Dugout Dick Zimmerman
Richard Zimmerman, born in 1916, has been living in caves above the Salmon River in Idaho for over fifty years with no plumbing, electricity or telephone. In 1948 he acquired this land in Elk Bend, Idaho as a mining claim. Using a team of mules he cleared the land, built a road, and constructed a metal bridge to span the Salmon River. Over twenty mines were dug by hand using only pick, shovel and prybar.
Dick found little gold, but rather than abandon the land as many prospectors might have done, he converted the mineshafts into rooms using discarded materials such as old car doors, windshields, tires, refrigerators, and metal scraps. Dick owns a goat, makes his own yogurt, and has a large vegetable and fruit garden along the banks of the river. Some of the food Dick grows is dried and stored for winter consumption in one of the mineshafts that is a natural ice cave. When there is excess food it is sold to local grocery stores in town.
For a fifty-cent fee, Dick will provide a tour of his caves. Backpackers, tourists, or those simply down in their luck can rent a cave for one dollar per night or ten to twenty five dollars per month, depending on the size of the cave. No reservations needed.