HELP! how to test for natural spring or manually dig a well

HELP!! My 9 month pregnant daughter and her husband are fixing to have a baby and they have bought the land across the street from us, but it took all their money to buy the land and the trailer they will live in. So , unfortunately they do not have a lot and they can not afford to pay the $3,000 they want to put down a well, however We know there is a natural spring right behind their property line.

How can we find out if there is or not and then if there is, how do we go about tapping into it ourselves to run water into the house. If there is not a natural spring , how would we go about testing for a good spot for a well and manually digging it ourselves? My husband said there was a way to test for water by holding some kind of sticks perpendicular to the ground and when the sticks crossed there was water at that given spot. Is that true? and what are these stick things called?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,Sharon