Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1902 — SCIENCE HAS A DIVINING ROD THAT SHAMES “WITCH HAZEL.” [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SCIENCE HAS A DIVINING ROD THAT SHAMES “WITCH HAZEL.”

Science has armed herself with a divining rod which cannot be open to the suspicion which has ever attached to the pronged twig of witchhazel. A simple apparatus has been devised for the locating of ores and mineral-bear-ing rock and earth. The new device pretty nearly eliminates the element of chance in mining operations. The principle Involved is that a vein of ore is a better conductor of electricity than the earth around It Two steel rods are connected with each other, with an electric battery, and with a delicate instrument which measures the resistance of the circuit The rods are driven into the ground, and a light current is sent through the connecting wire. The current, to complete its circuit, must travel through the earth from the end of one rod to the effd of the other. The resistance of the earth is noted, and the rods are moved to any positions. This is repeated until

a marked reduction of resistance is noted. Then the operators know that one or both of the steel rods are over or nearly over a body of mineral. By repeated shifting, the location of the mineral Is narrowed down until the rein of ore can be mapped out with absolute accuracy. Minerals have been located at a depth of 500 feet, and the operators of the device say that, so far as they know, there need be no limit to the depth at which they can work.

THE ELECTRIC DIVINING ROD.