Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1876-04-29
THE "DIvINING ROD
A fair Recital Of some Experience
cs with Al Peek, the Man with
the Mysterious Magnet.

On last Saturday the writer, in
company with well-known mining
man of the Comstock, went with Mr..
Al Peck, the person of divining rod
fame, to North Virginia. Mr.. Peck
volunteered his services and the use
of his mysterious instrument in de-
tecting the whereabouts of ore, it
any could be found, asking that a
few shares of stock merely should be
| given him in case his divinations
came true. The party walked out,
Mr.. Peck carrying his instrument in
his hand. frequently on his way he
called on his companions to stop,
that they were in the vicinity of ore
bodies, and pointed to the move
ment of the instrument which he held.
When near the ground of the North
Consolidated Virginia Company, the
little piece of whalebone upon which
the electro magnet is fastened fairly
wRITHED IN Ills HANDS.
Mr.. Peck passed the instrument to
his companions with the remark that
in the hands of some persons it had
been found not to operate, but that
they might try. Contrary to their
expectation, and to the gentleman's
own, the little cylindrical something
| (Mr. Peck does not himself know
what it isl moved violently, the pre-
vailing motion being toward what
the Professor said was an immense
ore body in the North Consolidated
Virginia. He had previously made
an examination of the ground for
soma of the owners, and so pal very
| little attention to the matter himself.
A full report of his first examination
has been published in the San Fran
cisco papers. Passing on over the
ridge northeastward from the Sierra
Nevada hosting works the party de-
scended into what has been named
| 4>tA III II Siiiid.
| SEVERAL UNDEvELoPED CLAIMS
Were here passed over and the move
ments or non -movement of the di-
vining rod carefully noted. The
most decided action was observed on
the ground of the Troy CONSOLE
dated. Here the instrument was
again passed from Mr.. Peck to the
hands of his companions, each hold
ing one OF the prongs. In this posi-
ton its movement was just as decid-
ed and uumistakable as when held
by one alone The firmest grippe
would not hold it steady. In fact
one of the parties was so determined
to make thorough and satisfactory
test that he was near to having the
| skin taken from some of his fingers,
with such muscular tension and SO
devotedly did he cling to
THE INSTRUMENT.
Several claims were passed over
upon which no disturbance of the
magnet could be observed. On
the Glen Company's ground there
was strong agitation of the indi-
Gator. The 'divining rod. as Mr..
Peck calls it, is composed of two
pieces of whale bone about quar-
ter of an inch square. joined at the
ends at an acute angle. The length
of the pieces is about eight inches.
At the apex of the angle the electro
magnet is fastened. 1t is put on
only when the instrument is to be
used. and resembles in appearance
somewhat the wire coils in tele-
graph instrument. What the com
bination of metals is within the
exterior casing, the owner says he
knows not. The instrument was
an heirloom in his wife's family,
who lived in London. He came
into possession OF it through mar
riage. He does not care to have it
examined for the purpose of ascer-
tanning its component parts, as it
has been regarded by long line of
ancestry as
MYSTERIOUS THING,
And does not care to have it tam
pered with in any way. The rea-
son that its previous owners did
not utilize it and get rich is be-
cause they were already in good
circumstances. being a titled fami-
ly. This is Mr.. Peck's story. 1t
may be true or otherwise. We will
not stop to considerit. We simply
set down what occurred under our
own close scrutiny. 1t cannot be
denied that the magnet is influenced
by certain conditions or substances
beneath the surface. What these
conditions or substances are Mr..
Peck claims to be able to say. In
answer to a question why he had
not already accumulated fortune
and widespread renown, the Pro-
| fessor said:
| MR.. PICKS EXPLANATION.