February 11, 2010

Schmidt Tunnel Adventure

This is quite a long post. Make sure you go potty first so you don't lose our place reading this! You may want to grab your favorite pipe and a glass of your best scotch, and plan to sit back, relax, and enjoy the story. For those of you who don't smoke a pipe (and I can't understand why not) here's the story!

Well, my brother-in-law Bruce and I, along with my son Cody left early Thursday morning to go visit Schmidt’s tunnel. We wanted to find out if we could find any remnants of any possible gold he may have encountered. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this oddity, here’s a 2 cent explanation: William Henry "Burro" Schmidt single handedly dug a 2,087 foot tunnel through the solid rock of Copper Mountain. Burro Schmidt Tunnel is located in Last Chance Canyon within the El Paso Mountains of the Mojave Desert, here in California. This one man, 38 year effort, supposedly began as a gold mine in 1906 but there is also reasoning that stated he wanted to create a shortcut from other mines in the area over to a railroad on the Western side of the canyon. For those of you who want the two dollar explanation, Please click visit the two links at the bottom of this post if you like. There is a lot of good information on both these sites.

I drove to the north-western entrance off the 14. There is a southern access road from Redrock Randsburg Road, but I couldn’t make out any of the roads well enough from the satellite image I had available, so we went with what I knew. I figured maybe we could attempt to navigate out the southern direction if we felt we wanted to try something different. Hell, being 2 unemployed guys, we could sleep in the truck if we got lost out there in the dark. Cody could have missed school Friday if need be. It took us about 2 hours to get from home to our exit point off the 14.

SO - We drove in a south-easterly direction on a dirt road for about 3 and half days. Ok – it was only slightly more than an hour. It seemed a lot longer because we were anxious to finally get to the tunnel. We had to put our plans off for a week due to the round of storms we just had. Along the way, we stopped at a location to search for a geocache that we wanted to log in the database. If you don’t know what geocaching is, then read my next full blog entry in about a week. After finding the cache, we continued on our way bumping, leaning, splashing, and rocking in the truck. It’s a great truck for off-road use. It’s nothing special, but it’s very dependable, comfortable, and strong. And, for those of you reading with baited breath, I’ll tell ya – It’s just a 2002 Nissan Frontier 4x4 Crew Cab. Yep! Like I said – nothing special, but she’s a great friend off-road. We finally pulled up to the adit (that’s the term for a mine opening) and pulled out our flashlights. I had purchased a one million candlepower rechargeable pistol grip flashlight, and we also had 6 other regular, not quite as powerful, but very bright flashlights and extra batteries with us. They remarked that the rechargeable flashlight was indeed, VERY bright in the tunnel, but I didn’t notice it. More about that in a bit. We locked the truck, walked in the tunnel, and started looking at all the remnants of drill holes where dynamite was used to blast through the mountain. Old man Schmidt used a small jack-hammer to make the holes, and then inserted the TNT with very short fuses. From what I’ve read on other internet locations, he didn’t like long fuses because short ones saved him money. I also read that on some occasions, he didn’t quite run fast enough out of the tunnel, and was struck with granite shrapnel, to which he had to go to nearby camps of his friends to get patched up. At any rate, we were looking at all the various veins of quartz, copper oxidation, wider and more crumbly areas, and also found an offshoot with a door (later installed by the Bureau of Land Management) to keep it off limits. Well, it wasn’t locked or chained by any means, so, like countless others before us, opened the door, and traveled into it. It was short. Bruce walked in, and Cody followed. I tripped on a railing used by the ore carts, and damn near broke my ankle. By the time I got up, and took a very careful step forward, I see (hear rather) Cody telling me it’s a short offshoot and they already hit the end, and we have to turn around.

Cool! Almost twisted my ankle to see nothing! We then continued in the direction we were headed, and after seeing some areas of the tunnel that were very large, and high, we also bumped our heads a few times by the lower sections. We had to keep the flashlights toward the ground, because we didn’t want to trip on rail ties used in the past for the ore cart. The rails were stolen about 5 years ago from what I remember. Bruce and I aren’t sure whether they were stolen for the metal value, or because someone was getting interference on their metal detector with the railings being there. Still, 2,000 feet of railing is a lot to take, and you have to multiply it times 2, because there’s a left and a right rail. We found another offshoot to the left, and decided to go that way, knowing the exit was to the right. About half way thru,
Bruce says “STOP!” Cody and I both were going to ask why, and just as Cody said the “wh” part of “why” Bruce said “Hush!” He said he was looking at some kind of nest. I took a step forward to get past Cody, and closer to Bruce (not because I was scared, but because I
couldn’t see this “nest” he was talking about. As I took a step forward, Bruce again said “STOP” but with a bit more authority. So Cody and I didn’t move. We didn’t speak, and we tried to breath real quietly. It hard to breath silent when your more than 1,000 feet in a tunnel, and there is no sound except for your breath. It was on odd moment. Bruce raised his flashlight to the ceiling of the tunnel, and scanned the walls, and the floor, and the ceiling, walls,
and floor out in front of him. After about 2 minutes of silence, except for our breathing, he asked me what I thought it was. I looked at it, and man, was that the goopiest, fluffy mess I had ever seen. It looked kind of like a bird nest, but was oval shaped and about the size of a dinner plate. There was this greenish blackish whitish goop running down the walls and puddle on a ledge below the main portion of the nest. It looked very shimmery, not dusty or dirty is if had been many years old. This looked relatively fresh! “Yuck” – I said! “That’s Gross”, came from Cody. Bruce asked me what color bat guano (bat turds) are, and I said I think they’re brownish, but not being batman, I really wasn’t too certain. I told Bruce that I doubted it was a bat nest, because everything I’ve ever read and seen led me to believe that since bats are mammals, that they bear live young, and since they hang from the ceilings, they most likely wouldn’t build a nest. To top it off, where would a bat get all these feathery, furry, stringy looking things? “That’s NOT anything bat related” I told him. I then added “And if bats hang upside down, wouldn’t they pee and poo all over their heads?” Boy, I’d hate to be
a bat! I then scanned around with my million candlepowered flashlight, and saw a large quantity of rat crap in piles all over. They were neat little piles, almost as if the rats wanted to keep a tidy residence. “But – Why would rats be this far in the tunnel, which is already out in the middle of nowhere?” I thought to myself. Something didn’t sound right. He asked if we should continue on, and I, of course, said “Yeah! I wanna see what’s at the end of this branch!”.

We had to begin ducking quite a bit more than before. I kept looking for little sleeping things
hanging from the ceiling, but luckily, didn’t find any. All I could think of was that if bats started flapping their wings all around our heads and making that squeaking sound so often shown in horror movies, would I be better off running over Bruce to get out the back of the tunnel or trampling over Cody out to the front. Poor guys didn’t even know I was planning to get the hell out of there - through them if they got in my way or following me or not if that happened! It’s really weird traveling down the rest of this branch of the tunnel not knowing what it was that created this nest. Was it the ever elusive “Cave-Beast” that grabs unsuspecting victims, and sucks their face off? Did it use the peoples sweaters to make this next? I hoped it wasn’t some long thought extinct “super-rat” that dragged it’s prey to the deepest, darkest part of the tunnel, and fed off it’s body with a group of it’s family members. I thought, “Maybe it’s something that paralyzes you, and makes you feel completely numb, but not dead, like a spider does, and I’ll have to lay there watching it eat me, waiting to have it gnaw my eyeballs out, and then I would only hear it ripping my flesh while I lay there, unable to move – but in absolutely no pain”. I was wondering if it was something I’d never even heard of or seen
before, and if it got Bruce, who was knocked down by my furious pushing and trampling, would I be able to tell the authorities what it was? My mind was racing with thoughts like this, and I chuckled to myself after each new, but very strange thought. Those who know me can attest to this odd quirk of mine. I let my mind run off in any direction it wants, as long at it leaves me a note as to where it went should I need to find it.

Still ducking, we got to the end of that branch, and decided that since there was nowhere left to go, we should turn around and bravely make it past the “nest of the unknown” and out the back passage. Cody took pictures of the mess, so if any of you out there know what it is, let us know. He didn’t get the nest part, but got the poopy part. I guess Cody likes to take “shitty” pictures. We did find either additional, smaller nests or several pieces of nests scattered about the rest of the tunnel. We’re still not sure what this mystery being could be.

We reached the end of the tunnel, and MY GOD IT WAS BRIGHT! We took pictures, Bruce and I had the celebratory cigarette for making it through the tunnel alive, while Cody found
a distant bush that looked like it was in need of watering. After he helped it with salty liquid
nourishment, he walked back over to us, and started taking pictures. He took a video with his camera, but kept it short because he didn’t want to use up his memory card. Looking back at the video, it was 17 seconds long. I’m not really sure what it was he video’d because he panned from right to left, and back to the right very quickly. We noticed a very sharp dropoff about 50 feet from the tunnels exit. Bruce and I questioned each other, with Cody chiming in, about why someone would “make a shortcut” through a mountain, and then just find a cliff,
basically. There’s no way in hell that this was a shortcut to some supposed railroad tracks with a steep drop like this. I video taped the area, and got some good, clean footage including the dropoff, and the dry lakebed that was off in the distance while we pondered.
We couldn’t answer each other’s question, so we decided to walk back through the tunnel. This time, I video taped the walk back through, just for the heck of it. I was tempted to go back to the off-shoot, but decided I’d just keep walking straight. About half way through, Bruce mentioned that we could have gone over the top of the mountain instead of returning the way we came. I think he was secretly scared to go past the “nest of the unknown” again. I told him to go ahead and go back, and hike over the top, and Cody and I would meet him on the other side. Bruce politely declined.

Cody, in his never ending quest for a scaring people, mentioned that it would be cool to hide in the off-shoots, and when people come by, to jump out and scare them. Both he and I
began the scary sound from movies. Tss tss tss – ahh ahh ahh – kill kill kill! I agreed that it would be really funny to do! Mostly, because we wouldn’t be US having the crap scared out of
us. He also thought it would be hilarious to leave one of our walkie-talkies in the tunnel, and when someone goes in, to whisper “Get out of my cave” to unsuspecting visitors. Yes, that too, would be funny but I’d probably pee my pants from laughing so hard as they came running out! Speaking of peeing, Cody was determined to go find another plant that he could help, because the last few close-together storms apparently hadn’t given them the amount of “something to drink” as Cody would have liked. Maybe tunnels cause this for him? We’ll have to find more tunnels to visit, and test this theory.

Don’t tell him though - I want him to think he’s along for the fun – not as a part of dad’s homespun science project. Anyway, I unlocked the truck and lifted the lid to get to the ice chest, so we could have some lunch, and then I removed my sunglasses so I could - Wait – What the….? My SUNGLASSES? Damn it! No wonder it seemed that the flashlights weren’t putting out much light. Here I was complaining to myself that the place I bought my batteries from, and where I got this “Million candle” flashlight sold me batteries that aren’t that good, and a light that really ain’t all that bright – and I had my sunglasses going through the tunnel in BOTH directions. When I brought this to the attention of Bruce, he said he hadn’t even noticed I had them on. When he returned, I told Cody that the reason it was so dark for me was because I had my sunglasses on and he also told me he hadn’t noticed. Man! -
Do people even look at me?

So we had a sandwich, some soda, and a smoke (well, not Cody – he just had the sandwich and a drink). Bruce finished up his, and pulled out a nifty little device he created to try and find gold remnants, whether it be gold dust, gold flakes, or – a nugget or twelve. This thing is
great! You put your dirt and whatnot into it, and it’s all separated by size. Then you sort thru the materials and find gold if you’re lucky. He basically wanted to just try it out, and find any potential areas he should modify by doing a real “field test” rather than using dirt, pebbles and any dead or weedy grass from the backyard. This thing is great! We filled it - it sorted and rinsed. We checked and repeated! Wonderful! Have I mentioned, that “this thing is great”? We had a few visitors come to the tunnel, and attempt to walk through. What they forgot (for whatever reason) is flashlights. Although I would have loaned them mine if they had asked, they, instead, decided to tell their kids and each other (about 6 times) “we can’t go through it kids, because we don’t have any flashlights”. They also said “I wonder what they’re doing” and really – they were close enough to us that there’s no way we could Not hear it. Each time they said it, it was a bit louder, but they never once said “Hi” to us, or acknowledged us. I hate that. Instead, they just kept dropping hints as if we were supposed to say hello to them, introduce ourselves, tell them about the tunnel, explain what we were doing, and offer to loan them the
flashlights they need to enjoy “their” day. I sure as hell wouldn’t have traveled all those miles on bumpy, twisty, mud-puddled roads without the means to get through over 2,000 feet of darkness.

Maybe I was petty, but I think they should have been prepared, or at least been social enough to initiate a conversation, then ask for help instead of throwing hints around. I don’t have time for people like that. There were others who came by on their motorcycles, and one felt the need to play “Park Ranger” and give a history lesson to the 2 people he brought with him. About 15 minutes later, he too asked what we were doing, and offered to give us a history lesson when he came back out of the tunnel because he was a frequent visitor and comes there a lot. We politely told him that we had researched the area and the tunnel at length, and declined his history lesson (that we had just heard anyway). Well, lo and behold – 2 minutes later they all came out, and while walking toward their dirt bikes “Ricky the Ranger” was saying to one of his “students” that “if we had brought our flashlights we could have walked all the way through”. Again with the idiots! How can you bring people to show them a historic landmark that you’ve been to many times (remember, he said that – not me), give someone the low-down, and walk them in 50 feet only to realize that – Yep! It’s Dark in there.

We had a guy on a quad come to the tunnel, and he was really polite. He said “Hay, how’s it going”. He spoke to us, we chatted, he pulled a flashlight out of his backpack, then went into the tunnel. Yes, you read that right! He had a flashlight. He walked through the tunnel, and upon exiting 15 or so minutes later, again asked how we were doing, and if we were finding anything. Wow! He didn’t ask us “What” we were doing but IF we found anything. How observant! No stupid question, and he had the required item needed to complete the tunnel tour. This guy must be on the ball! He knew what we were doing, knew what to do, spoke to us with the intent to have a conversation – not just some idle chat to get the scoop and then complain. Wow! We had talked for about 10 minutes about the area, and toward the end, he told us that he knew the lady (Tonie) who took care of the area and the tunnel after William “Burro” Schmidt had died. She died in 1994, and he said he had met her in about 1992. He gave us some insight to her, not about the area. It was something that was not “just on the internet” and that’s the only thing people know. It was interesting to hear this bit of information that I’m sure very few people are privy to. He asked us how we came across the tunnel, and how we accessed it. We told him about our internet searches and our desire to get out of the house and do something, rather than just sit idly on our collective asses. Bruce asked him how he came into the area, and he pointed to a mountain range quite a distance away where he was camped with some buddies. He also told us how his buddy was climbing a steep incline on his quad, and as he turned it, it rolled….. ALL the way down the side of the hill. His new quad, was in about 100 pieces he told us. Luckily - His buddy jumped off to the side,
and was not hurt in the least, so that was good to hear! They had been there since Saturday the 6^th, and were leaving Friday afternoon. He showed us a map he had with him for the area that actually showed the dirt roads. It was something I was not able to get online (with any detail) nor from Auto Club.

We looked at a way to get to the southern edge and end up at the highway we wanted to take home. The map showed (in detail) the roads and the condition of those roads so people know
what to expect. There was a good size length that showed as being very poor condition. Well, we looked at what we had already driven through on the map, and there were areas designated as very poor as well, and yes – they were indeed, poor. Bruce and I took a mental
note of the direction, and planned to leave via that route. We said our good-byes and he left to go back to his camp and his buddies.

Meanwhile, Cody was busy with my pickax going to town on a vein of quartz that was running up the slope of the hill. It was about 6 inches wide, and about 15 feet long. He cracked out several nicely sized chunks. We brought them home, and I cleaned them up with a scrub brush in the sink. They look very clean, and I’m going to try my hand and see if I can polish or buff them some how. Since I don’t have a rock tumbler, I’ll just try something with a wire grinding wheel and then maybe some different polishing compounds on a buffing wheel and see what I can accomplish. If it doesn’t work one, I’ll stop, and then just keep the rest in their natural state. They’ve got some nice veining and color to them. No gold in them though! I’d crush them if there was an outward sign! We took a heap of the small debris from Cody’s pickax-ing, and found nothing of note. After all our stuff was packed back into the truck, we decided to get a few last pictures, go by and visit the cabins that were the residences of Burro Schmidt and Tonie (the caretaker) and see what was left of them.

The pictures I saw on the internet do not do it justice. They show the vandalism that they’ve
sustained in the last five years, but man – when you see it – it’s horrible. It really is! We saw old “before” pics and we also saw the latest ones (maybe a couple years old). We took some, and it was just so sad to think that a mere 5 or so years ago, this place looked like it had when he was alive, and tunneling through this mountain. 5 years ago - It had looked like it was a piece of history, and now looks like something that would be condemned and red tagged in any city in the nation. 5 years ago, you could look at “His” things and at “Her” things in their respective cabins. 5 years later and all we get to see is the interior walls ripped apart. We get to see the floors removed of many of the floorboards. We also got to see where people had tried to burn sections of the outhouse – parts of the side of the cabin – and where they broke out all the windows, and pulled the doors, and all the hardware out. I’ve said that it’s sad to see – but you simply can’t imagine seeing it that way.

We had a very fun, bumpy, muddy, enjoyable ride on what we believe is a road worse than what we drove in on. It was a mess. We very slowly climbed over large rocks in the road so as not to damage my oil pan, my axles, my running boards, or my anything. We had a lot of close together humps in the road – perfect for dirt bikes and quads. There were areas where the turns were almost too tight for the truck to maneuver. And, there were about 50 or so very wide and long mud-puddles which I enjoyed crossing. The mud splashing out to the sides as I drove through them was really cool. I hadn’t done that in a long time, as my wife really hates being off-road. They weren’t too deep, but it was deep enough to cause mud to be splashed onto the side windows a little bit. Oddly enough, my truck isn’t all that muddy. I’m kinda disappointed in that it looks like I only went through a single mud puddle, rather than a whole bunch of them.

In the end – Bruce and I – along with Cody – had a terrific day out together. We’ll have to plan
something again very soon. Maybe next time, we could go out toward Mitchell Caverns, between Needles and Barstow. That would be fun, huh? Or – how about maybe cruising the area outside Barstow or Calico or around the dead volcanoes? Those too would be a great way to kill a day. We did hide a couple geocaches – one at the tunnel and one in Randsburg (an actual living ghost town) on the route home. Randsburg is a cool short trip. People actually live there, in the small cabins they now call home. There are MANY antiques all over the town from old cars, mining equipment, the old roads, the old motels, the old saloons, the bank and the post office - and everything is being used, and lived in today, as it was over
100 years ago. The only thing different is that the people have some of the modern conveniences if they choose to use them, like hot water, propane, swamp coolers, and most likely – retrofitted electrical.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog about our adventure to Schmidt’s tunnel. Included with this blog post are just a few of the pictures we took. I didn’t post the picture of the device Bruce created because I’m currently sworn to secrecy. I’ll have to drive back up there, go into the tunnel where that unnamed creature lives, and eat a spoonful of the gooey stuff. I’m sure you can imagine why I never applied to be on “Fear Factor” or “Survivor”.

Well, thanks for reading, and be on the lookout for my next in depth blog post, which will be about my interest in geocaching, which I’ve touched on in this essay. My weekly post that’s normally longer than my daily posts on my blog. For those of you who don’t visit it, the blog is located at http://pipes4mike.wordpress.com if you’d like to read some of my other posts.

Have a great day!

Until next time…..