The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-01-26
WORK OF K MAN-MOLE
Aystorio0s DoiAgs IN . Gulch Near
Gan Trancl0co.


Scarce fifteen miles from San Fran.
cisco, half hidden in the foliage of sur
rounding trees, nesting behind the fir
crowned ridges and rocky canyons Of
9rim Tamalpais, are tho few scattered
ranch houses which, with the ubiquit-
Gus saloon, constitute the little viii
lage of Larkspur, says tho San Fran
CISCO Examiner. The road runs along
tho bottom Of tho canyon, almost hid
den by the overhanging redwood trees,
Till it merges into mere cattle trail
This wild canyon is known locally as
Baltimore gulch.
For five years ut least, as vouched for
by actual observation, an aged human
mole, in the still watches Of the night,
has silently burrowed and delved in
the rich brown earth until the sides of
the canyon are literally honeycombed
with his tunnels and caverns. His
work Is carried on always by night,
either by the light Of the moon or by
the will-o'-the-wisp-like flicker of a
rusty lantern. These caves mount up
into tho hundreds always near the
roots of q tree, some fully fifteen feet
In circumference and ten feet deep.
The bigger holes are carefully fenced
around with long redwood poles,
around which dead ferns and grass are
twisted, and 1T the bottom is a cross.
Other and smaller holes or caves under
the roots of giant redwoods are UNI
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
has boon digging. toiling. Sometimes
working for several days continuous
y, 1t other times only appearing at
long intervals, nobody has seen him at
work, and what he hopes to find
nobody knows, for no ono has watched
him or listened 10 his midnight mutter-
tngs.
A visit to tho scene of these mysteri-
pus holes was made by an Examiner
correspondent one day recently. 1t
was q hard trip through the dense
chaparral and closely growing trees.
Hundreds of tho 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 nodded 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 6ausalito, and keen
Eportsman, has explored the gulch
thoroughly and has often pondered
over the meaning of the holes, Of
whose existence he will testify to. 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 go, and those
that have describe him as wrinkled,
bent and weather-beaten old man,
with long white hair and beard. 1t is
hard to find the exact location of these
places unless one stumbled on them
BY accident, for though they cover a
vast amount of territory they are hid
den by the dense vegetation. Only a
few days ago his light was seen wan
dering about the hill.
The labor and expense consequent to
VCLAoNO ouOil VI COL III niohC anu
single-handed, Ms he 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, all dore in the dampness and
darkness of night, suggest that there
Is some treasure worth hunting for.
About six years ago G man driven
crazy with cancer on the brain wan
dered into the mountainous regions
around Tamalpais and his body was f.
nally found by campers, who had lost
their way, lying IN 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 Thousand dollars which he
must have buried, or it may yet be ly-
Ing in SOHO rotting sack scattered in
careless profusion amid the rankly
growing heritage.
This may then be the secret of tho
human gopher's strange work, but the
question still remains unanswered:
Why the cross?
Giving the Milton.