I'll bet the reader has their favorite examples of important things that are best pursued indirectly. For me, scenery is one of those. The Cascade Mountains are off to my west. I let them play peek-a-boo with me. They pop out when I don't expect them to.
Perhaps it will take a long time for me to lose a sense of wonder at seeing water actually flowing in a river! Spending too long in the American Southwest will do that to a person.
The water level on the Crooked River near Prineville OR was up to the thighs or waists of the fly fishermen, so it was not a good river for my little dog.
Small streams of water can be interesting, too. We did short dog walks away from one campsite when I finally noticed a small spring and trickle of water alongside the road. How could I have ignored it, three or four times!
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Water witches — also known as dowsers and diviners located the underground water. Then the well was dug with pick and shovel.
My uncle hand dug a well in Cochise County in the late 1920s- early 1930s. Today the water table is down 400 feet or more, no way to hand dig a well there now.
My favorite underground river is the Hassayampa in Arizona. There is a bridge in Wickenburg over the river that remains dry except during the monsoon floods. However, years ago the town put up a sign the say NO FISHING FROM THE BRIDGE that spans that dry river bed.
According to the legend, if you drink from the river’s waters, you will never tell the truth again. This curse is said to have been placed on the river by the Native American tribes who once inhabited the area. But you will have to get a drink far upstream from the bridge in Wickenburg.
The Hassayampa Legend by Andrew Downing
There’s a legend centuries old
By the early Spaniards told
Of a sparkling stream that “lies”
Under the Arizona skies
Hassayampa is its name
And the title of its fame
Is a wondrous quality
Known today from sea to sea
Those who drink it’s waters bright
Red man, white man, boor or Knight
Girls, or women, boys or men
Never tell the truth again!
My father and I dug an outhouse pit that was about 8 feet deep and the caliche was only a couple feet thick the best I remember.