St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-03-30
The Promoter.
THE SCHEME OF the California Con
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q storage reservoir, q canal several
miles in length curving around the base
of a granite butte, and farmers galore
upon the subjacent plain. The com
pany was capitalized at 100000, and
its sole assets consisted of articles of in
corporation, office furniture, and a pro-
moter. This may seem a high inventory
value for a promoter, but a good n is
worth it, and this mar certainly had his
work cut out for him.
With an empty treasury, it became
necessary to reverse the rule obtaining
in similar engineering operations OF be-
ginning at the head of the works, and to
secure first the land, secondly the set
tiers, and lastly the water. The lands
included in this proposition were in
use as grain fields and sheep ranges, and
as such were valued at but a few dol
lars per acre. With water for irrigation,
they could be subdivided into ten-acre
fruit farms and sold for 20-fold their
present value. The problem before the
promoter was to buy these lands With
out money, to sell them without water,
and to get rich from a commission of Is
per cent. The company's problem was
to build the irrigation works out of the
proceeds of land sales, and to pay for
the land later from money received for
water tolls. The promoters instruc-
tons were Biblical: what thou hast
to do, do quickly" But on long time,
sell for cash or good paper. The opera
ton was to be equivalent to kiting
checks on a grand scale. If they sue
ceeded, they were financiers; if they
failed, scamps.
"Fail?" quoth the promoter. "Itisn't
on the cards. Within two years we shall
have every ten-acre tract sold and i'm
proved; in five years we shall be ship
ping fruit by the train Load. 1t is the
chance of a lifetime to secure, at nomi-
Ill cost, a home in the citrus belt"
In one of the hot interior valleys of
California, on a still June morning, a
vast field of ripe barley spread out on a
rolling plain, at the base of the butte,
like a great copper-colored blanket. 1t
was as though the towering mountain
had risen suddenly from sleep and flung
aside his covering. A harvesting ma
chine, itself well proportional to the
largeness of the task, moved slowly
along the margin of the grain field, UNI
raveling the blanket in strips 20 feet
wide. This modern evolution of the
sickle and the failcutthe grain, threshed
it, put it into sacks, and scattered the
straw. Forty mules, eight abreast,
tugged and sweated at their task as they
dragged the machine upon the long
slope. A cloud of protesting %locusts in
front, a dust and chaff cloud following
these with the four mem of the crew
were all the life and all the movement
within the prospect.
"This is a fine morning. don't
think" said the man at the water-butt,
putting his head into a bucketful. SIS
that breeze never a-coming? I've seen
the sand-augers down the valley for an
hour"
Hand me up a can of that stuff and
don't get inpatient" replied the driver.
at is only about ten o'clock. You'll
have q chance to size for an hour yet"
The machine groaned and numbered
along to the next corner, where d halt
gave the kicker a chance to resume:
Say, is this place actually hotter than
every other placer"
"0h, / don't know" was the re-
joinder; "but I know you will think so
wherever you happen to be, in this
world or the next one"
mo wonder the old man has sold this
ranch for just about money enough to
oil the machine one season."
what do you mean? l heard eight
dollars an acre"
"He tod me himself chat he got only
500 cash and gave two years time. |
reckon he will get the land back. He
sold it twice before"
of he does get the land again he'll be
out two crops of grain" persisted the
kicker.
much you know about it," said the
driver. 81 tell you the old man is q
weather sharp. He figures on a couple
of dry seasons after this big crop. Ht
will save his seed and rest up the land
get a small payment or two from these
fellows, and in about three years
we will be cutting him the big
gest crop he ever raised, with the mules
a-sweating and you a-kicking at every
corner, just like now"
whats the lay, anyhow?" asked tn;
oiler,
"Why, haven't you heard about it?'
said the driver; the game is a bi
ditch around the side of that butte, an
another garden of Eden blossomini
out right here where we are standing!
"Oh!" said the oiler.
"Oh, the deuce!" said the kicker.
The promoter went to a big easter
city and opened an Office on q bus
street. Conspicuous signs announce
cheap and fertile irrigated lands j
the golden west. Few in the passin
crowds noticed, but many saw, the wiz
dows dressed with tempting fruits
Some entered the Office. Baxter stree
methods are not available in the reg
estate business, but once inside hi
doors our promoter asked odds OF II
dealer and rarely failed of interestin
and convincing those who crossed hi
threshold. His forte was franknes.
Aplump and healthy-looking man, wit