The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-18
The Second Generation Is Removed. !.
CHAPTER /

When Daniel j. Bines died of apoplexy |
In his private car at Kaslo Junction no one
knew Just where to reach either his old |
father or his young son with the news of |
his death. Somewhere mp the eastern
slope of the Sierras the old man would be !
leading, as he had long chosen to lead
each summer, the lonely life of a pros
pector. The young ma NJ two years out
of Harvard. and but recently back from
an extended European tour, was at some
point on the North Atlantic coast begin
ming the seasons pursuit of happiness as
he listed. s f.s ~
Onlysins a land SO young that almost the
present dWellers therein have made 1t
might we find individualities which so de-
cisively failed to blend SO little congru-
GUS was the family of Bines in root
branch and blossom, that 1t might. indeed,
be taken to picture an epic of western
life as the ronlancer would tell it. First
of the line stands the figure of Peter
Bines. the pioneer contemporary with the
stirring days of Fremont of Kit Carson
of Harney and Bridger: the fearless striv-
ers toward an! ever-receding west, fas-
cinating for its untried dangers as for its
tabled lth-the sturdy, grave men who
fought and toiled and hoped and realized
In varying measure, but who led in sober
truth a life such as the colors of no tale,
eeller shall ever be high enough to re-.
produce, - -
Next came Daniel J. Bines, a type Of the
builder and organizer who followed the
trail sRlazed by the earlier pioneer; the
geniussw who. finding the magic realm
opened forthwith became it's exploiter to
Its vast renown and his own large profit,
coming its wealth of minerals, lumber,
cattle and grain ,ai,d adventurously build
Ing the aflroads that must always be had
to drain new land of savagery. s4ss.:
Nor would there be wantingAa third
fguresof this present day containing, IN
potency at least, the stanch qualities of
his two rugged forbears-the venture
some spirit that set his restless grand :
sire to rowing westward, the power to
group and cOordinate,,- to think three
moves ahead which had made his father
a man Of affairs; and. further he had
something modern of his own that neither
of the others possess. and yet which came
as the just fruit of the parent vine: a dis
position perhaps a bit less strenuous,
turning back to the risen rather than for
ward to the setting sun;a tendency to rest
little from the toll and tumult; to cult
vate some. graces subtler than those Of ad
venture and commercialism; to make the
most of what had been done rather thar
strain to the doing Of needless more; tc
live, in short, like a philosopher and a
gentleman who has more golden dollars a
year than either philosophers or gentlemen
are wont to enjoy. .... H..
And now the central figure had gone
suddenly at the age of So, after the way
of certain men who are quick, ardent anC
generous in their living. From his luXl1-
rious private car lying on the side tracl
at the dreary little station. Toler privat,
secretary to the millionaire, had tele
Eraphed to the headquarters of one innpor
tant railway company the death Of its
president and toraYarfous mining. milling
and numbering companies the death o
their president, vice president, or man
aging director, as the case might be. Fo
the widow and only daughter word of tn,
m ffon1 tot
not far from the family home at Montan;
City - T. > = 80,
There promised to be delay in reachin,
the other two. The son would early rea,
the news. Toler decided unless perchanc
he were Off at sea, since the death of
figure like Bines would, be- told by ever
daily newspaper in the country. He tele
graphed. however, to S>the young man
New York apartments and "a fNewpor
address, on the chance of finding him.
Locating old Peter Bines at this seaso
Of the year was a feat never lightly to b
undertaken, nor for any trivial end
being now the 10th of June. it could b
known with certainty only that in one
four states he was proWling thru som
wooded canyon, toiing over a windy pas!
or scaling mountain sheerly, in his an
cient and best-loved sport of prospecting
Knowing his habits, the rashest. guesse
would not have attempted to say MOI
definitely where the old man might be.
Ile IloSt promising pan Ioler cOu
devise was to wire the superintendent
the "One Girl" mine at Skiplap. TT
elder Bines, he knew, had passed thr
Skiplap about June l. and had left, pei
haps, some inkling of his proposed rout,
If it CHANGED indeed, that he had take
the trouble to propose one.
Pangburn. the mine superintendent, O
receipt Of the news, dispatched five me
on the search in as many different drec
tions. The old man was now a. an
Pangburn had noted when last they me
that he appeared to be somewhat le:
agile and vigorous than he had been twel
ty years before; from which it was ia
to reason that he might be playing h
solitary game at a lesurely pace, an
would have trainped no great distance
the ten days he had been gone. TT
searchers therefore, were directe dto bes
up the nearby country. To Billy Bry