WorldWide Drilling Resource

Through the Back Door! by Jim Kuebelbeck It was about five o’clock when we got home one night; and before we even had a chance to change clothes, we got a phone call from a drilling contractor who had drilled a dry hole for someone building a new home. He told me to expect a call from the landowner. Sure enough, the landowner called about five minutes later asking how soon we could come to assist, as the drill crew had left the rig in the yard and planned to drill again in the morning. We jumped right back into our truck and headed out. It was about 40 miles away, and we told the landowner it would take us about an hour to get there. He thanked me pro- fusely, then admitted other water finders had previously offered advice about where to drill, but only dry holes were drilled on those sites. The drilling contractor had told him we worked together many times in the past, and we had always located a good drilling site. When we arrived at the property, the landowner and his wife were already waiting in the yard. What I didn’t realize was, I was about to be educated and taught some additional lessons about water dowsing! When we shook hands and introduced ourselves, I noticed another individual sitting some distance away on a flatbed trailer in the yard. I waved to him to recognize his presence, but he just looked at me without moving. He just sat there staring at us, even when I said hello as we passed the trailer. Getting to work, I first checked the area around the dry hole, and indicated to the owner I didn’t think there was any good groundwater source at the site. The owner then asked if I would check the area on the other side of the flatbed trailer (where the speechless guy was sitting). The lights began to come on and I could see where the grass was flattened. Not only had the grass been trampled in the area, but three or four, six-inch-diameter trees had already been removed and cut off at ground level. As I started to work in the area, someone barked “Now go east!” I looked to see who was doing the talking, and sure enough, it was the guy on the trailer. I decided to pay no attention to him. Then he yelled, “Now go north a few feet!” Just to patronize him a bit, I then walked north a little. As I walked, I heard the guy say to the landowner, “Look, he missed it, he walked right over it!” Walking back to where they were standing, I noticed a small stake in the ground. I then said to the owner, “In my best judgment, I don’t believe there’s any good groundwater source in this area.” From the expression on the trailer guy’s face, I could tell immediately my newfound “local dowser” wasn’t going to be my best friend after all! Only then did I notice his tools of the trade lying on the trailer. They were two of the most humongous L-shaped metal rods I had ever seen. They must have weighed about five pounds apiece. I would guess they were about 5/8-inch in diameter. The dimensions were about 8 by 24 inches in length. If they’d have been magnetic, it would’ve taken two people to pry them off the steel trailer bed! About that time, the guy stomped off somewhere and we never saw him again before we left the property. We subsequently located and marked a couple of promising sites, and headed home. Later, the drilling contractor called and his first words were, “Today is a better day. We got about 20 gallons per minute at 75 feet.” I asked him if he had a lot of fun with the big water finder out there, and he just laughed. He told me I should have been there that morning because the guy came back out before they started to drill, and told them there was NO water on the site I selected. Then he told them the water on my second site was at exactly 192 feet! The crew didn’t pay any attention to him, but told him the property owner wanted them to drill on my selected site closest to the new house, and that’s what they were going to do. The guy left, and the drill crew was gone before he came back. The contractor said the guy had previously told the homeowner they had gone through and missed the water when they drilled the first holes in the yard! The statements and comments in this article are based on information and references believed to be true and factual. If you have any questions or comments, please forward them to me in care of WWDR . Jim Jim Kuebelbeck may be contacted via e-mail to michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com 55 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® MARCH 2017 Bringing drilling news from around the world, to your world. You can count on WWDR to keep you informed. We are YOUR resource. worldwidedrillingresource.com