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AreWeSure ago

You're completely misreading the article. The tunnels do not go to Rock Creek Park. That was a reported rumor that turned out to be false. Hence, the line "None of the above."

*Reports indicated that the tunnels were long and extensive *— that they may have reached as far as Rock Creek Park. Some electric lighting was discovered inside. For days, wild theories abounded. Was it a Confederate soldier hideout? A stop on the Underground Railroad? A liquor depot for bootleggers? A counterfeiter’s lair? Or maybe a secret laboratory for “Dr. Otto von Golph’s” experiments?

None of the above.

The tunnels were not long and extensive, they were measured in yards not miles. I don't know what your maps are intended to show, but the man did not build miles and miles of tunnels by himself. He basically built two tunnels under houses he lived in. The tunnels didn't extend much beyond his own property. They also both collapsed and each collapse made the Washington Papers. These are not existing and functioning tunnels.

You can see this book for more information. Moths, Myths, and Mosquitoes: The Eccentric Life of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr

AreWeSure ago

Here's a 1992 Associated Press article on Dyar which gives the size of his tunnels

So do the tunnels themselves, which fan out as far as 200 feet behind his old Dupont Circle home, though they're now sealed with concrete. But they never went anyplace anyway.

whatonearth ago

I think part of the issue is that Quantokitty is assuming that Rock Creek Park is just the big blob where the words "Rock Creek Park" are written on the Google map. But locals in DC (the audience for that GGW article) will say Rock Creek Park for the entire length running alongside Rock Creek for miles and miles in DC. You can enter the parkland just a block and a half west of where Dyar's house was, at 23rd and P street. The local audience that GGW is written for would interpret "all the way to Rock Creek Park" to mean "a couple blocks underground, which is pretty impressive for one guy working alone in the 19th century", not as "several miles".

Edit: Yeah, looking some more, I'm convinced now that that's the confusion... someone writing for a local audience wrote "to Rock Creek Park" meaning "dang, this one guy built pretty impressive tunnels for like a block or two with relatively primitive technology" and probably never thought an out-of-towner would read it and interpret it to mean all the way up to where there's enough room for Google Maps to fit the words "Rock Creek Park" in.

AreWeSure ago

Actually in general the confusion is the guy built two small tunnels under his properties. He did not build an extensive tunnel system throughout the city or a system that connected to other tunnels.

whatonearth ago

Oh, I agree with you. What I meant was I had a lot of trouble understanding the /u/quantokitty OP, because I have been in that neighborhood and have a good memory for street layouts, so when I saw that the house was around 21st and P and some people thought a tunnel might have reached Rock Creek, I immediately thought "oh, a couple blocks over to 23rd St". So I was scratching my head reading and rereading Quantokitty's post trying to figure out what she thought she had found, until finally I realized that her Google Maps screenshot was meant to imply that Rock Creek Park was miles away from Dyar's house. So not even the article (written for a local audience familiar with the neighborhood) was trying to imply that Dyar's tunnels were long.

For the sake of anyone else trying to figure out what I mean: Rock Creek Park stretches along the entire length of Rock Creek in DC, and you can enter the park just about a minute's walk from where Dyar's house was. If you Google map search for Hotel Palomar DC (which stands where Dyar's house and tunnels were), zoom in and look a little to the west of the hotel and you'll see a small bridge called Luzon's Legion Bridge that crosses over the park. If you use street view to look at the southwest corner of 23rd and P streets there, you can see the brown sign that says "Rock Creek Park Park Watch".

quantokitty ago

What? Have no idea what you're talking about. None.

whatonearth ago

You seemed to think that Dyar built a tunnel that was miles long. I was pointing out that there was no evidence of that because Rock Creek Park passes right by where Dyar's house was, about a one-minute walk away. Then I tried to describe in words how to see that for yourself on Google Maps, because for some reason Voat's mobile site breaks when I try to post links.