VOLUME XXX NO. 7 - Mines Magazine - Colorado School of Mines

Geophysicists have seen so muchdevelopment in their instruments andmethods and science has made suchrapid and phenomenal strides in relativelyfew years that no new propositioncan be safely "laffed off"withoutinvestigation. Xhe sad part of thesituation is that many people willoftenmore readily invest their money insomething with a certain amount of"bokus pokus" attached to it thantheywill in a scientifically legitimate,though less spectacular, geophysicalsurvey. I^he Lucky Strike ad of afew years ago apparently summed upthe situation with the slogan "It's funto be fooled." More than one wellhas been drilled on a doodlebug location.V Modern Scientific , , ,w .Prospecting withGeophysical ^ • . -Mefhods.. -ii. 'i-translated from the Latin some yearsago by Hon. Herbert Hoover andMrs. Hoover.There were skeptics as to doodlebugsand witch sticks even in Bauer'stime which was only some 60 yearsafter Columbus sailed the ocean blue.Bauer himself says in what is to ourears the quaint language of his daythat—"There are many great contentionsbetween miners concerning theforked twig, for some say that it isof the greatest use in discovering veins,and others deny it." There was alsoargument as to whether a fork from ahazel bush was the most efficacious orwhether it was better to use hazeltwigs for veins of silver; ash twigs forcopper; pitch pine for lead andman, should not make use of an enchantedtwig, because if he is prudentand skilled in the natural signs heunderstands that a forked stick is ofno use to him—." He adds "—for,as I have said before, there are thenatural indications of the veins whichhe can see for himself without theoftwigs."AncestralBackgroundhelpAccording to M r . Arthur J. Elliswhose work has been previously cited,the true ancestral background of witchsticks and like divining rods is lost inantiquity. It is certain, according tothis writer, that rods or wands ofsome kind were in use among ancientpeoples for forecasting events,searchingfor lost objects and occult prac­ing, developed to a point of commercialapplication onlj' withinrecentyears, are knocking at the door of justthis problem in relation to oil andgas.W e wonder then if it really isbeyond the realms of possibility thatinstruments and methods will someday be devised for directly locatingminerals and even, perhaps, for distinguishingbetween them. But suchdevices, indeed, would mark thearrival of the geophysical milleniumand to paraphrase Bauer, ought notbe given consideration by good andserious men. W e doubt, however, ifeven Bauer himself would have believedsuch a commonplace marvel astransatlantic telephone would ever bepossible.Shorfy Hamilfon's Treasure Finder *Description of actual doodlebugsare rather rare though the literature onthe subject in general is surprisinglyextensive. One publication,^ for example,contains a bibliography of 572items. A n account of a truly extraordinarydoodlebug was sent totheEditor^ of the Engineering and M i n ­ing Journal hy M r . W . P. Crawfordof Bisbee, Arizona, in 1933. Thestory is asfollows:" 'Shorty' Hamilton was in theoffice the other day asking for an ol^carbon electrode, and, on being questioned,said that he was helping builda radio ore finder. Further questioningbrought out this tale:" 'This is the second machine we'vebuilt. The first one was a dandy. Ithad about $140 worth of platinumfor points, but the lightning struck itand burned everything up. We'regoing to use the old arc-light carbonsin the new machine. It's not as good,but it's lightningproof." 'The first machine was awfulsensitive, especially to gold. W e triedit out on gold watches and gold teethand stuff like that and it worked fine.Jim wanted to go up in the BlackCanyon country, north of Phoenix;said there was a lot of placer groundand gold quartz veins and we'd finda mine. W e packed the machine inmy car, and it didn't do much untilwe reached Bumblebee, and then itwent crazy. The needle pointed northwestand the bell was ringing, andJim saj's, 'There's a mine round heresome place, pardner.' W e followedthe line as far as we could drive andthen packed the machine^—it wasn'tvery heavy—-for three or four miles.The further we walked the better shewas acting, and finally we come to anold prospector's cabin. He was home' Doodlebug Ftory referred To in Pari I of thisarticle. Mines Magazine, March 1940.^U. S. G. S, Water Supply P.iper No. 416, byA. J. Ellis, Ti;e Divining Rod—A History of WaterWitching." Permission has been obtained from the Editor ofthis publication for llic use ol this material.—an old fellow, all bearded up likea hilly goat—and asked us to comein. W e took the machine in the cabinand Jim took some readings. Therewas gold ahead of us all right andthere was something close to the cabinthat kept bothering with the quartzvein readings Jim was getting. Theold fellow told us about his claimsand it checked just what the machineshowed ; so we asked him if he wantedto sell. He was agreeable—wanted$5,000 for the four claims. W e wentdown to Nogales, raised the cash andtook it back. He signed the deeds,and after we counted out the moneyand everj'thing was settled, he said,'Gents, the place is yours.' He wentover to his bunk, fished around underit with his cane, and dragged out anold suitcase. He opened it up to puthis money away and we saw a big rollof gold certificates. Jim says, 'Shorty,there's what was a-boogering up ourmachine. It was them damn yellowbackbills.' "Legifimate Treasure Finders"Shorty" Hamilton is not the onlyperson interested in locating buriedtreasure. W e often receive lettersfrom persons who want to know ifthere are machines for that purpose.The answer is yes, though they cannottrace out "yellow back bills." Infact these instruments were notoriginally built for treasure findingbut for the unromantic job of locatingburied water pipes. Their applicabilityto the problem of locatingmetallic objects, such as treasure, if itlies within 10 to 15 feet or less of thesurface is, so to speak, a bj'-product.The School of Mines now owns oneof these instruments which is usefulalso in the teaching of geophysics asit neatly illustrates the basic principlesof the inductive methods of electricalprospecting. In these methodsalternating current carried in a largeloop of wire laid out on the groundexcites a secondary field in a conductivezone or ore body in the vicinity.The location of the conductor can bedetected by suitable measurementswith a search coil.The pipe locator combines the loopand the coil into a portable instrumentbuilt on a smaller scale. In it a squaresending coil, about 2' on a side, sendsout an alternating wave from an oscillatorbuilt into the coil. A similarcoil forms a receiving unit andthrough ear phones plugged in to thiscoil a note can be heard. Both coilsare connected by light side rods forcarrying. A n operator who walksbetween the coils walks with the instrumentacross an area where thepresence of a pipe or buried metal issuspected. As a secondary field iscreated, by the wave sent out, in anynearby pipe the presence of the pipecan be detected by an increase of thesound in the bead phones. This maysound slightly doodlebuggy for ineffect the sending coil on the rear endof the machine tickles the pipe, as itwere, and the squeal set up is detectedat the front end or coil of the pipelocator. W e know they are effective,however, as we have personally operatedtwo of them of different makestesting on a ivater pipe in the onecase and a small buried metal boundbox in the other.Such an instrument is applicable,incidentally, in examining the goldcontent of a placer deposit, a fact notgenerally known. Just what can bedone with them as to locating ore andoutcrops thereof is not a proven case,as far as we know, though certainclaims have been advanced along thisline.Back in the Good Old Days of 1556As noted in Part I of this articledoodlebugs are of ancient if not honorablelineage. A water witch withforked stick is shown in the wood cutfrom that famous book "De ReMetallica," by Louis Agricola Bauer.This very old treatise of 1556 wasespecially tin, and rods of iron andsteel for gold.One school of thought in regard tothe use of twigs in locating veins heldthat the movement of the twig, as itwas grasped in the proper manner inthe hands of the operator, was due tothe power of the veins. O n the otherhand, to quote Bauer "—those whosay that the twig is of no use to goodand serious men, also deny that themotion is due to the power of theveins as the twig will not move foreverybody, but only for those whoemploy incantations and craft." ^ Theanswer given to this by the twig operatorswas that "when one of theminers or some other person holds thetwig in his bands, and it is not turnedby the force of the veins this is dueto some peculiarity of the individual,which hinders and impedes tbe powerof the vein." They said further that"—the power of the vein in turningand twisting the twig may be notunlike tbat of a magnet attracting anddrawing iron toward itself, thishidden quality of a man weakens andbreaks the force, just the same as garlicweakens and overcomes the strengthof a magnet. For a magnetsmeared with garlic juice cannot attractiron—."Bauer took what would today becalled a scientific attitude when hesaid "since this matter remains in disputeand causes much dissensionamongst miners, I consider it oughtto be examined on its own merits."He pointed out that the form of thetwig or rod used by the ancients forlocating veins was of no importanceand if attracted by the veins the forcewould draw the twig straight to itrather than act to turn the twig inthe hands of the operator. Afterneatly disposing of a number of otherpoints in drawing attention to thefutility of forked twigs for locatingveins he concludes with the following:"Therefore a miner, since wethink he ought to be a good and serioustices in general. The rod is mentionedmany times in the Bible in connectionwith miraculous performances,especially in the books of Moses. Itis not certain whether there is anyactual connection between the rodsand wands of very ancient times andthe divining rod or witch sticks ofthetime of Bauer and down to the presentday. Furthermore, space does notpermit going into this rod and wandphase of the subject, nor to take upthe matter of to what extent certainreally smart men used rods to coverup and hide from the uninitiated theirreal methods of prospecting. This ideahas been developed by R. W . Raymond''in discussing the rulesfollowedhy Baron de Beausoleil, a leading miningauthority of his day (1576-1643).The doodlebugger must be creditedwith keeping abreast of the times.While some water witches still clingto the old forked stick, many doodlebugsare highly pseudo scientific;utilizing the latest in radio and radioactivity.They will, no doubt, soon heharnessing cosmic rays to their chariot.Just as nature aids the physician incuring human ills, since the majorityof people get well anyway, nature iskind to the water "dowser." Thereare relatively few places in thehabitable and inhabited parts of theworld where if a drill hole is sunkdeep enough water will not be found.O n the basis of this fact the chancesof success are much in favor of thewillow wandConclusionworker.In conclusion we borrow a thoughtexpressed by M r . Oscar Weiss in anaddress before the World PetroleumCongress in London in 1933.^ Inpointing the future, Weiss set theultimate aim of geophysical prospectingas the direct location of minerals.In this he was prophetic. The soiland gas analysis methods of prospect­'s. W. Raymond—Transactions A, I. M. E.. Vol.I !. p. 419—1883.' Proceedings World Petrolenm Congress. London,section B. 1934.In regard to this Buck Rogeresquepicture of the future, we can paraphrasethe words of the negro song"If that ain't stealin', I don't know"and say "if that ain't doodiehuggin'I don'tknow."M E C H A N I C A LENGINEERSS O U G H T BY W A R A N D N A V YDEPARTMENTSThe United States Civil Service Commissionhas announced an open competitiveexamination to fill mechanical engineerpositions, in the field of industrialproduction, in the War and Navy Departments.The examination is announced forthree grades, with salaries ranging from$2,600 to $3,800 a year, less a retirementdeduction of 3J^ per cent.Applications will be rated as receivedat the Commission's Washington ofEce untilJune 30, 19+1. Qualified persons areurged to file their applications promptly.Except for the substitution of additionalengineering experience, applicants musthave completed a 4-year college course inengineering. They must also have hadprofessional mechanical engineering experienceand specialized experience in industrialproduction. The specialized experiencemust have included the planningor lay-out of industrial plants, or themaking of surveys of plants for improvementsin processes or products; and musthave enabled the applicant to becomefamiliar with the machinery, methods, andmaterials of production manufacturewithin the field of mechanical engineering.Certain substitutions of graduate studyin engineering may be allowed for partof the experience.Full information regarding the examination,and the proper application forms,may be obtained from the Secretary ofthe Board of United States Civil ServiceExaminers at any first- or second-classpost office, or from the United StatesCivil Service Commission, Washington,D. C.344 THE MINES MAGAZINE JULY 1940THE MINES MAGAZINE ^ JULY 1940 345