping water into it. That's probably an output hookup, not an input. Pumping water into it might be forcing it into the ground in the reverse direction from what's intended, and I'm not sure if that would cause problems in your ground water. Unless some part in the middle has been removed at the top of the pole, in which case it'd just spray water into the air? – Darrel Hoffman Mar 31 '21 at 14:06
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    Could be, @fectin. It's not like fires are uncommon in CA. At some point, you'd think someone would have cut down the metal pole to haul it in for scrap value. Guess it was too much effort... – FreeMan Mar 31 '21 at 14:13
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    There may be local laws in place regulating how to decommission a well as well. It might take more than just cutting it off, it may be required to fill the underground portion with concrete or seal things in some other way. – PhilippNagel Mar 31 '21 at 18:18
  • @user133324 Or maybe "was quite a bit of groundwater." Some parts of California have sunk dozens of feet from aquifer depletion. It's so bad in some places sea water is invading the aquifers. – JimmyJames Apr 07 '21 at 20:08
  • @Willk I sent some pictures to the historic windmill guy and he said it is NOT the remains of an old windmill pump :( Still trying to figure out what this was... – Jeff Apr 11 '21 at 01:26
  • I keep thinking that I saw something like this in someone's bay area yard. My wife said she saw something similar in Morgan Hill (Ca) long time ago. Now I'm going crazy wondering... – Bill Apr 13 '21 at 23:24