MEADE, Kan. (AP) — Off a dirt road on an abandoned farmstead in Meade County, Rex Buchanan searched for a metal pipe hidden in tall weeds.

Back a few decades ago, the search would have taken much longer - almost like finding a needle in a haystack. But GPS pinpointed the location and sure enough - in the middle of the thickest clump - a tube is sticking out of the earth.

This particular site is where a windmill once sat, possibly providing stock water to cattle. Buchanan, director emeritus with the Kansas Geological Survey, put a measuring tape lined with blue carpenter's chalk 110 or so feet...