The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1898-01-20
THE PROMOTER.
BY G. B. Dunhan,.

ON~NcO~O~~~
BY 6. B. Durham.
| v>O>o-~O>OO
THE SCHEME of, the California Con-
solidhted Ditch company COM
q storage reservoir, q canal several
miles in length curving around the base
Of q granite butte, and farmers galore
upon the subjacent plain The COM
pany was capitalized at $1,OOO,0 900, and
it's sole assets consisted of articles Of in
corporation, Office furniture, and pro-
moter. This may seem high inventory
value for q promoter, but q good one is
worth It, and this man 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 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-
tions 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. II they sue
ceeded, they were fnanciers; if they
| failed, scamps
! "Fail?" quoth the promoter. ut isn'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 lifetime to secure, at nomi-
nal cost, a home in the citrus belt"
In one of the hot interior valleys of
California, ON q still June morning, a
vast field of ripe barley spread out on
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 proportioned to the
~ hn " e-11 L.,
along the margin of the grain field, UNI
raveling the blanket in strips 20 feet
wide. This modern evolution of the
sickleand the fail cut the grain, threshed
1t, put 1t 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 men of the crew
were all the life and all the movement
within the prospect.
'This is a fine morning-I don't
think" said the man at the water~butt,
putting his head into bucketful. "Is'
that breeze never a-coming? I've seen
the sand-augers down the valley for an
hour"
"Hand me up q can of that s,rf1 and
don't get impatient" replied thc liver.
1T is only about ten o'clock. You'll
have chance to sizzle for an hour vet"
The machine groaned and numbered
along to the next corner, where halt
gave the kicker a chance to resume:
Say. is this place actually hotter than
every other placer"
"Oh, I don't know" was the re-
joinder; "but know you will think so
wherever you happen to be. in this
world or the next one."
"No wonder the old man has sold this
ranch for just about money enough to
oil the machine one season"
"What do, you mean? heard eight
dollars an acre."
"He told me himself that he got only
800 cash and gave two years. time. /
reckon he will get the land back. He
sold 1t twice before"
IF 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. II tell you the old man is a
weather sharp. He figures on a couple
of dry seasons after this big crop. He
will save his seed and rest up the land.
get small payment or two trom these
fellows, and in about three years
we will be cutting him the big
gest crop he ever raised, with the mules
s~sweating and you a-kicking at every
corner, Just like now"