Ryan P. wrote:
.
Okay, I've been following this thread, admittedly not knowing (or
rather, not remembering from school) the maximum height a column of
water could be without assistance.

That being said, I distinctly remember the old-style hand pumps...
the kind you find in state camping grounds, and used to find in
highway waysides, and people who had them on wells with a water
table
WELL below 22 feet.

So, I did a little checking, and came up with this table:
http://www.aermotorwindmills.com/handpumps.htm (there's a nice table
about halfway down the page).

Am I wrong in thinking this is a standard hand pump, or is this NOT
what you and Tom are talking about?

The 2nd picture down is the shape of the pump we had on the farm that
did lift water from 60 feet down and pushed it 20 feet higher to a
tank. As the data table shows, those old style pumps were capable of
bringing water from 100 to 200 fett down!!

You have observed well - those are the type pumps that most windmills
were connected to all across the country before electricity was
brought to almost everyone.

Tom J