Evening star., 1897-03-27
A RACE FOR THE BORDER
Nritten for Tie EYen!ny S.ar.

Written for The Evening S:ar.
II was in the fall of 1899 that the west
ern wheat crop was unusually abundant,
especially so in eastern Kansas and west
ern Missouri. and along the fertile river
valleys of this region. where perhaps the
drouth OF that summer was the least felt
of anywhere in that section, while still fur
tner east. as far almost as Indiana, the
wheat crop was almost failure in COM
parison-
The incident which I am about to relate
bappaned early in October of that fall
lust after my tventy-lrst birthday. Gay
ton FISK. q young nan about my own age,
ard mvse,f had resolved to start west,
with the intention of investing our little
savings in the wheat business in some way
thai would pay MS a good interest on our
investment. We were full Of rlucl, and en-
tht!siasrl. determined to venture our last
dollar in our enterprise. Kansas was Just
about this time developing some immense
wheat sections along its border. and it was
in this direction W. took our course. we
had a little over $500 between US, and after
more. or less careful consideration OF the
matter and the outlook ahead. we con-
cluGed to purchase a traction engine ana
threshiEg machine. and with this outht
strike off directly westward through the
wheat regions. we went DE Ta!i W J'+iei-
son City. where We stopped over and went
10 look at the threshing equipments manu-
factured there. Fisk had no knowledge
whatever OF engineerinG-in fact. l do not
believe he knew the steam chest from the
eccertric-but had had a little experience
and understood the points fairly well, an3
felt quite confident that we would have no
trouble as far as operating the outfit was
concerned. / remember the peculiar thrill
of pleasure felt as we looked over the big
black silent masses of ircn at Jefferson
City and thought that before long one OF
those iron monsters woud be pulsing and
throbbing under my hand. After some lit
tie uncertainty and great deal OF adVlfe e,
we finally selected a thirty-horse-power en-
gine one III every way the best adapted
for cur purpose, but upon asking the price
of the machine in view We were Informed
that We might have it at a bargain-only
81 200 for the whole outfit consisting OF
the engine, thresher and equipments.
The price was considerably more than We
had calculated upon paying, and for a mo-
rnent we were feeling rather discoura ged.
for. with only capital of about $500 be
tween US. the price was beyond us. and as
we stood there talking ii over. and con-
siderfnS whether TO buy cheaper outfit or
give the enterprise up. young man, well
dressed and appearing, stepped up to US
and said:
L accidentally overheard some of your
conversation. from WhlFh / understand you
lack 800 of the price of the outfit you waTt.
Now | have just about that amount by me,
and | am out of work, and if you will take
me third partner we viii buy the out
fit and start out. i am willing to risk what
little I've got for j think make a
good thing out of 1t. of course. he went
on. Il am stranger to you. and you are
the same to me. but I'll risk it IL you will
He did not seem like a bad sort of a
fellow at all, and We wanted that par
ticular thresher pretty badly, SO after
Clayton and | had talked the matter over
between us We decided 10 accept the Stfan-
gers offer at once. After breakfast the
next morning went back Gown to the
works again and closed the bargain. and
We became the owners of the Comic" as
We concluded to call her. After carefully
inspecting and oilinS the machine. j began
firing the engine. which immense
concern, the huge six-foot drive wheels be-
ing two feet broad in order to prevent them
sinking into the soft soil OF the prairie
wheat fields.
Clayton and Gleason (our new partner)
were busy about the thresher, leaving me
TO my special charge of the engine. AT
last, about . o'clock. we were all ready
10 start: the tender full of coal and
the thresher was coupled on behind. and
the Comic" was making steam rapidly.
Already the indicator began to creep up
10, 30, 90 pounds. | waited until the
needle began TO tremble a 81 pounds then.
se.zinE the lever. l pulled the throttle slow
" open The monster shivered as the
steam rushed into the cylinders then. as
the great drive wheels began to slowly
rcv0lve. | blew the whistle. and with Fisk
and Gleason feeding the fire and looking
after the thresher, We were off out along
the country roads and across the prairie.
Probably no mechanic feels the peculiar
love for his machine that the engineer does
As he works over il, watching and tending
IL as carefully as a mother does her child,
hotlnS the Willingness and quickness and
one might almost say, the intelligence with
"h;cG 1t responds 10 every desire OF its
~EI -.
10 the love one person bears for another
l began 10 experience this feeling as we
were rumDllng along over the rough coun-
try roads and out across the rolling prairie
as fast could run, our great iron
sized answering it's levers as steadily and
as easily as Il well-broken horse would his
reirs. and hauling the heavy thresher be.
hIu1- we took a SouthGeSteriy course. am
after crossing the Usage river struck som.
extensive wheat fields just beyond Here
the wheat Is bound and piled in grea
stacks and the thresher is run alongsid,
them, and as fast as one stack Is threshes
the machine moves 10 the next. We ha.
good luck. and in about a months tim.
We came to the Kansas line, which ",
struck nearly parallel with Fort Scott an,
about l50 miles southwest from Jefferson
City We could have worked much longe,
IN Miss ouri. but we were anxious TO TAX.
only such J-bs as lay in our direct cours
across TO Kansas After crossing the Kan
sas line We settled down TO business an,
as the wheat crop was unusually heav,
tEiS year, business was plentiful and tn
nigh power of our machine enabled us I,
rtu the wheat through with surprisin,
rapidity. and we began to notice will
pleasure that our hitherto deplorably fla
pocket books were beginning to swell on
10 quite d respectable size. Fort Scott /
situated about twelve miles from the Dor
de- line between Kansas and Missouri. an
while We were threshing in the vicinity o
that place Clayton and i began to motto
tnat our third partner, Gleason. appeare
rather strange. and that he was over :.
Fort Scott almost every night returnin
In the small hours of the morning"
Where does he go?' asked Fisk on
evening after Gleason had usual star:
ed ct, leaving us TO look after everythin
,l~' /