There's Gold Down There!

An Montclair (Southern California) resident bought a metal detector to use as a hobby upon retirements, and after surveying his front yard, decided that there was gold down there:

Enrique Mora was convinced that his neatly trimmed lawn in a Montclair cul-de-sac topped a modern-day mother lode — so two weeks ago, he started digging for gold.

And digging and digging and digging, until the 60-foot shaft so alarmed neighbors that someone alerted the city Fire Department, which shut him down this week.

"Just when you think you've seen everything, the Montclair gold rush?" said Scott Sherwood, the Fire Department code enforcement officer who put an end to Mora's quest.

I saw Mr. Mora interviewed on TV and he's still convinced that he's sitting on the Montclair Mother Lode. The fear now is that his newly dug hole could become a sinkhole following the next heavy rain, and Mr. Mora's biggest investment - his house - could end up at the bottom.