WorldWide Drilling Resource

Tales from the Field by Jeremy C. Wire Geoconsultants, Inc. An unexpected Adventure Sometimes, one of our surveys for water well location turns out to be more of an adventure than expected, involving not only unusual field conditions, but often the characters we meet on-site are memorable. This tale involves a project for a ranch in a remote part of the San Francisco Bay area. Some of these ranches, comprised of thousands of acres, are the size of small states. Their only access may be by one long dirt road, with the headquarters of the ranch being over an hour’s drive from any main paved road extending from the nearest city. On the day of this survey, another geologist and I, after looking at a map, thought access to the site looked easy, but in reality, it was not. It was a very hot summer day, we found the road to be very rough, there were forks in the road which did not have signs, and parts of the road had been washed out the previous winter. Further, there were many barbed-wire gates along the way which had to be opened and closed, and as happens sometimes, one of us sus- tained some cuts while engaged in this activity. Finally, after more than an hour of driving, we could see a small flat with the ranch house ahead, along with a barn and associated outbuildings. Upon arrival, the ranch manager greeted us, but wondered what had taken us so long to get there, as in his view all the road conditions along the way were considered “nor- mal”. After some discussion about the property and the area to be surveyed, and the need for a domestic well because the spring sources were drying up, we were about to set to work, when the manager said, “There is one more thing you will need in the field, and I will go get it.” He went back into the house, and thinking he went to get a map or something, we were surprised upon his return to see he had a 45-caliber pistol in his hand. We asked what it was for. His reply was, “There are rattlesnakes around here . . . big ones. When we see them, we shoot them.” After this comment, he fired off several rounds toward the low brush-covered hills of our survey area for emphasis, and we guessed to make sure the pistol was loaded and ready for action. We were already somewhat anxious about the time we had taken to get to the site, and the area to be surveyed in terms of completing our work, and leaving before darkness set in. This account obviously raised our anxiety level a notch or two more. As he handed the pistol over he said, “Now I need to fix a broken windmill on another part of the ranch, and I may not be back before you boys are finished, so just leave the pistol on the porch before you leave.” With that, he drove off in his pickup, and utter silence descended on the place. Needless to say, we were very cau- tions during our work, imagining there might be “a big one” behind every rock pile, but we never saw any. Did we think this whole scenario was made up to frighten two “city boys”? We never knew, nor whether a well was ever drilled as a follow-up to our survey. Jeremy Jeremy Wire may be contacted via e-mail to michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com 15 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® OCTOBER 2017 Deadlines for December issue: Space Reservation: October 25 th Display & Classified Ad Copy: November 1 st