The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-05-30
WORK OF A MAN-MOLE.
mysterious Doings in a Gnioh Near
San Francisco.
A lone Dirrer who Has Honeyeoi'ites
the Canyon with His Excavations
Auof which IIave Been Made
Daring the night

cearee fifteen miles from san IRAN
c;zeo. half hidden in the foliage Of sur
rounding trees, nesting behind the mr.
crowned ridges ard rocky canyons OF
grim Tamalpais. are the few scattered
-sneh houses which. with the ubigult-
ons saloon. constitute the little VII
lare Of I.arkspur, SAYS the san Fran
cisco Examiner. = he road runs along
the bottom Of the canyon, almost md
den By the overhanging redwood trees
till il merges into a mere cattle tTall
This wild canyon is known locally as
Baltimore guleh-
For five years at least, as vouched Tor
bv actual observation, an aged human
mole. in the still watches Of the night,
has silently burr0wed and deived IN
the rich brown earth until the SIDES ot
the CANYON are literally honeycombed
with his tunnels and cavcrns- BIS
work Is carried on always by night
either by the light Of the moon or Dy
the yviIl-o'-the-wisp-liize flicker o
rustv lantern. These caves mount up
into the hundreds always near the
roots Of a tree, some fully fifteen feet
Ia circumference and ten feet deep
The bigger holes are carefully fenced
around with long redwood poles,
arouno which dead ferns and grass are
twisted, and at the bottom Is a cross
other and smaller holes or caves under
the roots Of giant redwoods are nm
fenced, but filed in with loose earth
and heaps Of dead brush. These, too,
contain the mystic cross Always the
cross
For five long years this man gopher
las been digging. toiling. Sometimes
working for several DAYS continuous
lv. at other times only appearing at
long intervals, nobody has seen hIm AZ
work. and what he hopes TO find
nobody knows, for no one has watched
him or listened 10 his midnight mutteT-
ings
4 visit 10 the scene of these mysteri-
ous holes was made by an Examiner
correspondent one day recently 1t
was a hard trip through the dense
chaparral and closely growing trees /
Hundreds Of the flled-in excavations
were visible, Of all shapes and sizes
and in every position Near one, on
freshly dug earth, footprints were
visible. by another an old sieve was
found molded with age and exposure.
POLES, stripped Of bark, and masses Of
dead brush were seen piled around the
remains Of former excavations
A resident Of Sausalita. and keen
sportsman. has explored the gulch
thoroughly and has often pondered
over the meaning Of the holes, Of
whose existence he viii testify 10. No
body knows where the mysterious
deliver comes from or where he goes
when his nights toll is over. Few
have seen him come or 60, and those
that have describe him as a vrinkled.
bent and wcathcr-beaten cid man,
with long white hair and beard. IL is
hard to fnd the exact location of these
places unless one stumbled on them
Toy accident, for though they cover
vast amount Of territory they are hid
Gen by the dense vegetation Only
few days ago his light was seen wan
dering about the hilL
The labor and cz2snse consequent n
remove such tons Of earth alone and
siugle-handed. as be has done. and the
care and precision with which the
poles are set around the freshly dug
holes. with the cross always in the
bottom, al d0re I'm the dampness and
darkness Of night. suggest that there
j. some treasure worth hunting for
About six years ago man driven
crazy with cancer on the brain wan
dered into the mountainous REGIONS
around Tamaipais and his body was f.
naily found by campers. who had lost
their way, lying N the roots OF a large
redwood tree. he had come from Lodi.
and Coroner Eden maintains he was
poor, but more than one man tells a
story Of his wanderings in there with
twenty-five thous2nd dollars which hl
must have buried, or it may vet be "
ing IN some rciting sack scattered in
careless profusioE amid the rankly
growing herbage.
This may then be the secret Of the
human gopher's strange work, but the
question still remains unanswered:
Why the cross2