What was Burro Schmidt Actually Tunneling For?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ส.ค. 2023
- William "Burro" Schmidt, the human mole, spent 38 years tunneling through solid granite to complete his "shortcut" tunnel. This is the story that leaves many questions, in particular, Why?
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burro schmidt, burro schmidt tunnel, el paso mountains, abandoned california, burro schmidt tunnel california, human mole, ripleys believe it or not, gold mine, silver mine, miner, mining, last chance canyon,
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I spent 30 years working in a cubicle, accomplished less, and couldn't get anybody to go on a tour afterwards. Who's insane?
touche
Sounds like you used to work for a prison system.
@jonathannixon8652 this is late stage capitalism after all
Nearly 70 years since his death and people are still talking about him. Thats his legacy.
Great point
I went there once around 1987. Mrs. Seger told me the story of "Burro" Schmidt. She offered flashlight rentals for $2 or $3 dollars. I felt for the woman and gave her $20, her being out in the middle of nowhere with not many resources.
I believe she said he was from one of the Scandinavian countries, was diagnosed with TB and was advised to move to a drier, warmer climate.
He figured if he only had a shorter time to live, he would pursue his dream to go to the American South West for the climate and become a gold miner.
He found an outcropping of gold bearing quartz and began his journey of chasing the vein into the "mountain". She said he was able to find enough gold to sustain himself and his burros with enough left over to purchase dynamite, rails, an ore car and other basic mining supplies.
He never found enough to make him rich, he only found enough to keep the "gold fever" going and enough to pursue the endeavor. You've got to give the guy credit for persistence and determination! I only wish he had found his fortune and become rich, he certainly deserved to.
Great info, thanks!
I can verify exactly what you’re saying. $3 for a red plastic flashlight in 1984 when I was there, and the rest of the story as told by Toni Seger.
She rests today in the cemetery in Johannesburg along with Burrow Schmidt. Why people are drawn to the desert and do the things they do cannot often be understood by ‘rational’ means.
@yazmeliayzol624I was making 40 dollars an hour in 1987 so it's possible the guy gave her a 20 dollar bill.!
If he was clinically insane spending his life digging a tunnel was probably far better than being locked away in an asylum--at least I think so. He had his burros and a purpose to get up every morning.
Thats a great point!
@@MasonObscuraas a business owner, I find the mining industry very symbolic. We work hard to achieve some great thing and in the end it's just some dark hole in the ground. And all the people involved broke even .
@@wannabecarguy breaking even is still surviving and better than going in debt
Throughout America we just let them walk around. They yell at cars, complain that the entire country is racist. They enjoy aborting kids. They think you can turn little girls into boys with saws. Should be in a nuthouse
Pretty sure he has PTSD I do similar random stuff when my mental health is bad something to do you know and you feel you must finish it's almost obsessional.
Definitely better digging than being sectioned!
I went out there around 1999 and a woman lived in the cabin next to the tunnel. She organized tours of the tunnel for maybe $5 and there was maybe 10 people in it with us. She was in her 90s too, but she owned the property after Burro Schmidt and had no connection to him. Really cool to see it again.
She is actually buried right next to him. In the video her grave is the one that resembles a wrought iron bed. Her cabin is pretty wrecked nowadays unfortunately.
Ww\
I did lot of exploring in the southwest in the 1990s many of these sites were still in good shape not sure why almost all mining sites I used to go to in California, and Arizona are vandalized now. Too bad the woman didn't have a plan to preserve the place after she died.
Hey Steve , that woman you met at Burro’s cabin was probably Tonie Seger. She was a retired Navy nurse & when the property became available for a cheap buy due to previous owner owing back taxes on it , she & her husband purchased it & moved out there from Huntington park area due to her husband’s ailing health. He passed away unfortunately a short time later , but as she wasn’t in a financial position to move anywhere else she stayed on & was happy to give tours & share the tales about Burro Schmidt to anyone she met. For more details look up page 25 in the book “ Mines of the Mojave “ by Ron & Peggy Miller . 😎👍. C-ya , and also thanks for what you post & share on your channel as well !!
@@stephenmiller5023 I went there and met Tonie in 1993. She said it was originally a copper mine, but it didn't do well. There were lots of copper mining in that area of the El Pasos. She said he kept tunneling to get a short cut to the south, and was going to charge the neighboring mines to haul their ore through his tunnel, thus shaving off 2 to 3 days of hauling it the long way around to Garlock. But by the time he was done, all the other mines had closed up. (Then again, maybe she told differing stories at her whim.)
He had a choice between tunnelling and listening to someone nag him about drapes, carpet and 'why don't you get a better job'!
Yeah - 'Burro' Schmidt made a good choice!
A friend and I walked through the tunnels more than 30 years ago. My friend knew the woman who owned the property so we brought groceries and household supplies for her.
The real hero in that area just across Burro Schmidt was Walt Bickel. Walt served in the military then afterwards decided later to live out in the El Pasos as a miner and spent years prospecting and helping the other camps nearby. Terrible thing happened to Walt, in 1987, The Federal Govt (BLM) forcibly removed him from his cabin and way of life , he ended up in a rest home in Ridgecrest, Ca where he shortly died after. The BLM, which is no friend to anybody, sought to destroy Bickel Camp for decades and it would have done so if it hadnt been for the hard work of Charlie Hattendorf, a local who loved the history and knew Walt and who was able to work with BLM and preserve the camp to this day.
Very interesting. Thanks for the addition. I was familiar with the Bickel camp but not the story behind it.
I remember a guy name Larry that was the caretaker at the Bickel camp for years. I knew one of Walts Grand kids I used to work with here in Apple valley California. We actually camp there for several days and was alowed to prospect and do some drywashing just around the corner of Bickel camp. There is still good gold on that property.
@@mattsergel5704hello seen your comment from all the other stories we hear that Walt did not have any children = no Grand children but still very interesting ⛏️? Just found out that Walt was the neighbor of the other mine that is where the grand daughter part came in thank you for your part of the story ⛏️🤔
@@casedoumasr656If you type in his name Walter Bickel, you will find a write up called Desert USA, there you will find that he did have a family. I believe it's the first page you come up to. I was good friends with his grandson here in Apple Valley California. Billy mother which is Walter Bickels daughter lived in Hesperia California, not far from Apple Valley. I remember Walt's grandson told me they had to put him in a home because of his condition. The place was called desert knolls convalescent home in Victorville California. Larry that was the caretaker for a while also got really sick and also needed care.
@@casedoumasr656 go to Walt Bickel Desert USA. And read the article.
All this reminded me of is that old guy we all have in our lives that is stubborn to a fault, and insists on doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
Very true
I can’t help but think it had something to do with loosing his siblings. We may never know. Thanks for the tour.
Yeah, I immediately thought that seeing such sadness in his early life, somehow affected his thinking. Perhaps he had some sort of depression, something akin to ptsd….
Thanks for the details especially the old topo map. As an old surveyor I visited the tunnel today 6-23-24. I like your poetic concept and my thinking and I would a quote from a Mark Knofler tune "it was my fate from birth to make my mark upon the earth" Burro Schmidt definitely did that
I've been there a few times and went through the tunnel more than once. I never knew all of the interesting facts you had in this video. Thanks for the information, was Kool to learn about the man that made the tunnel.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching
Today we spend our free time staring at our phones. I'm kind of jealous that Burro found something real he was so passionate about.
Woah this video blew up: 128,000 views.
It's crazy how a some of your videos suddenly get picked up by the algorithm. I hope you're theorizing about patterns in the topic selection, script, or the thumbnails and title and then running the experiments on your future videos. Even modestly improving your hit ratio will greatly assist your subscriber count growth and give you more opportunities to gain more "sticky" patreon supporters to!
I wasn't diggin' for nuthing. There was this little mark, see? Right where I always had to look at it. I never did get rid of that mark...
DAMN !
I had a great comment typed, I was about to leave said comment when the screen jumped to another story about the tunnel, How the hell does stuff like that happen ?
Anyway I have been there, I met Toni Seager, the old gal who owned the mine/tunnel and property when I was there.
Yes Burro Schmidt's tunnel started out as a gold mine.
But that is another story !
Ive vited the burro smit tunnel twice 2000 /2001
Another commenter told the whole story :@_Cat.4glsr:
Great well-presented poetic story, thanks-
Thank you!
As usual, great entertaining content. Here's a comment for the algorithm!
I read about Schmidt's endeavor... I had to go out and check that place out... that area has a few good stories... fun place to visit
Some guys will do anything to avoid mowing the lawn
I went there about 20 years ago and am still fascinated by it. You only spoke of (and showed) the little shed, but there is a house there with a livingroom/bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. There are also interpretive signs that talk about his wife living there with him???
🤔 Well, if I were to guess, hauling the rock all the way out was beginning to take it’s toll, all mining can be considered as a material handling operation, after dragging all that rock all that way he lost patience and he went to the other end and he started in from the other end, he kept digging and digging, getting more and more tired (hence the tunnel getting smaller and smaller) knowing at that point he should have hit his tunnel he realized that his main shaft still needed to go further he went back to it and doggedly kept on going and finally broke through.
The size difference is what suggests this to me, long main tunnels can only really be so small. Equipment has to be brought in, turned around and taken out loaded. Hand dug shafts can be considerably smaller. The small cross shaft seems to be so small that he would have had problems getting his burros in to help, the shaft is so much smaller because he would have had problems making it a whole lot bigger.
Now there is the question about how he could have brought the shafts together so accurately. 🤔 Well, oddly enough there actually WAS a couple of non-surveying ways to do that.
The more sophisticated method was the boiling point method. A fine thermometer used to measure the temperature at which water boiled could produce a fairly precise indication of altitude. The method was accurate enough that expeditions to locate the source of the Nile river used it. It could be further refined by making repeated observations over a period of time to eliminate effects of weather.
A less sophisticated but more direct method would be to set charges with a very long delay. Usually a candle. Then to reach the intercepting tunnel and try to determine the direction of the sound at the time of the blast. It’s not especially accurate but in-fact, the shape of the tunnel suggests exactly that. When the intercept tunnel was being blasted it would have been necessary to set the charge and then race around to the mouth of the main tunnel and hurry to the end. The crudeness of the operation would have meant that overshooting the main tunnel would have been a very realistic possibility. 🤔 An elderly miner might have taken quite a while to realize that the explosions he was hearing from his main line were actually starting to get fainter rather than louder.
Very comprehensive breakdown. Thanks for your contribution!
I ride my motorcycle, sail my boat, and play video games, among many other fruitless pursuits. It is human nature to expend time getting lost in activities that might have no practical end. This happened to be Burro's mindless bliss.
This fellow reminds me of a story I read about a farmer in Saskatchewan Canada who for decades collected rocks in his field 8hours a day and arranged them to make a large wall .It was referred to as the Great wall of Saskatchewan . Why he did it we can only speculate ,but as this man that loved tunnelling another picked rocks .I think that some people find them selves at a cross road in life and when their original purpose or desires are met or reached they just find something new to occupy their time even if it is strange to us .
Well said
you know when it is cold. a good days work will keep you warm.
A man knicknamed 'Burro' dug a tunnel by 'burrowing' just so his 'Burro' wouldn't have to walk around a mountain.
Given the information you've provided, I think it makes sense that he might have become more focused - possibly obsessively so - with completing the tunnel for its own sake. Leaving it unfinished may not have crossed his mind, especially given his diagnosis of TB and having lost so many family members to it.
I'm not sure if he was or wasn't mentally stable, and I don't know that it's as relevant to the story as wanting to have the self-satisfaction of having done something he set his mind to. To call it finished, complete. I imagine it's similar to the way mountain climbers et al feel about their pursuits - to Do something simply because you believe you can.
Thanks as always for the lovely videos, you've got a knack for finding unique and curious stories and presenting them in fun ways!
Great points... Thanks for your input!
Your right in your conclusion, I'm one of those fools who helped out Toni for 15 years. It's a shame all the bikers using the entrance as a hill climb. Love to use them idiots for target practice, Toni would have! We had the rail system up and running in the mid nineties. We always kept the entry clear and you never had to duck.
Ok, so what the heck does this large post have to do with Burro Schmidt?@@jonashassel5404
What I think is no matter what that's a helluva lot of digging. I've done a good bit in my life and couldn't even imagine that. Every winter for 38 years. Damned
Good Man.
He was actually digging a tunnel to China, and when he found out that he didn't get there, his first thought was, "I knew I should've taken that left turn at Albuquerque"
The man had a purpose. That's enough.
TBH in light of global circumstances I reckon alot of these tunnels and mineshafts are going to be repurposed as bunkers when the shit finally hits the ceiling
Thank you for your reply I had a lot of ?? And now I have found the answers and will look up about Walt as well thank you for the Great info ⛏️🇺🇸
Reminds me of Forest Gump, Running because he just wanted too and because he could. Thank you for sharing this story.
We’re all insane to one degree or another.
Na. He was chasing an ore body. Nobody just digs. Especially if he had a mine. He had a hunch the ore body dipped . Gold makes a man dig. Especially like that.
I WAS IN THE THE DRIFT ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO ABOUT 200 FEET WAS A VIEN OF BROKEN QUARTZ BRECCIATED ABOUT A FOOT WIDE THAT WAS CARRYING ABOUT A OUARTER OUNCE OF GOLD. HE PASSED RIGHT THROUGH THE VIEN, WHEN HE WAS DRIVING THE TUNNEL.
@@jamesadams7504 1/4 oz per ton isn't what would catch anyone's interest.
To be remembered is to be immortal, an Ancient Egyptian belief. Mr. Schmidt will be remembered for a very long time.
I imagine he'd say "I'm not risking my ass on that trail again".
Thank you for the info on the Walt family and why the Mole man all lost there mines but I did find some info as to why there was a T in his tunnel .That tunnel left me with lots of ?? Thank you .❤️⛏️
Glad I could help!
This is awesome to contemplate great video of one man’s perseverance. I think personally that the moment of seeing sunlight from the other side of the tunnel would be the stimulus motivation to complete the tunnel maybe feeling that it would not be good for wildlife to leave the tunnel halfway done could be another reason but i think the real clues lie in the left side of the t in the tunnel this is the most irregular part of the tunnel that could indicate the possibility of being unsure of where to get out of the hillside and then maybe surveying his progress more accurately instead of digging further he accounted a way out to the right before his death and if he passed before teeing in either direction why did someone else have motivation to complete the tunnel would be my next question
he needed that tunnel length to house the worlds' longest run-on sentence, yours. !!
Thanks teach!
My wife and myself got caught in a storm we stayed with his wife in the little cabin been going out there since the early 60s I know last chance I’ve covered many mine entrances to hide them love that place my second home
lifes a garden dig it
He was looking for the Crossroads, that was my high school Yearbook.
Only Burrow knows why he did not want to share his feelings .
He loved his mules a lot to dedicate his life to make there work safer. Logic doesn't come into it just love.
I go to the same fishing spot and never catch anything… one day… just maybe…
Well, if he took tourists through it, I would think he would have answered all these questions
If a man does not reveal the "why" of something does anyone have the right to suppose the "why." I would say that if he did not reveal it in life, he may have not cared what others might think of him or his project. Anyway, I don't think the "why" matters when the tunnel itself is a monument to the strength of his willpower and we should probably just pay tribute to what one man can accomplish when he challenges himself. Personally, I am amazed that one man could remove so much rock, though pointless it may have been.
Good points
Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do.
Working for any purpose can give happyness. Even if you do not earn money.
I suspect he was bored. This project gave him something to do in the winter months.
Maybe he was just a man who started something, and he had to complete it. Simple as that. Self satisfaction. I’m from Rhode Island so surprised to hear that 9:31 This man was from the same place. Funny, I went to school with people of the same last name. Probably no relation but interesting. Who knows.
You never know, maybe they have a relative in Burro...
@@MasonObscura just found your channel this morning. Very interesting. You seem to go to places I’d like to go see. But just don’t have the time to do all of that. Keep the videos coming. Very interesting.👍👍😀
Digging to live, live for digging
The guy was probably mentally affected by the tuberculosis so he dedicated his life to digging a tunnel to keep his mind occupied and his body busy.
Some things are just therapeutic no matter what they are
Its called sweat equity, by the time he sold it, tunnels were booming!
OCD ? WHO CAN SAY THAT TO ANYONE!
He was following a seam of gold ore
If you are standing at the entrance and turn around and walk away from tunnel when you start going down side of mountain twenty five feet down you will see green rock with lots of fools gold and gold and copper ores.
I wish I had known that when I was there.. Thanks!
Interestingly bizarre.
I grew up not far from that area. You left out one key detail. Schmidt had help from the Chinese. Another larger tunnel not far from there was also built with the help of the Chinese.
Maybe he was just flat out straight up crazy.
Apparently it was Burros destiny to burrow.
I’d argue he did find his fortune, he stayed for SOME reason or another. I’d be excited to read his journal (assuming he kept one.) it would provide a much better idea of his mindset and beliefs in life.
(Contrary to popular belief, wealth is NOT the sum total of money/cash one has accrued in life. Personally I have come to believe that “heaven” is a perspective rather than a place.)
This makes no sense the rock dust would make his tuberculosis so much worse.
No actually rocks have healthy minerals and nutrients In them
@@user-sp8jt4ct1e So children should get back in the coal mines to enjoy those healthy minerals and nutrients ?
@@user-sp8jt4ct1e
Yes they do...but you're not supposed to inhale them!
Diggy Diggy Hole! ⛏
Maybe he was like forest gump and felt like digging.
I wonder where he got money for his basic supplies?...food, dynamite, etc....Maybe there was some gold?
Ese si hera UN buen burro😮 perserverencia
Must have been a certain amount of madness eventually. Interesting story and place.
Man this guy would have loved Minecraft
That is the way of the modern out doors men
People spend half their lives sitting in front of a screen and are considered normal lmao
Maybe he had Aspbergers
It's hard to say what drives folks to do the things humans do. this story reminds me of my son's mother who single handedly tried to screw every single male and some women in California. Hell of a son though.
Humans are beasts of burden. We need meaning and purpose.
Some people are just nuts 🤷
Preserved might be a bit strong.
I think he just wanted to do it so he did it and it made him feel good ! I wonder where he got money just to buy food and live !
From what I could tell he made enough through the summer as a ranch hand to get him through the year
He sold gold which he had removed from the tunnel !
I agree. Single minded obsession can be like a disease. It gave him purpose
Everyone needs a hobby.
Never underestimate the lengths people will go to for their mental illness.
^5
he just needed to get away from the wife
But he lived to eighty!
Because he could.
Maybe he was just a digging aficionado.
Like Forrest Gump running... one day he just stopped.
Sounds like a man to me.
Some times we just want to.
Simple skills, minimal education?, no known religious training, loved outdoors, no wife, no children, needed a job, tunnel became a challenge, challenge became a need, age [& finances] dictated it was time to stop. Dead end.
mayby he was burro
a burro is the offspring of a donkey and a horse. not a donkey!
ah, no, this is NOT just another channel that turns out to be mostly.....about a guy's face?
I'm not an actor; actors are people that pretend to be other people.
The difference is that I "pretend" to be an actor; see how I can make my expressions change to emphasize what I'm rambling about?
"listen people, there's a secret here; and I am the ONLY one who truly knows the ANSWER!"
Pretty darn convincing isn't it?
I do "research" and then I tell you what I've "discovered"
my qualifications? well um...look ....I have this channel on youtube.
Hey , stop pestering me ; I have over 13,000 subscribers; which clearly shows that people love what I do
I even had a groupie once....in Bakersfield ...her name was Lucy
I bet you're fun at parties
Having a purpose,case closed.
would have been faster and easier ,to improve the trial a bit. than spending 40 years digging.
doesnt look like its tall enough for a mule to walk through
Bro you are in a narco tunnel 😂
Is that what that white powder was?
Most likely be careful on your adventures the world is not anything like back in the day.
He went off and dug a hole! So what!
It's cooler during months and he would rather walk on a more level plane. Winter, as you say, is good time to work. Climbing is hard on the hip and knee; from Proverbs, '
Way of the sluggerd is full of thorns, yet path of the Upright is a Level highway.'
Because he is completely disillusioned with people, that's why I also have a serious mining tunnel 8m deep now.
Can you dig it? Burro Schmidt can! LOL!!!! 👍👊✌️😁🇬🇧💚🌍.
good nute