Doodlebugs and Dowsers: A History of Unusual Ways to Search for Oil - Dan Plazak

Descriere Doodlebugs and Dowsers: A History of Unusual Ways to Search for Oil - Dan Plazak

What lies beneath the ground? Our poor eyesight cannot \npenetrate even an inch into the soil, so for centuries, fortune-seekers have \ntried every way imaginable to see below the surface. Whether searching for \nmineral veins, groundwater, or buried treasure, people have looked for ways to \navoid the plodding and backbreaking process of digging. They have followed \ndreams, seers, dowsing rods, and advice from the spirit world. When petroleum \nbecame an item of commerce, oil-hunters took to all these methods. Many built homemade \ninventions called doodlebugs, which they said could detect underground oil. It took a while, but science finally came up with its own \ntoolbox of oil-finding methods in the early twentieth century. Finding oil is \nstill expensive and risky, however. The old ways? They are mostly gone, but a \nfew oil-dowsers still stride across fields with rod or pendulum, and no doubt \npeople still consult dreams and psychics. And don't pretend that you yourself \nhaven't wondered if that dowser might be onto something, or if that famous \npsychic can really tell where there is oil, or if that inventor stumbled onto a \nbetter way to detect underground oil. Of course you have. History is written by the victors, and scientists won over \nthe oil industry--rightly so. But their accounts give short shrift to the rich \nhistory of less traditional ways to find oil. Although ignored, the records of \nnonscientific methods and their contributions to the oil business are well \nworthy of study. Lacking in science, they are rich in humanity. Return with us now to \nthose thrilling days of yesteryear . . . wait, scratch that . . . \nthese things are still going on. Join us in a visit to a place where dreams, \nseers, and spooks are taken seriously, where forked twigs dip toward oil pools \nand homemade oil-finding gizmos blink or beep with the promise of riches tucked \njust below the surface of the known world. \nWhat lies beneath the ground? Our poor eyesight cannot penetrate even an inch into the soil, so for centuries, fortune-seekers have tried every way imaginable to see below the surface. Whether searching for mineral veins, groundwater, or buried treasure, people have looked for ways to avoid the plodding and backbreaking process of digging. They have followed dreams, seers, dowsing rods, and advice from the spirit world. When petroleum became an item of commerce, oil-hunters took to all these methods. Many built ho

Detalii

Brand

Texas Tech University Press

Categorie

ENSTK

EAN / GTIN

9781682831779

Magazine

1

Disponibilitate

in stock