The Weekly Gazette

Divining Rods Now In Popular Demand

Freak Information Sought Of U. S. Government.

WASHINGTON.—The department of the interior, custodian of the public domain and a great deal else, is one of the greatest recipients of requests for freak information in the United States government. Nearly a million and a half letters come in each year asking for something or other, and a very large number of these want to know where to find a divining rod.

For 90 years, ever since the department came into existence, eager demands have come in haying their inspiration in the persistent belief that wealth can be obtained by hocus-pocus. About 700 of these letters are received each year.

Variously phrased, they all ask for nearly the same thing. One says: "Please tell me whether there is an instrument known as a 'divining rod' with which I may locate minerals which I feel sure must exist in this region."

Other letters inquire, "How do you find water wells with a forked twig?" or "I want to know how to go about getting a government machine to hunt hidden treasure."

Another run-of-mine inquiry asks: "How may I secure a permit to search for lost treasure? I have information to the effect that a large quantity of silver bars were being transported by the Spaniards in the vicinity of Santa Fe in the 1600s. Being beset by Indians, the Spaniards buried the treasure at a place, the general locality of which I have learned by consulting an old map that came into my possession."

Others, ethnologically minded, want to know whether Indians are citizens and whether the department can furnish a list of present-day Indian chiefs. With remarkable forbearance, the authorities regularly send out such a list upon request.