Burro Schmidt Tunnel

The historic Burro Schmidt Tunnel is located in the El Paso Mountains of the northern Mojave Desert, in eastern Kern County, Southern California.It is a 0.5mi mining tunnel dug with hand tools and dynamite over a 38-year period by William "Burro" H. Schmidt (1871–1954). in the El Paso Mountains of eastern California.The tunnel is below the summit of a 4400ft mountain. Its southern adit (portal) overlooks the Fremont Valley, Koehn Dry Lake, and the ghost towns of Garlock and Saltdale.History"Burro" Schmidt, mining gold in the El Paso Mountains, was faced with a dangerous ridge between his mining claims and the smelter to the south in Mojave. Schmidt said that he would "never haul his ore to the Mojave smelter down that back trail" using his two burros. Thus, he began his tunnel in 1900. The tunnel was about 6ft tall and 10ft wide. It was cut through solid granite bedrock and required little shoring. However, Schmidt was trapped many times by falling rock and injured often. He eventually installed a mining cart on rails.