Minecraft wiki entry for Elevators, associated text: Dig or construct another 1-block column close to your elevator. Make your entrance two blocks high, and place a sign at the two-block level (eye-level) below the column. Place a water source block two blocks up from that, creating a two-block flowing water column. You can now drop down from the top of the column, and the water slows you to drop safely past the sign to floor level.