WorldWide Drilling Resource

EXB Tales from the Field by Jeremy C. Wire Geoconsultants, Inc. Those Crazy Chickens Occasionally in our work locating water wells, we come across a property which for some reason just seems to have “bad luck” attached to it, at least as far as finding a suitable well location is concerned. The property of this tale, located in the hills east of our urban area, was underlain by a bedrock formation which usually yielded water to wells, at least in quantities suitable for domestic use. Being a rather small parcel, it was located near the crest of a sharp ridge, had a steep slope on one side, and a high cut for a county road along another, and along with other constraints, had limited sites for drilling. Many years ago, we located a well which produced for some months, but then went dry. The owner at the time tried drilling another at a nearby location, but no success. Several years later, we received a telephone call from a new owner asking if we thought there was another location which might be drilled. Knowing the history, unless there was some way of adding land to the property, or providing better access for drilling, we told him probably not. Over several more years, this scenario was re- peated periodically by a succession of new owners, who after drilling another dry hole or two in the same limited area as the original well, would check in with us, and being tired of hauling water, they would move on. More recently, the latest owner of the property called, and noting a slight realignment of the county road had allowed access to a different part of the parcel, asked if we could evaluate a possible well site. We thought this might present a better opportunity for a good well location, so a date for the work was set. When we arrived at the site, the owner said, “I think there is something going on here lately, and there is some kind of signal or sound that is making my chickens go crazy. They just wander around aimlessly bumping into things, and they won’t lay any eggs.” Upon hearing this declaration, we began to wonder whether the owner also might be affected by some strange unseen force or phenomenon. We told him we could possibly detect a signal coming through the ground with our equipment. The chosen site was very close to the edge of the county road and power- lines, but was not a source of interference, nor did any unusual signals seem to be coming from radio broadcasting towers off in the distance to the northwest. After evaluating the data, we told the owner this might be the “site of last resort” to develop a well. Months later, we heard from the drilling contractor that during drilling, so much water was developed while air lifting, it flooded the nearby county road, causing enough of a problem the traffic was delayed from time to time. So, the chain of “bad luck” for find- ing water on the property was broken after many years. Now, whether the chickens were still “crazy” after that, we never heard. Jeremy Jeremy Wire may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com 36 MAY 2018 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®