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Littleredcorvette ago

Dyar Tunnels--

Here are some additional resources for the Dyar Tunnels that I found online. I am on a mobile device, so my copy/paste sometimes loses the formatting. (My apologies. I do the best I can.)


https://archive.org/details/483849-post-archives-sept-29-1924 http://archive.is/6q6l0

Old newspaper article stating that a building inspector will inspect the tunnels and lay before the District commissioners a report of his findings. Does this mean that there should be an official report filed somewhere? (This needs some local eyes on it.)


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-final-look-at-dcs-tunnel-digging-bug-man/2012/11/07/a43a6744-27ba-11e2-9972-71bf64ea091c_story.html?utm_term=.4b9e464b1d3b http://archive.is/5WH5G

An excerpt from the article:

“And what of the tunnels themselves? After Dyar’s death, the Department of Agriculture bought the B Street house to use its dark, moist passages for mushroom-growing experiments. The tunnels were briefly considered for use as air raid shelters during World War II. Everything was demolished in the construction of the FAA headquarters.

“As for Dyar’s 21st Street tunnels, an entrance was exposed in 1958 when Lewis Curd was building a wall behind 1510 and 1512 21st St. NW. His three children were hustled underground for a photo that ran in this paper.

“I think the answer can be found in the Latin carved on an arch in the B Street catacomb: Facilis descensus Averno. From “The Aeneid,” it means, “The way down to Hell is easy.” But Virgil’s passage continues: “The path out of Hell is hard.”

Another excerpt:

“I consulted many sources while researching Harrison G. Dyar. Thank you to Marc E. Epstein, who, with the Smithsonian’s Pamela M. Henson, published the fullest account so far of Dyar’s life in a 1992 edition of American Entomologist, the magazine of the Entomological Society of America. What we know about Dyar today is due to Marc’s tireless effort.

“I also appreciate the assistance of the staff at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Shenandoah National Park (especially Reed Engle, the park’s former historian), the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Bahai National Center, the National Museum of Natural History, D.C. Public Library’s Washingtoniana Division, the Historical Society of Washington’s Kiplinger Library, Marilyn Arnold of Find Your Family, Brian Kraft (compiler of historic District building permits), the District Department of Transportation, DC Water and Dafydd Dyar.”


This article was published but requires a subscription or purchase. It is a report where an interested party researched Dyar’s work. Unsure if it also mentioned his tunnels. It may be only about the entomologist work Dyar did.

http://ae.oxfordjournals.org/content/38/3/148

“Digging for Dyar: The Man Behind the Myth

Restricted access

Marc E. Epstein, Pamela M. Henson

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ae/38.3.148 148-171 First published online: 1 July 1992”


https://www.futilitycloset.com/2016/09/26/podcast-episode-123-washington-d-c-s-hidden-tunnels/ http://archive.is/g5uFR

Podcast Episode 123: Washington D.C.’s Hidden Tunnels

This article includes a diagram of Dyar’s B Street catacomb, which was published in Modern Mechanics in August 1932. DIAGRAM OF TUNNEL DESCENDING PLATFORM


http://blog.modernmechanix.com/tunnel-digging-as-a-hobby/#more

http://archive.is/rj52Y

Comments are interesting (here are a few from 2006):

“During the 1920s Dyar’s most peculiar hobby came to light. When a truck fell into a labyrinth of tunnels near Dyar’s old home in 1924, newspaper speculation attributed these to World War I spy nests, Civil War trysts, and mad scientists. Eventually Dyar accepted responsibility for the tunnels and similar works behind his new home, saying he found relaxation in digging underground. The brick-walled tunnels extended for hundreds of feet and measured six by six feet.”

From comments (april 26, 2009): “Check out the 140+ American Uunderground Bases, 1400 Worldwide they are called the “DUMB’s”. It stands for Deep Underground Military Bases. the united stats goverment above all cia , fbi and even nato/un,w.e , Are dealin with intense shit, aliens, since 1930s, constant conflict Actually since augest 1979 . U.S. sticks their fingers in so many candy jars 4 real”


(http://bahai-library.com/?file=henson_harrison_dyar http://archive.is/8GFD7 ) This article includes some reference links at the bottom, including

this genealogy link: http://www.archive.org/stream/preliminarygenea03dyar/preliminarygenea03dyar_djvu.txt

This link to a book called Short Talks on the Practical Application of the Bahai Revelation co-written by Dyar and his wife/lover: http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/diglib/books/A-E/D/dyar/Dyar.htm

A site about H-Bahai: http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/ http://archive.is/0OwK

Another link where the comments are pretty interesting: http://www.shorpy.com/node/9542 http://archive.is/Uzxql

Odd note on this page: “Mrs. Dyar had relatives in Seattle's earliest Bahá'í community (see attachment), and her daughter, Dorothy Dyar was a minister of the Unitarian Church in Seattle for a number of years where Bahá'ís were invited to give talks.”

Link to Allen v. Allen divorce record https://books.google.com/books?id=cbyZAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA540&lpg=PA540&dq=wellesca+pollock&source=bl&ots=PvDosq-Q0D&sig=QTmSy0vOgN9DzncgGGpPagodRHE&hl=en&ei=dtjjTaWUNIfhiALuq5mkBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q&f=false http://archive.is/1zrqQ


More links

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/bizarre-tale-tunnels-trysts-and-taxa-smithsonian-entomologist-180959089/?no-ist http://archive.is/l8ysB

A flame as a moth: how I began chronicling the life of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr., Part 1

“At the time I met Pam Henson she mentioned a newspaper clipping about Dyar’s tunnel in Dupont Circle from September 1924: it had been sent to Dyar by a correspondent in South America. I went to the Library of Congress microfiches of Washington, DC papers and I was amazed to find articles about not just one set of Dyar’s tunnels, but another across from the National Mall. These findings got us talking about writing an article about Dyar.

Dyar—the offspring of an inventor whose work in telegraphy nearly beat Samuel Morse to the punch and a spiritualist whose sister supposedly co-hosted a séance attended by no less than President Abraham Lincoln—was fated from birth to lead a sui generis life. Throughout his long and meandering career, the bug boffin’s exploits would win him as many enemies as they would admirers.


http://blog.oup.com/2016/08/entomology-harrison-dyar-jr-part-1/

http://archive.is/IaVuN


Not Dyar Tunnel related, but here is some information on abandoned underground mines in the Penn, Maryland and West Virginia areas.

Underground abandoned mine lands in Mid-Atlantic Highlands

http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/spring06articles/in-maryland.html

http://archive.is/WztOY


Another mine article:

https://www.marshall.edu/cegas/geohazards/2013pdf/presentations/ITGAUMS3/1_ITGUAM%20Presentation%202013.pdfj http://archive.is/RuEy8 Presentation: Historical and Recent Abandoned underground Mine Roadway Mitigation in Maryland

quantokitty ago

Upvoat for you! Great links! Just found the diagram in Modern Mechanics. That is plush and sophisticated. Something built to last and use. Thanks for all of this.