The Official Center of the World - Desert Oddity

There is no shortage of odd things in the desert and I've shown you many over the years. This desert oddity involves an entire "town" and a whole lot of money. Well, sort of a town anyway. I'll explain as we go.

You are probably wondering what I'm standing on. Or maybe you are really wondering why I have so much scar tissue on my legs.  

 If you were part of the first group, I'm standing on the "Official Center of the World."

The legal and "Official Center of the World" is in the town of Felicity, California. Downtown Felicity is the only part of Felicity there is. The population is exactly two. There is room for more though. Felicity has seven apartments, five of which are vacant (just in case you are interested). As you can see, Felicity (like most things I show you), is in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere in this case, is Imperial County, California,

That is a very nice lawn and tree for being in the middle of the desert. Hey,what the heck is that in lower left hand corner?

What the heck is this doing here? Didn't I do a post titled "Spiral Staircase to Nowhere" about this same thing in Pismo Beach? Actually, it isn't, because this one was once part of the original staircase in the Eiffel Tower. Still though, if you haven't seen it already, you will probably enjoy the other post. 

Have you asked yourself yet, "how in the heck did this thing get from Paris, France, to middle of nowhere desert California?"  If you want actual relevant information about this place, you will have to follow this link.

This is kind of a "you are here" diagram of Felicity. Where we are is just about exactly under the capital "G" in the word granite. 

If you've ever been to the Sistine Chapel, you've probably seen this painted on the ceiling. It is the "Arm of God." When I first saw it, I wasn't sure if it was intended to show us the "way," or direct us to the gift shop to pay our five dollar entrance fee. 

It was pointing to both of those things and more. The gift shop is on the left, "the way" is in the middle, and to the right is where we watched the obligatory five minute video.  

The pyramid contains the "Official Center of the World." As you can imagine, something that important must remain locked up at all times. It will even remain locked up while you are there. However, if you want to cough up a measly five dollar donation, the keeper of the keys will open the door, Then he will let you stand on the exact "Official Center of the World" and even snap a few photos. He will then tell you that there will be an official document waiting for you at the cash register on your way out. The certificate celebrates and documents, the brief moment when you stood on the "Official Center of the World."

Have I said the "Official Center of the World" enough yet?

I made the mistake of calling the "church" on the hill, a chapel. I was told that it is an actual church that holds no services, because nobody shows up. After standing on the "Official Center of the World," we are on our way to the "church." I'll explain all those triangular shaped things in a bit.

 This and the next few photos are just here because I liked them.

Okay, this is the coolest only cool thing about this place. These large triangular shaped things are covered with solid granite. As this end-piece says, the information etched onto these huge granite panels includes the entire History of Humanity.

 Here are a couple of examples. I wonder where the panel is that relates to trains?

I guess a person could read every panel, but it would take at least a couple of days to do so. I wonder if they'd charge you another five dollars to come back the next day?

I appreciate the dedication that it took to build this place. However, I mostly think it's just one man's extremely obsessive vision. It reminds me of Salvation Mountain and Burro Schmidt's Tunnel. You can follow these links if you so choose.


It just hit me, Where in the heck is my certificate for standing on the "OFFICIAL CENTER OF THE WORLD?"


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Burro Schmidt's Tunnel - El Paso Mountains

The title of this post should probably be "Burro Schmidt's Folly." 

William Henry (Burro) Schmidt was mining gold from this spot near the top of Copper Mountain. To have his ore processed, he had to bring it out of the mine, then take it down and around the mountain to a road that led to the town of Mojave, several miles on the other side. For some reason, he thought it would be less work to dig a shortcut through the mountain. I'm not sure what he was thinking, but it took him 38 years to dig the tunnel with hand tools through about a half mile of solid rock.

He began digging the tunnel in 1900.  By 1920, a road was built around the mountain, eliminating the need for the tunnel. Schmidt's nickname wasn't Burro for no good reason. By this time, Schmidt had spent way too much time in the tunnel. Despite the existence of the new road, he was obsessed with finishing his tunnel. I guess he figured he was almost done, so why not finish it. 

Finish it he did and it only took him 18 MORE YEARS!  When he was done with the tunnel he sold the whole thing and moved on. He never did use the shortcut to move his ore.

 It looks really dark in there!

 Maybe I'll just go in a bit and check it out.

The sunlight sure doesn't reach too far into the tunnel! 

 My flashlight made it look pretty eerie.

 It looks even weirder with a camera flash. It wasn't the eeriness of the tunnel that kept me from walking to the other side and back, it was the.... 

 DUST!

 I'm sure it wasn't healthy to breath this stuff in and I'm sure it was even worse on my camera. I turned around after about a hundred yards or so. Must have been my hallway phobia again...

 This is the view looking out of the tunnel. 

This is where Mr. Schmidt lived. It has been a museum of sorts for many years, but everything started to disappear so a fence and "no trespassing" sign were installed.

I've run across a lot of odd things, places and people in the desert, but I've got to say, this was one of the oddest. This guy was as stubborn as they come...
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Burro Schmidt's Tunnel was one of the stops on my day with Death Valley Jim. He was a gracious host and showed us several great places. Including The Old Dutch Cleanser Mine, this place and a few others.


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