The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-17
GAMBLERS OF GRAVEL FOUNTAIN
How the HOldredge Brothers Of Utah staked All On a
Mud Tunnel

How will it stand timbering?" asked
Holdredge.
1T stands it SO far" said the fore
man.
And day by day as they cut their
easy tunnel the blue clay outside soft
! ened. deliquesced and melted; a high
pile hattened; into it soaked the mois-
ture of the mountain cir.
In their tent at night the brotherz
talked obStinately.
Wen pull it through tn be only
a matter of timbering," they said. But
as they lay in their beds they knew it
might be more than that.
Then they struck concrete and ce-
ment, a rising bed of it, under the
had to send for drills. Now a quarter
Of the time was lost by the use of
dynamite. 1t was difficult to keen up
the ventilation
It's an i'll wind that brings no
luck said Bill, we've something to
set the tinberS on noWi"
We never reclooned on rock work.
answered Kelley, and it soaks the
time and the dollars up"
There was a quarter of the tunnel
at the west end done before the con-
crete came in sight. At the east end
they struck it at its highest, six feet
above the level. and there the work
was slow.
Now the brothers were somber They
stood half the day at one end Of the
work or the other, but though they
walked together they rarely spoke.
The Mormon boys look glum, said
the foreman to himself. And he felt If.
too. -''
If we come out as we went in we're
lucky" said Kelley.
But Bill hoDed vet
cried
Yet that night at o'clock, when the
world Was quiet save for the song OF
une mountain river, he left his tent and
nus sleeping brother and went out to
the tunnel.
Tomorrow We should see daylight
Through it, he said.
The MOON was full. At a distance the
lower valley was haze, but in the toftier
aAtatuosS the peaks pierced the sky
With silver spears The heavens were
deep and splendid. Here and fheTe a
or4lAant star or softer planet showed
4lAe the llghted summit of some more
tremendous mountain The air was
c9aIn' no wind moved in the forest.
The pulse of the river was The one
sound in sleeping world.
FIFTY yards from the brothers tent
was the cut in the hill that led to the
N. h.
stacIe IN the path, bar or pick or shovel
or overturned barrow. was as visible as
IN daylight But suddenly the southern
shoulder of the hill lifted itself against
lne round moon, and for a minute Bill
Aoldredge walked blinded He went
down plank laid on the fine clay that
was now q puddle and came TO tbe
heavy timber of the tunnels entrance.
he walked in. and again night fell up-
icrl1T L
meflan darkness. He turned around. !
OUTSIDE the air was like the thin ghost
Oh Gay oIutIng down upon a barrow, he |
rested his head upon his hand And as |
he sat the Hill talked to him in faint |
whispers, at first hardly audible. But
presently he heard very plainly and
lifted his head to listen
The hill spoke in language intelh- |
Die to an engineer, who, standing there
might have interpreted What it said as |
the pathologist interprets obscure phe- |
nomena to the bedside physician.
Have you cubed my contents?"
asked the hill. Have YOU weighed |
me in your scales and balances? For I |
am not rock, but gravel. Listen!''
AND the atlantean timbers grOaned !
family till the young mans skin bris-
ued ana his hair moved. This narrow |
world seemed alive
AS he sat there with open ears. wbicI |
gradually grew acute in the stiffness of I
midnight, he heard a thousand voices I
lnaudible in the busy day Every balk |
laid fiat, for the great uprights had its |
word, every upright whispered, the roof |
umbers complained. there was a sound |
that was no sound, or like no known /
sound in the world If it was like aught
it resembled most a breath of wind in |
a tuft Of grass. in tree. 1t was like |
the sound Of fine wheat growing in
calm after rain A mouse's cry would |
have seemed a Shrek. AS the man who
listened held his breath ne heard mis- |
heart beat like d pulsometer working. I
But he understood what the minute (
chorus of the night meant. The wood |
in the tunnel was beginning to take
the strain
beginning. he said, "beginning!"
And when he slept again he dreamed /
that he and his brother were back in
Utah vithout a red cent He spoke to
Kelley as they breakfasted, Just when
the men we're turning to.
I couldn't sleep last night"
Mop said Kelley. !