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Show Water, water everywhere A (Continued from page 3) Richards, and there was quite a bit of question on it. . .And the experts on it, see, they don't ever guarantee anything. All of the information that they give you is conditioned upon other factors maybe which you cant check yourself, the material is dipping at a certain angle here and so forth . . . IF YOU have a fellow that comes on the site and he volunteers and says, I can tell you exactly where it is . . . it never hurts, says Mr. Richards. SO are more skeptical. Arthur J. Ellis produced a paper for the United States Geological Survey in 1917 entitled The Divining Rod, A History of g (Water-suppl- y paper No. 416, since reprinted many times). In it he concisely reviewed the history and practice of divining, from the Scythians, Persians and Medes on down. (Hosea, chapter four, verse 12: My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them.) He notes that divining rods were also used for sniffing out witches, a practice formally banned by the Inquisition in 1701. At almost every step in the advance of science and philosophy, someone has attempted to explain the supposed operation of the divining rod by means of the latest scientific theories, wrote Mr. Ellis, who devoted 27 of his 59 pages to a bibliography on the subject. THE POSITION of the USGS is stated in the introduction to that 1917 paper and has not changed since then, says Ted Amow. In that introduction, O.E. Meinzer wrote, The. . . history of the subject will probably enable most honest inquirers to appreciate the practical uselessness of waterwitching and other applications of the divining rod . . . It is doubtful whether so much investigation and discussion have been bestowed on any other subject with such absolute lack of positive results. It is difficult to see how for practical purposes the entire matter could be more thoroughly discredited. Nevertheless the practice persists. E.Z. Vogt, an anthropologist, and Ray Hyman, a professor of social psychology and statistics and a former magician, both of Harvard, reported in GeoTimes (Vol. II, No. 9) that a recent survey indicated that 25,000 dowsers were currently i.e., L1960 practicing in the United States (The survey was taken by Vogt and Hyman for a book on the subject; they sent questionaires to county agricultural extension agents throughout America, and their book Waterwitching, USA, was dedicated to the agents.) Others Water-witchin- Scientists disparage the efforts of dowsers like Dick Frisbey, but he says hes brought in hundreds of wells and deplores their skepticism. d plUfflS BY KM DESIGNS ... - Proctical floor plan is wonderfully zoned All maor areas are but a few steps from the front entry hall There is on abundance of livability with the spacious formal living and dining area A fine family room with eating space is a perfect compliment to the efficient kitchen The three bedrooms and two large baths complete this traditional design A large covered porch lends a charm to this truly unique home Thi B4rm 12x14 pBedrm 2 10x11 KM d home plans to individuals and contractors throughout the Designs provides intermountain area Many plans are available from which to choose, and we are prepared to provide the right home for your family All plans are complete, with special attention to local codes and building 1 or stop by and select the plan for your new home practices Call Gene Moore today at 467-10- 1 GRAYSTOIME PLAZA SUITE 1 4 1 1 74 EAST 2700 SOUTH STREET SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84106 THEY SUGGEST that case histories as evidence for or against waterwitching falter on questions of definition what is a successful" case? and that field tests under controlled conditions, such as the one conducted by the American Society for Psychical Research in which diviners predictions were compared with later test wells on the same site, indicate the odds will be just as good if you guess Hyman, there is no evidence meel scientific standards that would convi us that waterwitching works. Their report antedates an extensive fi test conducted by the British Army Ministry of Defense, reviewed in Nature magazine and reported in Washington Post in January of 1971 ' tests, involving buried objects and wa in a partly cleared field, found that results obtained by dowsers, when plot followed the line of n statistically, chance test of the dowsers ability to stream flow, in which the water wa turned on and off without the dowser knowledge, found him right 25 times outo 50, which Ted Amow of the USGS compared to flipping a coin. The Nat article concluded, according to the Post that divining was no more than a reliablt series of guesses. THAT, OF COURSE, is a conclusior with which Mr. Frisbey absolutely disag rees. He says the experience of a hfetimi proves him right. "Ive located water all these many years, hundreds of wells. To my know ledge theres been nothing that hasnt come in. If you dont get it, youll hear from them. Hes worked in all the western states, he says, and last year dowsed for oil anc water in Louisiana and Misissippi. Recent ly, he says, he made a trip to Gold Hill, where the Bambergers made their for tune, and discovered for a man that I went with a large placer area that eventuall) could be mined for gold, if property financed. In 1932 he selected 25 well sites for Salt Lake City, from the Eagle Gate area right out into the county, at $100 per well. That was about the time he accepted the challenge of a government geologist to fine three areas with no water; he did, a well was drilled at one of the three and came up dry, and the geologist, he says, was convinced. . HE SAYS HE can locate a missing vein minerals and did so years ago for the National Smelting and Refining Co. at Stockton, Utah, whose vein of galena hac taken off in a strange direction. And he car locate water under water, as he did foi some miners down on the Green River who had found an underground stream on ok side of the river but wanted it on the other or in the desert, as he did at Dugway where he witched a well a quarter mill away from the $280,000 dry hole the engineers had drilled. That well now produces 900,000 gallons a day, he says. With all these successes, why th( disbelief? of Ill tell you why, says Theres too many skeptics Mr. Frisbey in the world a geologis to You talk and go Geologists! about this oil, water, and they star laughing up their sleeves. So I go along. Ive made a lot of monej out of this over the years, he says although water locating is actually sideline for Mr. Frisbey, a former Sal Lake Tribune advertising man who ha been in the theater racket (he current! manages the Villa) since 1945. Fees vary with the circumstances, h says, anywhere from nothing up to $1,001 eve although the largest single fee he has collected was the $2,500 from Salt Lak i City for those 25 wells. The amount n theres and usually set in advance, question of Mr. Frisbeys charging for well that didnt come in because, he say; they do come in. So I collect my fee. HE FOUND the well that supplie Wendovers drinking water in 1975, an it recently located another for that city; still being drilled. He found enough watc in that area, years ago, to enable th freeway to be built. You got enough water down the lengt of of this state to float a battleship ngl down the middle of this state if they war to pump the water out. I believe that, this ugly desert out here. . . But you cant get anybody to convint them that its possible to do it. Yoi. it geologist or your engineer say thatNov there. to find it isnt it, impossible thats a fact. |