Magnetometer Surveys: Attempts and Issues in Locating a 1948 Private Water Well on the Shore of Lac Sault Dore, Price County, Wisconsin

Abstract

Two different magnetometer surveys in northern Wisconsin during the summers of 1997 and 2010, using two different Geometrics magnetometers, a proton precession G-816 unit and a cesium vapor G-858 unit, in an attempt to locate a surface-target position of, and depth to, an abandoned 1948 private water well, successfully targeted the suspect surface position and the depth to the well head spike. Both surveys detected 400-gamma anomalies and estimated the depth to the spike at 2 meters. A land owner, private family photograph taken in 1951, was used to compare the anomaly’s position to the actual surface position of the well. Two, one meter deep pits were hand dug in 2004, in an attempt to excavate, remove and replace the well spike; however, the attempt was not successful due to large trees, roots, and available equipment. For aesthetic reasons, the land owners were reluctant to cut the trees down at that time in order to continue excavation. After the 2010, magnetometer survey, a second excavation attempt was not made, and no future excavation attempts are planned at this time.