The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-01

could locate water at night. The man was tired. but he answered quickly: If you have any doubt of that you can blindfold me. should like to have you make the test" They drove to the same tract in a roundabout way blindfolded him, and let go over the ground again. driving stakes as they went along. In the morning his em. ployers looked ever the tract. and found that each new stake was driven less than six feet from one of those first driven, and in several instances they were only a few inches apart. That settled the matter with the com pany. but many other tests of his ca pacity were afterward made. In one case he told some people who were laying out the site of a real estate speculation that the only place he could find water was in the middle ol one of the finished streets, and they refused to bore there. They bored dry holes on both sides of the street nrst and after expending lot of money uselessly they took his tip. and founo a flowing well.
 This is only one of a score or lh- stances. In one instance a city se- cured a tract for a driven we'll supply. and his employmers, who were supply ing the we'll borer. sent him out to look over the ground. The visit was made in secret. The we'll finder. knew noth- ing of the bargain the city had made for the land. He was an entire stran- ger in the community. and was attend by a companion as ignorant as hlmseif of the affair. He located series of sites for wells and sent in report. It was then found that, after going all over the city property. he had located the stakes upon property which the city had not secured. The well borer was told to go on with his work on the city property, and ignored the water finder. He did so. and failed to get water enough to fill contract. Then he secured an option upon the staked-o out strip intersecting the city property. ana found enough water to satiSfy the de- mand without having recourse to the sparse supply already drilled.
 Much the same occurred recently at BellevilIe. N. J.. where the same man was employed by a well contractor to find water. The water was found in the bedrock everywhere. but the main sup ply, greater than that of all the other wells together, came from a small number which the mysterious man To- cated upon the tract where the we'll borer was becoming dis couraged with the prospect of fllllhS his contract. One who saw this Y" r. finder go over the Belleville fr that he seemed to rambla
 round and suddenly stop a If. trembling as if he were holding the poles of an electric battery, The oo- server said that the water-fnder held tightly clenched in his hand two small metal cylinders which seemed like brass cartridges.
 This mans greatest rival is said to have located many wells in Newark, N. J. At the Feigenspan Brewery he traced a stream diagonally across the yard from Freeman to Christie Street, and said that the flow was sufficient on the property, but was accelerated by another stream under the walk on Christie Street. near the rear gateway. Bore here" he said, and you will find plenty of water at 450 feet" An ample supply was secured at that point.
 The country well-finder. with his forked branch of witch hazel. Is well known. Almost every community has it's own water finder of his type, and the farmers swear to his skill in find ing water with his eyes shut. Some Of these men twitch and tremble when they find, or pretend to find, under ground springs and water courses while others show no emotion.