I remember asking my uncle one time about some cast-iron pipework that still lay in the bottom of the stream-bed that ran through his farm, about 100 yards away from the house and perhaps thirty feet below the house level. He said it was a hydraulic ram. At this time (mid fifties?) he had replaced this device with a Lister pump which drew water from a spring adjacent to the stream, but still with a good twenty-five feet of height to overcome. This had to be operated at least once a day to fill a huge cast-iron kettle that stood next to the house. It was another twenty years before mains water arrived.

I never figured out how a hydraulic ram could work, but there are various sites which will try to explain the principles. This one suggests they are relatively inefficient - eight gallons has to pass through the system to raise one gallon. Thinking back, there may have been a small dam in my uncle's stream-bed to ensure that all of the stream's water would be available to power the ram. I think in UK you would nowadays have to get water authority permission to obstruct a waterway like that - may be just requires agreement between you and your neighbour in USA.

Ross