Industry
Burro Schmidt Tunnel in the El Paso Mountains of eastern Kern County, California, is a nearly half-mile mining tunnel driven through granite by William “Burro” H. Schmidt, who began the work in 1906 to avoid hauling ore over a dangerous ridge with his burros. Working largely alone for 38 years with hand tools and dynamite, Schmidt endured harsh conditions, repeated injuries, and cave-ins, eventually cutting nearly 2,500 feet and moving thousands of tons of rock. Although a road made the tunnel unnecessary and Schmidt never used it to transport ore, the site became famous as an extraordinary example of solitary determination and mining-era persistence.
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Randsburg, California · United States
