WorldWide Drilling Resource

24 SEPTEMBER 2019 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Through the Back Door! by Jim Kuebelbeck Lakota Peak As water dowsers, my wife Carol and I have encountered our share of surprising experiences. A few years ago, the owner of a Christmas tree farm in central Minnesota needed an additional water supply for his expanding operation. Using our dowsing methods, we were able to locate a great groundwater supply in an area where such supplies are difficult to locate by drilling at random. A few months ago, this same man asked us to locate another groundwater source on adjacent property he had purchased. Again, we were able to success- fully locate a sufficient water supply for his growing business. He then asked if we would be willing to travel to the Black Hills of South Dakota, sometime in the future and try to locate a water supply on property he owned near the Crazy Horse Memorial. He heard we had located a great water supply for the Crazy Horse Memorial some time ago and wondered if we might be able to do the same on the 550 acres he owned in the Black Hills. We asked where the property was located, and he said his property was on “Lakota Peak”. (In hindsight, we wish he had emphasized the word “peak”.) He told us there was once a fire lookout tower on one of the high ridges, and the remains of part of a concrete shelter were still on- site. Because we were going to visit Crazy Horse again this spring, we agreed to try to locate a water supply on the property. So we traveled to South Dakota, and at our first opportunity, we managed to locate his property, which was no small feat in itself with the directions we had been given. Arriving at the entrance to the property (which consisted of strings of rusted barbed wire), we discovered what appeared to be a cattle path of sorts going up the “mountain” - without any evidence of any vehicle travel! Carol's first words were, “Are you kidding me? We are going to do this? This is crazy. This is no road. We can't do this. Why did we take this job?” I told her as long as we came this far, we should at least give it a try. Had there been any recent rain, I would have turned around immediately and not even made any attempt to try following this cow trail up the steep terrain. I told Carol I'd put our pickup in four-wheel drive, go as far as possible, and then make a decision if we could continue. The only sign of any recent travel on this path was the evidence left behind by the many cattle we encountered, which did little to help the traction of the tires. After encountering the many steep switchbacks on this narrow cattle trail (with Carol becoming increasingly quiet at every turn), we managed to arrive at a point a couple of thousand feet from the peak where further travel was impossible. By this time, Carol was ready for me to somehow get turned around and head right back down the mountain. I said to her, “We made it this far, so let's do this. Maybe in a few days we'll just remember this as another one of our many interesting expe- riences.” (I will not put into writing what she said in response.) Some hours later, we did manage to discover two sites where we believed a satisfactory water supply could be encountered. I'll have to admit, very little con- versation was exchanged between Carol and the driver of our pickup as we slowly, slowly made our way back down the mountain. Her first (very loud) words as I closed the rusted cattle gate behind us as we left the property were: “The next thing you are going to do is find a car wash and get the bottom of this pickup washed off.” As for me, I thought it best not to say anything more until we were some miles down the road! The statements and comments in this article are based on information and ref- erences 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 EXB