Man’s Ability To Find Water Divine Blessing For Many

Before Mary and Sammy Rodriguez paid a dime to buy their dream property, they called Lawrence Zimmerer.

The Deer Park man finds water.

Some call it water-divining, others water-witching.

Zimmerer cringes at the term “witching.” He calls it a blessing.

“There’s no witchery about it, it’s a gift,” he says. “This has helped quite a few people.”

On a recent Saturday morning, Zimmerer steps carefully across land dotted with pine, brush and rocks.

A smooth, V-shaped willow stick rests lightly in his upturned hands. His elbows are tight at his sides. He walks slowly over the rough dirt.

Within minutes, his hands clench.

Zimmerer, a wiry 90-year-old, seems to struggle slightly with the stick, until suddenly the tip drops, pointing directly at the ground in front of him.

“There’s a vein right here.” he says.

He repeats the process. In 15 minutes he finds and marks two veins.

“There’s more in this vein than the other, but I don’t know how much,” he says.

In each hand he holds a copper “L” rod. They point out from his chest like a pair of pistols. As he approaches the water vein, the rods turn slowly until they point in opposite directions.

The Rodriguezes, watching silently nearby, gasp in amazement.

They are convinced there is enough water to drill a well and build a house on Deer Park land with a breathtaking view of Mount Spokane. They thank Zimmerer and hand him a $40 check.

They have no reason to doubt his accuracy. Most of their friends have hired Zimmerer to find just the right spot to dig wells.

The wells gushed, so do the neighbors.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s a real blessing,” says Lon Indrieri. “He marked the exact spot I should put the well.”

Indrieri, a former electrical contractor who says he trusts science more than voodoo, was skeptical.

“I was very afraid, it costs a lot of money to dig a well,” he says, counting off more than $1,000 in costs.

He put his faith in Zimmerer. His well-digger hit water at 100 feet, pure water that flows at 25 gallons a minute.

A minimum of five gallons is generally required by Spokane County or banks for permits and loans.

Zimmerer, a retired dairy farmer, says simply: “I am blessed.”

Born and raised in Deer Park, he’s been dowsing or divining water since his older brother showed him how more than 50 years ago.

For years he’s used the same reddish willow stick he found near Dragoon Creek, west of Deer Park.

“It would break my heart if this broke,” he says, running his hands over the smooth stick.

But the secret isn’t in the willow, it’s in Zimmerer.

“You can make a dowsing stick from a coat hanger,” he says.

The American Society of Dowsers, based in Charlottesville, Va., says almost anyone can learn to dowse. In a group of 25 adults, five will have the ability.

“It doesn’t work for me at all,” says Mary Zimmerer, his wife of 60 years.

However, not everyone is sold on the reliability of dowsing.

Candy Minden, co-owner of Minden Drilling in Deer Park, says attention to hydrogeology, well reports and a bit of common sense are more reliable.

But her company sometimes works with water-witcher G.J. Carter, who learned dowsing 45 years ago when he was a child.

“In arid countries they use dowsing to increase their chance of finding water,” says Carter.

He too uses a willow stick and rods. He says his wells flow an average of more than 12 gallons a minute.

“Some are really good, some are just moist on the bottom,” he says.

The ability to divine water is more a mental attitude than anything mystical. Zimmerer has convinced many he has the right attitude.

“He is very sincere, he is very honest,” says Indrieri. “He is phenomenal.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo