Where in Nevada Is Wally Spencer's Lost Underground River?

Friend and former student (my first graduate student, and still one of the best) Don Mahin of Reno, NV, sent me links to these videos (c. 1993) from the TV show Unsolved Mysteries. They describe the case of Wally Spencer, who claimed to have discovered a huge 'underground river' (cavernous aquifer?) beneath Nevada. Spencer's 'river' allegedly was originally discovered by two prospectors in 1927, who dynamited the only known opening to keep their treasure (gold) from the landowner. Spencer was a rocket scientist who used satellite imagery and some kind of device of his own design to locate the 'river'. 

I know nothing of the details of Spencer's work, but the show left me with the impression that Spencer was foiled by Nevada's 'red tape' vis-a-vis water rights. He had 'found' all this water and the state officials were jerking him around. Naturally, he was concerned that his secret would be stolen and he would be left with nothing.

I don't see it that way. Nevada was simply asking him to demonstrate that the water actually existed. Spencer supposedly estimated the daily flow at 17B gallons (c. 52,000 acre-feet per day) but there is no indication of where that number came from. That is a lot of water - the mean daily flow of the Colorado River is around 38,000 acre-feet per day). No wonder the state was a bit skeptical. I am, too.

Recall that Spencer never sunk a well to prove that the water was there. That step is critical whenever you rely on indirect data - such as remotely-sensed or geophysical data -- to ascertain whether there is available groundwater. You need to ground truth the data - drill a well. The folks in the oil patch know this all too well. All the data in the world may point to an oil or gas body, but until you put the hole in the ground you're just blowing smoke. 

I like what Michael Turnipseed said - that Spencer, with his allegedly unproven technology - was little better than someone walking around with a willow stick divining for water.

Unfortunately, Spencer died in 2003 without ever drilling for water. The exact location of the 'river' remains a mystery.

You can judge for yourself, or maybe not, given the sparse information in the show.

Here is Part 1:

 

Part 2 (just 1:24 long):

 

It is interesting to note that Spencer first made his claim in 1989, just about the time SNWA was filing its claims to subsurface water in large parts of rural Nevada. Just a coincidence.

Guess we'll never know. But if 'Wally's Water' is out there, SNWA probably has filed a water rights claim.

"As I gaze upon the sea! All the old romantic legends, all my dreams, come back to  me."-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Comments

[Kim Richards]

What I find really interesting, that there seems to be only a lot of focus of the southwestern lakes dissapearing.. mead and the like... but, they are disapearing all over the Globe.. The Rhine, salt lake, etc... every state in the usa has low levels of water in man made lakes and lakes in general.. All one needs to do is look at the shoreline that is slowly growing wider.. Maybe he did find it.. I could believe that. At this point in the world and timeline we are in, I could believe just about anything is possible.. We certainly are living in funky historical moments. Every day is a new show...

[Tebbie Palomino]

I feel that we have more water than we know what to do with but the government will never admit that so they can keep taking money from the people and saying there's no water it's all one big giant scam

[Adam]

From what I read, Wally Spencer was willing to prove the water existed if the state signed a contract for payment with the understanding that Wally would not be paid till he had proven the amount of water he had claimed flows through it. If the water didn't exist as Wally had claimed, the state would have owed Wally nothing. That alone tells me Wally was telling the truth. He clearly gave the state an easy way out of the contract if the amount of water didn’t exist. The State Dept of Nevada was mostly likely a bunch of self-entitled, arrogant, egotistical morons by not signing the contract, probably thinking they could find it themselves without paying Wally anything. The state would have made billions over the years and we would not be in this drought today. Wally was only asking for a one-time fee that would have amounted to pennies in comparison. Morons!!!

[EJ Hanford]

Wally Spencer was likely searching for a "pipe dream" rather than something that really existed. Read some more details of his efforts at:

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Wally_Spencer

"During the 1980s, however, the space shuttle program brought new clues. Clearer photographs of the Nevada desert were taken. These photos came to the attention of rocket scientist Wally Spencer. When examining the photographs, he noticed what appeared to be an ancient river channel going straight through the desert. He believes that plants surrounded the river millions of years ago. He also believes that these plants would have since decomposed into black gold or crude oil."

perfectly far-fetched!!

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/10/25/Engineer-says-huge-underground-river-flowing-under-Nevada-desert/3208719985600/

As to more recent determinations by the State of Nevada Water Engineer - see page 6 of:

http://images.water.nv.gov/images/OCRs/RULINGS/5997r.pdf

And an interesting PowerPoint on the history:

http://mojavewater.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=167&meta_id=12420

[Steve]

Isn't this just like the underground Amargosa river that flows through Nye county? This has been known about for some time...I mean there's even a national monument or something with a visitor's center at Ash Meadows where the river flows upwards momentarily before dropping back done. Go see it, it's really neat. My guess is this Wally fellow just some spur of that river system, perhaps bigger, maybe smaller. Who knows, but certainly within realm of possibility as we have concrete proof such things exist in close proximity to Las Vegas.

[Vito A Lombardi]

If anyone does know the location of Wally's hidden river now would be a good time to reveal its location don't you think? Have you seen Lake Mead lately?

[Michael Campana]

Go here and then use Google:

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Wally_Spencer

If I knew where they were I would provide their URLs.

[Dan Hall]

Where can I find the videos that have been remover from this sight. Thanks Dan

[john p owen]

I have info on Wally Spencer's lost river. I am positive I know were there are subterranean tunels in the southern NV desert. contact # 7025348407

[Stacey Ponzio]

I remember speaking with a gentleman that owned a mining related business . He also knew Wally and said he had a general ideal of it's location. He had put this together from the small bit of info Wally gave him . He staked a claim for mineralsale near by . When he did come across a natural cavern he could hear it .
Last I heard he explored until he passed. His claim was somewhere between Jean and spring mnt
Range before pahrump. Who knows but I believe the government does

[Tyler Mason]

I actually worked for Wally in the summer of 1993. I know exactly where the river is and the two wells that did get drilled and did prove its existence.

[RM]

If that comment about the mining engineer with the US Bureau of mines is true, wouldn't there be some documentation about this in their archives that is public record? Why didn't they publish their report on this? It would be an important find for the state of Nevada.

[bob]

Doesnt devils hole in nv lead to a river at least 300 to 900 ft deep.It also rises and lowers and splashes level during events like earthquakes in other countries as stated on the govs website.

[B Allen]

The river exists underground rises and falls with the Pacific Tides. It is in southern Clark County, It is not just water but rare earth minerals that there also.

The old US Bureau of Mines during WWII in unpublished reports investigated. The prime investigator use to live in Carson City and was famous in his day.

Just happened to come across your website when I searched for underground river.

The desert sun did not affect the gentlemen.

The mine which leads to the underground river is still out there. This might make mountain pass look like a midget...

I spent two years with the old mining engineer roaming Nevada and California. He was an amazing individual who visited over 50,000 mine sites in his career with Bureau of Mines he left in 1950's

[web design company Landon]

The more he nagged the government and water engineers about having found an underground river in southern Nevada that might extend as far north as British Columbia and run all the way to the Pacific, the more they smiled with understanding what the wicked desert sun can do to a man prospecting on his own..Good blog..

[Rainbow Water Coalition]

According to Findlay, T. 2005, To Move An Ocean, Range Magazine, p. 46-57.

*Nobody seriously wanted to listen to Wally Spencer in those days. The more he nagged the government and water engineers about having found an underground river in southern Nevada that might extend as far north as British Columbia and run all the way to the Pacific, the more they smiled with understanding what the wicked desert sun can do to a man prospecting on his own*.

The Columbia River averages 265,000 cubic foot/second = 525,619 acre foot/day = 171,273,976,490 gallon/day, so it sounds like Wally's river might be a *tributary* of the Columbia. If his underground *river* does extend to BC, then this could be the mother of all transboundary groundwater projects to be addressed by the State Department, and perhaps even more of a transboundary groundwater project than the newly discovered underground River Hamza in South America!

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article2415385.ece

[Peter Gleick]

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Or in this case, even ANY evidence.