Moving Mountains

Schmidt in front of his cabin      Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert

The Southern California desert is an otherworldly place full of interesting people (http://www.sharielf.com/news.html) and historic places (one of my favorites is Bodie: http://www.bodie.com/). Here's a story that combines the two, about "Burro" Schmidt (1871-1954), a Rhode Island man who spent 32 (according to this story; Wikipedia says 38) years of his life digging a tunnel through Copper Mountain in the Mojave Desert. The tunnel and Schmidt's cabin remain and are open to visitors: http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/kern/william-burro-schmidt-his-tunnel-to-nowhere.html