The Last of Idaho's Mountain Hermits
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first article about Dugout Dick was taken directly from
the website showcaves.com: The Dugout
Ranch is a complex of about ten small mines, turned
into rustic residences by the owner and excavator Dugout
Dick. Born as Richard Zimmerman on 26th February 1916
in Milford, Indiana, he came to this place in 1948.
He settled here, clearing the land while he living in
a tent. He built a road to the closest bridge, about
two kilometer away. Soon he started to dig caves along
the banks of the river, and he moved in his own cave.
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| Dugout
Dick playing his harmonica. Picture taken from
an article written about him in the Idaho Statesman
on July 29, 2003. |
| Today
he has a garden to grow enough vegetables for himself
and to sell some at the local health food store in town.
He has a 4 on 10m big dugout where he lives, with old
automobile windshields as windows and an old cook stove
for cooking and heating during the winter. He uses a
natural ice cave as a refrigerator to store food. What
he does not have are electricity, modern heating, plumbing,
or telephone.
During the years Dugout Dick has built many caves, using
only a pick, shovel and pry bar. Some years ago he furnished
them and started to rent about a dozen to tourists.
They are pretty cheap, for about $5 per day or $20 per
month, so they are also used by people who are down
on their luck.
But it is not necessary to stay there in order to see
the dugouts. Dugout Dick gives guided tours of his Dugout
Ranch, even if the caves are rented. His guests are
required to allow tourists to see their cave. |
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Another source (High Country News hsn.com) sites
the following: A hermit in Idaho known as "Dugout Dick"
would probably feel right at home in a hardrock mine. Fifty-four
years ago, Richard Zimmerman stopped riding the rails to settle
near Elk Bend, Idaho, where he has carved 14 caves in a steep
hillside above the Salmon River. There, he writes poems, reads
the Bible and plays a lively harmonica - always while wearing
his hard hat. He grows lots of vegetables in a one-acre garden,
but no longer tends goats; they had "the disturbing habit
of eating his books and newspaper clippings," according
to The Associated Press. Through the decades, Dugout Dick
has caught the imagination of people who have read about him.
He’s been featured in National Geographic and on television
spots both in this country and in Germany. But now he finds
it hard to live like a hermit. That’s because he manages
a cave-hotel, charging guests $5 a night for the privilege
of lodging underground. Dugout Dick says he’s worried
about what will happen to his sprawling development once he’s
gone - a real concern since the land was never his: He’s
been squatting on Bureau of Land Management land.
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