The morning call., 1894-05-13
MILLIONS IN THE DESERT.
Getting a Corner on the World S
Wood Supply.
NO LIMIT TO THE CINCH ON 1T.
The Sahara Desert Might Be Made
Given as a Starter Toward 1t.


Hotel last evening. Strange as it may
seem hard times and the present financial
depression formed the topic of converse
tion.
There was not one of the party who. If
he desired. could not put in hours clipping
bond coupons or in figuring up the divi-
dends due on stock. and yet an interested
listener might gain the impression that
the dollars which they occasionally ratified
in their pockets represented the sum total
of their worldly possessions.
Il had a rather novel experience yester-
day." remarked one juggler Of the
coin of the republic, after a pause sue
ceeding the relation by one of the group of
how he managed to save 80 cents on his
collection tours around among his tenants
by adopting a systematic method of using
streetcar transfers.
what was it ?" Queried the man with
the transfer idea.
'Oh, little scheme whereby | could
make a few million dollars by the invest
ment of Gem paratively moderate capital"
Several million did you say ?" remarked
the keen-eyed banker of the party.
Exactly. Pll tell you how it was.
stranger was ushered in. Never mind his
name. At first glance l sized him up for
a granger who had come to mortgage his
farm or something like that His manner
was rather brusque. and his first question
was whether | had money 10 invest in a
gOod-paying proposition. | told him that
| although times were hard / might get TO-
gether few dollars for him if the security
was ample
IL l0n IN
anything tnat way. It's just plan for a
man VINO has few thousand dollars to
! win hundred million or so.'
"Having said this the man leaned back
in his chair. and gaZed at me snxionslT.
returned his look, and began to think l
had crank to deal with. He evidently
OWNED my thought. for he said:
You needn't think I'm crazy. said a
few hundred million dollars. The gray
matter in my skull amt twisted M bit.
| If you'll just give me chance I'll show
you the opportunity of your llfe.'
"'Well, what is it?' | said.
"'Its just this be went on. You're a
man of money, and I'm man of ideas.
| Your money in conjunction with my
brains will make US both enormously
rich.'
"'In what way?' asked, rather curtly,
| for his statement was somewhat startling.
| and apt to give one the idea that he was
slightly. If not wholly. unbalanced.
"'NOw, I'll tell you all about it, but |
shall rely upon your honor not to take ed-
vantage Of me il you don't want to catch
hold and he hitched his chair nearer.
"'YOu know as well as | do,' he con-
tinued, that this is an age of trHsts and
syndicates. Now, nv intention is to form
a gigantic firewood and lumber trust. You
see our forests are being swept away by
the AK and the saw, and every year sees
the gaps in the woods growing larger. In
ten years We Americans will be skirmish-
ing around for kiDdling- wood and find 1t
hard to get. Lumber will be held at fancy
prices. and poor people can't have as
many. rooms in their houses as they ought
and furniture will be a luxury. Now.
with such a state of affairs existing. what
| will be the matter with the man who ha.
millions of cords OF wood right here ready
10 launch upon a depleted market? VIII
he be in the soup?
"'Well, | inquired. as he paused for
breath.
mo. sir; not much. That man will be
the boss of the country. Now, every one
knows that there are thousands of acres of
land in the Mohave Desert and thousands
more in the Colorado Desert, but they
don't know what to do with that land
What good is it unless you can use it? It's
always been blot on the face of the
earth. Nobody seems 10 want it any more
what good that land is. can utilize those
miles and miles of cleaning sands. Do
you know how many gum trees you can
plant TO the acre? No? Well, sir, just
500, and they won't be crowded, either.
1t won't do TO tell me that gum trees won't
grow there. l know better. i can make
'em flourish and grow to enormous size in
eight years in that arid waste of sand
"'You can, ehP ] remarked, incident
ally, as he paused for moment to subdue
a sob of enthusiasm that rose in his throat.
That l can,' he resumed, and now
perhaps yOu catch the drift of my scheme.
Now. all we have to do is to get 1000
acres OF Mohave desert land. That'll be
easy. Then we stock it with gum trees,
planting 800 to the acre. No need of
crowding 'em, you know. That'll give us
30. 600 gum trees. wouldn't IL? Well,
at the very lowest calculation an eight
year-oid gum tree will yield a cord aud
half of wood. Say that's the average. l
reckon, then, that our trees represent
with quantity OF wood on hand like that
can't expect to get fancy price even il
there is a wood famine. l don't believe,
anyhow, in getting too tight corner on
the Decessaries of life. We must fix on a
medium price whereby we can make rea-
sonable profit. Say we let our wood go
for SO cord right through, and If figures
100000. Quite tidy sum. amt it, to wait
eight years for? And he paused again.
81 could only nod my head assentingly.
"'Of course you understand he gal
loped on, that wouldn't be all clear profit.
l don't suppose more than 100000, 600
would be left after paying expenses, but
that would be a snug sum to divide, eh?'
well, hardly [ gasped sarcastically.
'dh, see you think as / have, that
after getting into such stupeDd0us en-
terpriss we would certainly acquire luxu-
rlous habits of life that might require more
money. So why should we rest c0ntented
with $4,000 acres? Why not get 1000, 900
acres2 The land is there and we would
have no trouble. We would then have
500000,000 gum trees or 750. O00,O 600 cords OF
WOOD. 1t don't take a national bank ex-
pert to figure out that our woodpile ls
worth So. 50.00O.0GO OF that not less than
$1,000, 100000 would be clear gain.
"'That's $500. 600. 600 apiece. Understand
the expenses might not be as much as
have estimated. but what is million or
so more or less? While The gum trees are
growing they don't need any care. The
ubiquitous gopher don't destroy them. and
unless there should be a convulsioD of
nature that would rend the western part
of this hemisphere, we are sure of our
wood. We would practically control the
home and the foreign markets. Our ships