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Obtaining scarce local trees, Willias to assemble a crude home of five hundred square feet A natural cave existed in the rock wall of the hillside, so to protect his ainst this opening Over ti a deep tunnel in search of minerals The tunnel stretched almost five-hundred feet beneath the mountain and represented not only aspirit to persevere when all reasonable indicators said quit

Williah his heart ached for a woman whom he only kneo years, he refused to accept another to replace her For the next twenty years, he and Thaddeus worked on the ho except fora vertical shaft for air h the main tunnel, William was trapped by a landslide His son Thaddeus furiously clawed through the earth, screa for his father, but to no avail Thaddeus spent three days digging through rock and soil before he came across the lifeless dirt-covered form of his father

At twenty-three, Thaddeus felt isolated and alone A few days afterward, a sied At their austere homestead, Willia bride, and the tiny grave of her stillborn daughter Clara The farowing near a creek on the property Thaddeus spent hours in solitary efforts to repair the tunnel dae which resulted in his father's untiuide him, Thaddeus worked tirelessly to restore the tunnel to a functioning state

Without a mother, to teach Thaddeus the softer or feminine aspects of life, he mirrored his father's behavior The rewards of his hard ere more labor and intensified determination Initially, Thaddeus resisted the strict ethics of his father, which created friction between the two nized their benefits The desire for independence would eitherto survive the trials of Arizona, yet somehow; Thaddeus effortlessly faced the daily obstacles presented He was a detere the future away from the harsh circumstances that life had dealt

Slightly friendlier than his father William, Thaddeus found it easy to make acquaintances with folks nearby in the town With a keen interest and natural knack for s, Thaddeus often peppered anyone considered an expert with enough questions to satisfy his personal curiosity Self-sufficient, he took pride in the ability to acco he lacked was a family, but because he lived so remote, his opportunities seemed limited