Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-01-30
BURROWS OF A MAN MOLE.
Mysterious Dolngs In Guieh a Few Miies
From San Francisco.

Mysterious Dolngs In a Guieh Few Miles
From San Francisco.
Scarce Is miles from San Francisco, half
hidden In the foliage Of surrounding trees,
nesting behind the fr crowned ridges and
rocky canyons Of grim Tamalpais, are the
few scattered ranchhouses, which. with
the ubiquitous saloon, constitute the little
village Of IArkspur The road runs along
the bottom Of the canyon, almost hidden
by the overhanginG. redwood trees, till u
merges into mere cattle trail This wild
canyon Is known locally as Baltimore gulch.
For 1--WE years at least, as vouehed for by
actual observation, an aged human mole, in
the still watches OF the night, has silently
burrowed and delyed ia the rich brown
earth until the sides Of the canyon are liter
ally honeycOmbed with his tunnels and
eaverns His work is carried on always by
night, either by the light Of the moon or by
the will-o'-the-wisplike flicker Of a rusty
lantern. These caves meant up into the
hundreds, always near the roots Of tree,
some fully Is feet In circumference and 10
feet deep. The bigger holes are carefully
fenced around with long redwood poles,
around 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 untenced. but filled
In with loose earth and heaps OF dead brush.
These, too, contain the mystic cross-al-
ways the cross.
For five long years this man gopher has
been digging aud toiling. Sometimes work
ing for several days continuously at other
times only appearing at long intervals, no
body has ever seen him at work, and what
he hopes to find nobody knows, for no one
has watched him or listened to his mid
night mutterings
A visit 20 the scene Of these mysterious
holes was made by an Examiner CORE
Bpondent II was hard trip through the
dense chaparral and closely growing trees
Hundred of the filled in excavations were
visible, Of all shapes and sizes and in every
position. Near one on the freshly dug earth
footprints were visible, by another an old
sieve was found, nodded with age and tx
posure. Poles stripped Of bark and masses
Of dead brush were seen piled around the
remains Of former excavations.
Henry Collins, a resident OF Sausalito
and keen sportsman, has explored the
guloh thoroughly and has often pondered
over the meaning OF the holes OF whose ex-
istence he will testify to- Nobody 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 described him as n wriukled,
bent and weather beaten old man, with
long white hair and beard. 1t is hard to
find the exact location OF these places un.
less one stumbled on them by accident, for
though they cover vast amount Of terri
tory they are hidden by the dense vegeta-
ton. Only u few days ago his light was
seen wandering about the hill.
The labor and expense consequent TO re-
move such tons Of earth alone aud single
handed, as no 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 done in the damp
ness and darkness of night, suggest that
there is some treasure worth hunting for.
About six years ago a man driven crazy
with cancer on the brain wandered into the
mountainous region around 1amalpais, and
his body was finally found by campers, who
had lost their way, lying in the roots of u
large redwood tree. He had come from
Lodi, and Coroner Eden maintains he was
poor, but more that one man tells a story
of his wandering In there with S25, 600
which he must have buried, or il NAV vet
be lying in some rotting sack or scattered
In careless profusisn amid the rankly grow
ing heritage
This may, then, be the secret OF the hui.
man gopher's strange work, but the aues-
tion still remains unanswered, Why the
orossi-San Francisco Examiner.