Comment by FooBarBizBazz

2 years ago

I love the story of William "Burro" Schmidt.

He was a miner in California. He had a reason, somewhat flimsy, to dig a half-mile tunnel through a mountain. Nominally it was to connect his mining claims to a smelter.

He started digging the tunnel, by hand, on his own, with pick-axe and dynamite. And, once started, he kept going, straight through granite, for thirty-eight years!

Finally he succeeded. He got to the other side.

It must have been a disorienting feeling -- "I've been digging for thirty-eight years, and I've achieved my goal. What do I do now?"

You'd think that maybe he'd finally start to set up his mine and run cars full of ore through the tunnel. That was the point, right? The whole justification for the project?

Nope. He sold his claim and walked away.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burro_Schmidt_Tunnel

It's the most wonderful, absurd, existentialist story, and it's real.

I forget where I first read it. This telling looks like it captures the right feeling: