The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1897-09-16
WHALEN'S LUCK.

When the Consolidated Canal com
pany went into insolvency, its assets
consisted of mortgaged right of way
through the sagebrush and several com
pleted but detached sections of IA big
ditch.
Mr. Brick Whalen, the contractor on
section g. had finished the heavy work
there and was preparing to move camp to
section 6 when the company went
broke. 1t was, in fact upon the very
day the suspension was posted that
Whalen, having bad his contract work
inspected, took the engineers certificate
up to headquarters to get his check. He
received instead statement that the
company was in temporary difficulties
and an assurance that it would soon re-
sumo
Whalen kad before this worked for
shaky corporations He knew better and
lost Ne time III acting on his knowledge
No good howlin over broken pipe
or tryln to save the pieces, he told
himself To his gang of 20 men he
SAID: "B'ys, the companys broke and
SO am l. / can t pay yo and can't feed
ye You got to rustic "
What's the matter with us taking
the mules?' said one
Them mules and scrapers don't be
long to me, as | We often told ye," said
Nhalen, whose custom it was to refer
to a legendary hacker "This ditching
outfit is the property of Martin of San
francisco, and any man that NEEDLES
with 1T will get the sheriff after him. "
I'll take one, just the same" said
him again when my wages is paid.
That s about fair. -
a few others took the same view of
the equities involved and took mules,
to which Whalen made only wordy
resistance Most of the men were in
diced to accept orders on the defunct
company for the amount due them,
payable with large interest. And if
you don't get it very soon the interest
will double your money, said Whalen
When the last man had gone, Whalen
went out " the corral and counted the
mules Forty one head That was
pretty close call, " said he.
1t was late in the season to find an
other Job of scraping, but the mules
could not live on sagebrush and were
at once started for the railroad. On
small stream where camp was made
one night band of trail sheep was
also camped. Whalen eyed them dis
painfully.
u see the beggars eat sage, said be
why, certainly, " replied the sheep
man That's the finest kind of feed for
sheep
Il wish work mules would do that !"
said Brick. II never was so near a
sheep in my life, he continued 1.-The
smell Of EN- mile away is enough for
me Funny little fellows, and they look
some like mules with ears and tails cut
off What do you do with them?"
Double our money on them every 10
months, " was the reply.
No extended description of sheep
farming would have impressed the
fancy of the veteran mule skinner, but
double your money" was his own ia
miliar phrase for describing any hope
full venture, and on that evening he
smoked many pipes of black plug over
it A brute that can thrive on brush
diet and double your money every year
is an interesting creature
At daybreak Whalen was In the sheep
camp negotiating trade of sheep for
mules on basis of 90 to / and pre-
pared to accept much less. Three days
later he sat in the door of the shack
which had long done duty as mess
house on section of the canal, as
many an evening before he had sat
watching the mules come in from
water Tonight there was never a mule
IN sight Down the breeze came
pungent odor and a tinkling of little
bells Over the crest of an adjacent hill
appeared the flock, browsing on the
rank sage.
They do look some like mules, " he
soliloquized, land I'll bet I'm the only
IrishmarT in America ever owned
herd of sheep.
Winter came and passed, and the only
Irlshman prospered By roofing in a cut
with brush he had commodious sheds,
and cross sections of poles divided the
broad ditch into as many corrals as he
chose. The sheep were fat and carried
heavy f1eeces
Whalen had for help two boys who
had wandered there and asked for work.
He had proposed to hire one of them,
but the boys protested that they had
never been separated, and that if they
got jobs at different ranches "the other
one wouldn't know where the other
one was" contingency which they
could not abide So Whalen offered to
take the two at the price of one, and on
that basis they shared with him the
shack, herded the flock and cooked the
grub. They soon knew as much or as
little about sheep as Brick himself,
and the proprietor found opportunity
to break the monotony of camp life by
occasional trips to the railroad and
once to San Francisco.