Dry Weather Boosts Demand For Water Witch's Service

1936

Old Columbus Tetherow Is Kept Busy with His Divining Rod

[INTERNATIONAL NEWS SERVICE]

MONMOUTH, Ore., Nov. 18.— The continued dry weather in this section has worked to the advantage of at least one person — the water witch.

With wells going dry almost daily, causing a serious problem for livestock owners and housewives alike, the magic wand of Columbus Tetherow, the "Water Witch," has grown constantly in demand.

Livestock owners are beseeching Tetherow to use his "divining rod" to locate wells from which their cattle can drink. Housewives want water with which to do the dishes and other household chores.

The aged Tetherow — he's 77 — is fully qualified for his water-witching duties. He has been at it since shortly after his tenth birthday and claims to be the son of a son of a famous water-witcher of old.

Tetherow's first witching took place when he ridiculed his grandfather's ability. Greatly incensed, the grandfather insisted Columbus do a bit of witching on his own hook — and much to his own surprise the boy found himself unable to prevent the divining rod from pointing out water, he said.

"You can walk miles following a water vein's course," Tetherow explained, "and the stick won't turn. But if you angle across the course of a vein the prong at once turns down. That is where to locate a well, particularly if you have been able to trace two veins to a confluence."

Tetherow does his witching with any sort of wand — even putting a riding whip into successful use on one occasion when no other wand was available, he declared.

He admits the principle of water-witching sounds silly but his record bears proof that it works. The aged diviner has located hundreds of wells along the Willamette valley and has been called to make trips of more than 100 miles in order to witch a prospective well site.

The depth of a prospective well is measured by the distance from the point where his wand first starts to turn to the point where it extends straight down. On one occasion, Tetherow related, he located a well for a friend in total darkness just by the turning of the divining rod. He also told his friend to go down 40 feet, and a later check revealed he missed the exact distance by less than six inches.

—The Hammond Times, Hammond, IN, Nov. 18, 1936, p. 12.