Water tower
Height, rope, and a tank that does not fill itself. The tower sits on the water line with the river bend and the windmill. Men who hate ladders still end up here when the pump sulks.
Bucket haul
Main work: fill at the base (well feed or river line), climb the ladder with the bucket, tip into the tank, climb down, repeat until the stripe on the tank wall is wet. Hands free enough to grip steel. Boots on. Shock ring still live—loafing on a rung gets you a pulse mid-air.
Heavy sets allow a second man on the ground rope. The climber still takes the bucket over the lip. Spilled water on the ladder is your mess and your extra trip.
Some shifts couple the haul to ball-well water: what you hung out of the well is what you carry up. The sack already knows the weight before the ladder starts.
Under penalty
Double-size bucket. Extra barbell plates clipped on the bucket. No ground man. No second climber. Continuous shock ring still live on the rungs; idle or slip reads as a double-intensity hit on top of the pulse. Spill means another full climb. No aftercare when the tank stripe is wet—see the woodshed.
Dive
Optional when the catch pool under the tower is full enough. Climb, show on the platform if the foreman wants a look, then dive. Cold hit. Public. Clamps stay on unless boss keyed them off first—diving with day-tights is a choice men make once and remember.
Miss the pool and you get the dirt and the laugh. Make the pool and you get the rinse the rows will not give you. No dive requirement on haul-only days. Dive days are posted on the boss office wall chart.
Platform rules
No pushing men off. No cutting rope. Show duty on the top deck is arms out, chest up, face the yard if called. Come down the ladder unless you earned a dive stamp.