Find water when needed

[OldBearHair]

First off I don't want to seem like I am bragging or tooting my own horn. I was looking on Facebook and ran across old friends and this is what came of it.

Water divining by Bill Barrick
Friends that we worked with Nora and Al
Nora: Al was telling a neighbor about your uncanny ability to locate water.
Answer: I haven't used that ability to find water since the time at Girl's Ranch LOL Nora: Can't imagine that. Al has a cousin that we met at the family reunion who is pretty successful but you are the standard by which we measure.
Somewhere in New Mexico, there is a water well still producing since 1985 that started out as an “X” marked on the ground with a nail driven in the X and had an orange ribbon on it , with verbal instructions for the driller to set the core drill exactly on the nail and not four or five feet away from it.

It is an uncanny feeling as the forked stick in my hand begins to bend toward the earth and resist by gripping harder then the stick breaks because of the stress. Lot of folks these days think it is a ridiculous thing and ignore it. I have shown several how and they are completely amazed at the unexplainable force they feel in their hands.
As you travel West of Magdelena on Highway 60 to the Arizona state line, there are dozens of windmill water wells that were drilled when a professor from New Mexico University showed them where to place the core drill. Exactly on the nail and not four or five feet away from it.
Some people say it is water witching and is of the Devil..
Others say it is water divining and is a gift of God. Who was it that spoke into being all the blessings of the earth and made things of the earth the way they are..
Only one of God’s many gifts to man.

My Uncle Jack Barrick was sought after much to come and find where to drill for water. The routine was to find the water signal with his method of divining then mark an X on the exact spot. Put a piece of ribbon on a big nail and drive it in the center of the X.
Then he would go a step farther to tell the driller how deep the water was. He used some small cotton string and cut three pieces and tied three slip knots on the end of each string. Then tied the strings on a sewing thimble and gathered the loose end straight and tied to a longer single string making a miniature bucket. .
Then he filled a ceramic coffee cup half full of water and put I down on the nail in the ground. Standing over the cup he would position the thimble where it was centered in the cup.
Next dip the thimble in the water and it would full . Lifted the thimble enough to clear the water in the cup and held it as still as he could.
The thimble would begin to go in little circles for a few times and then begin to be elliptical until it was swinging back and forth more and more until it began to ping when it hit the side of the cup.
No one was allowed to talk at this time. After a bit of time the thimble would cease to hit the side and became elliptical then round and round then come to a stop in the center of the cup.
Uncle Jack had counted the pings and would tell the driller that was how many feet deep he needed to drill.
The accuracy of the affair was told far and wide in the community. He was a mild mannered man. He accepted thank you with a slight grin and didn’t ask for pay for his work. .

A few people can be successful at feeling the pull whether it be a forked stick, two pieces of a coathanger or even a small fork from a greasewood plant in the West.
Others try as they may just doesn't work for them. Everyone can not sing bass either. Never try to teach a pig to sing. It irritates the pig and wastes your time. LOL

[waksupi]

I've mostly used witching to find underground wires, and to locate people's septic tanks. I've also used them on maps for various purposes, with surprising results.

[OldBearHair]

Yeah Waksupi I have done that stuff as well. We were needing to dig a five foot deep ditch around the perimeter of the NM Boys Ranch and deeded to know what was buried there. Went around putting little flags and found that I was right only eighty percent of the time. That map dousing is something else too. Seems that is how the Spanish located the gold from old accounts.

[10x]

When I was ten years I watched an old an old fellow from Germany witch for water in early May. the willows were budding but not leafed out and he cut a forked red willow branch.
He skinned the bark off of the two forks to within 8 or 10 inches of the fork, then he held the willow by the skinned stems and walked across the old homestead yard his friends son was thinking of building a home on. There was one spot where the bark end of the willow would always point down. There were about 4 or 5 of us kids watching and he took each of us and we held one side of the skinned branch. I could not stop it from pointing down when we went over that spot.
We asked what he was doing, he said "witching for water." We asked if there was water where the stick went down, he said "not likely, the stick didn't feel like it was water." We asked what might be there? His reply, "maybe someone buried something, maybe a grave. "

It is of note that when the son of his friend built his home the Northwest corner of it covered the place where the willow wand dipped down and the old German Gentleman always found an excuse to not enter the home.

[shooter93]

I have used them numerous times in my building career to find water. Many people don't believe it works but I have seen it way to many times myself. On one property of 15 acres the local geological dept. at the University did a study and told the owner his most likely place for a well. The witcher who knew none of this walked the entire property and stopped within 4 feet of where the University said was the most likely place. I had quite a crowd at my place when we built because my wife's family had never seen one work so they all came to watch and were impressed. By the way....they are not allowed to charge for the service. And the guy who witched my place holds two separate PHD's in Engineering and studied the process extensively.

[rockrat]

I have used metal rods to find pipes underground and freshly cut forked stick for water. Its uncanny when the stick will just peel the bark off from me trying to keep it in place. Been a long time since I did it. My little brother couldn't find water worth anything, but he could tell you just how deep it was within a few feet. I never could

[wgr]

my grandfather says that you need a forked peach branch.

[DCP]

In the sense that it finds underground water, water dowsing does not work.

http://wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2015/04/...-dowsing-work/


In many areas of the world, water dowsing seems to really work. In such areas, the location that the dowser points out indeed leads to a productive well. However, such areas of the world have so much groundwater close to the surface that any location will yield a productive well. The situation is like filling a box with only green socks and then asking a magician to close his eyes and use his magic powers to find a green sock in the box. If a system is secretly rigged for 100% success from the start, any method we use will seem successful. The U.S. Geological Survey states, "The natural explanation of ‘successful' water dowsing is that in many areas underground water is so prevalent close to the land surface that it would be hard to drill a well and not find water. In a region of adequate rainfall and favorable geology, it is difficult not to drill and find water!"

[Tom W.]

When I worked installing gravestones our boss and his son both used bent coat hangers and could locate old graves. I thought it was B.S. until I saw it several times. Then one day the church that I was attending bought a several acre field to use as a cemetery. One of the members had a divining rod and found where we should dig a well. I was skeptical, and we dug the well by hand. It's still producing good water to this day....

[EDG]

Jajajaja
I saw a few old timers use dousing on my grandfather's place. They always found scattered indications of water when dousing.
The real truth was in that sandy land any hole of of 6 feet or more would collect water.
My grandfather's 150 year old well was hand bored and was only 55 feet deep.
Many, many times we would dig post holes for a new fence and would get water in the bottom of the hole.

[Idaho45guy]

On my folk's cabin property, they have yet to dig a well since buying the place in `82. That area is infamous for some people getting a 75' well and 40 GPM and others going 700' and getting nothing but $40k in debt.

So we still haul in water and it is stored in a 500 gallon tank. It used to be easier because we are a mile away from a state park and they would let folks fill their tanks at the park.

The water source was from 600' at the bottom of the lake. Then the government declared water that people had been drinking since the `70's was no longer good enough and made the state dig a well. It is 500' and doesn't produce enough water to meet the demand, so now we have to haul our water from 50 miles away. There we have a hand dug 30' well that produced 35 GPM and has been tested as better than city water.

Various land owners have tried water witching down at the cabin area and some have success and many don't. At the price of well drilling these days, it's just not worth the gamble.

[LaPoint]

Hairy Old Bear, I just drove US 60 west bound from Socorro to Mesa, AZ 2 weeks ago. I wondered how they decided where to place those windmills? An old plumber showed me how to use coat hangar wire to locate water pipes under ground. I was a non believer until I tried it myself. I'll have to try the forked branch method soon.

[RED BEAR]

never tried or seen it but if it works for you then go with it.

[Mal Paso]

Dowsers do at least as well as the engineers in finding water in my experience. One fellow in a polyester leisure suit and a plastic amethyst pendant he used for dowsing claimed 50+ gallons a minute 150 feet down when there was nothing like it in the area. He was spot on. I did the well test.

[samari46]

Had a contractor who was doing some work where I worked. He came into my office and asked if I could get him some brass brazing rod. When asked he said it was dousing for water or buried water,oil or electric feeders. He cut about a foot off each 3' rod then bent about 8" at a 90 degree angle and so I went with him. Sure enough he located an oil line buried in the ground and excavated it. Said it worked pretty well for him just about 90% pf the time. I tried it and sure enough when you were just right over a water line or oil line the rods would cross to show where to dig. Have done it both in NY and here in Louisiana on my property to find the air vent for the swimming pool discharge which was all underground. Even tried it to find the gas and water lines at the front of the property prior to calling Louisiana one dig. My spray paint markers matched the ones when they came over. He asked who did the markers when I told him what and how I did it he started laughing. He said a lot of the older generation used to do it that way. If you don't call them for the survey which is free you are liable for any damage to underground utilities. If someone gets hurt or worse the you are criminally liable and could go to jail. Frank

[Bookworm]

My grandfather was a drainage contractor, starting after he was wounded in WW1. He witched as a matter of course during his work.

I've used coat hangers to find underground pipes etc. I told my Dad about it, he chuckled. Seems he could never do it, and us unaware of any cousins that have the ability. As far as I know, none of my 5 siblings can witch.

[rockrat]

I always tried to use Willow for my "water witching". Can't do it on my place as we have a subsurface water table 10' or less. Few neighbors have artesian wells and one had to use a "french drain" to keep the water away from his foundation/house.

[lightman]

I've never done it or even seen it done for water. There are more than a few water companies around that have used it to find pipes. I've located a few pipes myself. I used a #6 solid copper wire bent into an "L" and held it like a pistol. I can't explain how it works but I've seen and done it.

[429421Cowboy]

I have never tried the forked stick method because I've never had anyone to show me how, but I do use brass rods to find buried lines. My father taught me as a boy, as his father taught him. It works so well that I trust it when looking for water lines. I do a lot of the general repairs and maintenance at work in addition to my professional job, and have used it many times finding water lines and such when looking for leaks. The first couple years I worked there I did it in secret because I was worried the boss would get mad at me wasting time or laugh at me, but he finally caught me doing it and I showed him, and he couldnt believe it. Now I keep rods ready to use in the shop and grab them often when looking for anything buried.
The best person I've ever seen at it was a lady that just used a screwdriver in her hand. The best she ever did was tell a drilling rig to move over 10 feet from a dry hole and dig to the same depth they had, and hit 50gpm. I'd never believe it if someone tried to explain it to me, and I can't explain it, but it works.

[Tracy]

In the sense that it finds underground water, water dowsing does not work.

http://wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2015/04/...-dowsing-work/


In many areas of the world, water dowsing seems to really work. In such areas, the location that the dowser points out indeed leads to a productive well. However, such areas of the world have so much groundwater close to the surface that any location will yield a productive well. The situation is like filling a box with only green socks and then asking a magician to close his eyes and use his magic powers to find a green sock in the box. If a system is secretly rigged for 100% success from the start, any method we use will seem successful. The U.S. Geological Survey states, "The natural explanation of ‘successful' water dowsing is that in many areas underground water is so prevalent close to the land surface that it would be hard to drill a well and not find water. In a region of adequate rainfall and favorable geology, it is difficult not to drill and find water!"

"Science: The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena." -American Heritage Dictionary.

I find it ironic when worshippers of the religion of "science" assume that lack of knowledge of a particular subject equates to proof of non-existence. Looking at it logically, all new scientific breakthroughs would be fallacy since the world's best scientists didn't already know about the new discovery.

Consider that again: observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation. That is the best description I have found of science.
Contrast that with Webster-Merriam; "Science: the state of knowing; knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding."
That is what most people seem to think about science, but it is demonstrably incorrect.

I could go on, but the bottom line is that just because a group of scientists have overstepped their bounds to claim something doesn't exist because they lack the ability to replicate it; is not proof of non-existence.