Willy donkey - a mole by vocation, who spent half his life trying to go nowhere (9 photos)

Cats, when they have nothing to do, start hygiene procedures. People do all sorts of different things, but this guy is in the the absurdity of the idea of using free time is worthy of the Book of Records Guinness.





The Mojave Desert, sprawling into the territory of several states (California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah), - a specific place. In winter it is gloomy and dull here, and in summer it is just right to evaporate, because the sun is hot up to +50 and even more.



Mojave Desert

And there is an unusual place here - a tunnel with a length of about two kilometers. Which leads nowhere. What is the meaning of such an epoch-making creation? William Henry should know the answer to this question Schmidt, nicknamed Burro, is a donkey. And, apparently, they called the peasant not just so, since, by the degree of stubbornness, he could easily make a whole herd donkeys.





William Henry Schmidt

Willy lived as a hermit. And so about his grandiose idea - no one knew how to dig a tunnel in the desert. Why is the tunnel needed? Schmidt himself? To all questions, when the truth was nevertheless revealed, he evasively answered - "find a shortcut." Where and where? Before explanation the industrious "donkey" has not descended.

He bit into the granite of the mountain, hollowed out the rock with a pickaxe, a hammer, drill. Even dabbled in explosives. Simultaneously tooling in rails for the removal of waste material.



Rumors have already spread around the area. Still they should not crawl, because the man worked, for a minute, 38 years! The locals whispered that William stumbled upon a gold mine or rich ore deposits. But Schmidt did not condescend to explanation. Just dug, dug, dug...



Until one day it disappeared. Has something happened? The man was already at the age of almost 70 years, in the tunnel he could become Badly. And the fauna in the desert is not the friendliest - biting scorpions, poisonous snakes and dangerous spiders. A group of volunteers led by a local Sheriff went to the entrance. They shouted and banged, trying to get attention. But to no avail.



A few days later, professionals were already connected, since amateurs hang out under not very reliable vaults dangerous. They found out that the length of the tunnel exceeded 2 kilometers with a width of 3 and a height of 1.8 meters. And it ended ... in a dead end. Near the wall there was a wheelbarrow, broken tools and a few shiny stones.



Pyrite

Which turned out to be pyrite. They call it "fool's gold" since iron pyrite is very similar and is a frequent companion gold. Whether the stubborn Burro found the treasure or not is unknown. Taking into account character, he would never admit it. But he abandoned the tunnel and moved to live in the next town. Then he found a partner and together with him he led excursions on the creation of his own hands. Mole Man died in 1954. And the secrets of the tunnel, if any, he took with him to the grave.



And the result of his perseverance has become not only a local, but a global attraction. And whoever Schmidt really was - unbreakable stubborn, eccentric eccentric or ordinary psycho, he was able to create a place where tourists, romantics and just curious people from around the world.