Finding Water the Ol' Timey Way: Dowsing/Water Witching Presentation

My colleague Todd Jarvis, who did the excellent presentation on Bottled Water and the Environment, which I posted on 17 May 2007 (click here), has outdone himself. He's developed an even-handed presentation on "dowsing" or "water witching", Finding Water the Ol' Timey Way.

 

Here is the presentation:

Download dowsing_24sept2007.pdf

Here is a copy of a brief article on Oregon dowsing by Todd:

Download osbge_dowsing_article.pdf

Again - the dual-category classification simply indicates the some people consider dowsing bulls**t and some consider it amazing. You decide for yourself.

“One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop.” -- G. Weilacher

Comments

[Ike Pate]

I have deen dowsing in the centeral West Texas area for several years and with good success. Having read many articals about how others go about their job I have noticed none have mentioned something that I use on every job I do. That'is finding the width of the live stream using the Y rod. Mark to spot where you first find the stream and move a few feet eather way to be sure you are in the center of the stream. Standing on the center line move to the outside and the Y rod will go up instead of down. Give it a try and see how it works.

[Michael]

You can ask local well drillers, or try the American Society of Dowsers (www.dowsers.org).

[Faultline USA]

How to find a dowser in the North Texas Area?

[DW]

Mike,

Great post. Believe it or not - Dowsing works. My uncle taught me how to do it when I was ten years old. Most forked sticks will work to some degree. The best choice are ones that have some 'bend' to them. Both forks need the same amount of bend to work well. The trick is how to hold the stick. You use your hands - fingers opposing the thumb. Bend the stick by pushing your thumbs on each fork. This way the fork sections 'pivots' on your curled fingers and opposing thumbs. The key is equal tension on both forks of the stick.

I never thought much of the little trick my uncle taught me until I built my first house. We built on a raw parcel in N. Cal. I had no idea where to locate the well but thought, What the Hell... I walked the property with a well selected forked stick. I walked in areas that could accommodate the drilling rig. I found a spot where the stick shot downward. I marked the spot with a small stone. Several months later, we hired a driller to come out to do the job. He looked over the site, took out his own stick and walked the property. Twenty minutes later he had located his spot to drill.

Where you ask? His spot was within three feet of my stone... Considering the area that was covered was about 0.75 Acre I cant help but think that there has to be something to this.

My second experience was coming across an old man Dowsing using parallel rods. He was prospecting in a Wash thirty miles north of Yuma. Over a beer he explained the process. In this case he was looking for gold in the Wash's gravel. Bull..., I thought. How could this work? Just like my uncle, he showed me how it was done. It's all in how the rods are held. He claimed that the rods could locate underground pipes and electrical conduits, etc. Later on, I made my own rods and experimented. Damn, the old guy was right. With some practice, I was able to locate water pipes and buried electrical cables.

I normally don't buy into this sort of stuff. However, in my case, Dowsing really works.

Please tell Dr. Jarvis that I enjoyed his presentation. Too bad the PDF didn't have the presenters notes attached. I'm sure that it must have been a great presentation.

DW