The Rich Hill tribune. (Rich Hill, Mo.) 1903-1911, 1908-04-23
CHAPTER l..

aNEHAANNn MMLtNN ~ ANNNANNAn NNNNA ~"
City. and a few mining camps. was a
trackleEs. forestlesE d~esolation known
only 10 Indian. coyote. and venture
some emigrant. Yet two men under
the golden wing OF the government
planted a line Of lonely posts. and
linked them with a chain Of stage
coaches. Over this t~reacherous way
sped daily messages. men and treas
ure sped. and arrived-if frost and
Indians permitted.
Late on an autumn afternoon the
Overland Mail was toiling sunward up
3 western rampant Of the Rocky noun
tains. Two passengers were on the
box with the driver. The center man,
booked as Alfred Vincent. was slight
fair. and, to the superficial eye. young
90 b~oyishness His air OF one bred
TO the best OF city ~rehnements con-
trasted sharply with his fellow-trav
eler. who had been introduced as Mr..
Phineas Cadwallader. though the
driver afterwards called him BLOW.
hard Cad" which nickname he yindi.
Gated by a constant stream OF gossip.
But an astute observer would have
seen that he was trying 10 penetrate
the reserve. the slight mystery that
surrounded his fellow-traveler.
Yet whatever the mystery. Alfred
Vincent WAS now posting westward
with a letter Ia his pocket signed By
Coils p Huntington, and directed 20
Leland Stanford. governor OF Cali
fornia and president OF the Central
Pacific Railroad company. Alfred paid
slight heed 90 the others His impa
tent Imagination winged him far from
present iuactioB. over mountain and
desert. 20 the Tar west. to u-ngucssed
conflicts Of the future
Holy Maekinaw' Only fools would
think of hniiding a railroad through
this Go~dforsaken country
The causuc sentence reused Alfred
from his reveries and Phineas noted
that railroad was the msgic word
that broke the spell. The driver, VIII
liam Dodge. better known as Uncle
BiTly. readjus,ed his guild ~ comfort,
spat with precision. aud touched up q
largiuE leader with the tip % his rod.
tong uhiplash. Well. I'm not taking
The chances OF calling Goye'no' stan.
ford a fool"
of ourso he aluL He don't intend
10 build any railroad. either not over
The sierras anyway He's got a bet
ter thing Phiseas sidewise look dili.
gently sought a rlt in Alfrods mask
Meaning Uncle Bllly questioned.
That Dntch Flat Swindie Those
C. p felirrs have their wagon road
built over the sierras and
How "a blnEea a they build a rail-
road. Cad. without a waEo road?
pont They have So feed their advance
construction campsg And won't they
have 10 90 n for years while they
cut their miles Of t~unHels
"Oh. they'll put their railroad
through to Dutch Flat maybe but
from there on theyn 80 it b. mules;
lake 40 the tol they can get from che
tls. 100000 ~fuoightaEo Nevada pays
every year 60 the transportation com.
pauica The C. p people want = bite
q Louis McLano'a pio. that's an,
They're going 10 SCI e., o bct'
The driver smiled, yet HIS low leisure.
Is words seemed a hat
Not b. a iugluli phiueas unet
hin voice and pounded The dir and
Alfred detected the sham note The
bid for effect what 90 you suppose
ne are doing along the uae2 Way.
San Francisco merchants n slt la
heir omcen and sen ~ az California.
10 Nevada. Idaho and southern ore.
rou. az ans price they choose 90 name
And McLane and an tire other trans.
e~ortation folks can haul che goods at
heir own ngurea, they won't even le'
.hu towns have post Offices because
hey like 90 carry letters az hali a Col
inr apiece San Francisco bay fall Of
ships. and the mountains aTe fun 81
sold: and we're setting 10 goiDg both
ways out and ln
Yes. yo'ro taking too much the
driver replied Yo're killing 80.
soid.egg goose
Phineas smile was unpleasant "oh
no. she's hearty set And We won
tivvy mp he eggs. either. with thoss
teyen.by-ninc shopkecpers iufhat mud
hole they can Sacramento 10 you
suppose ven Def thcm make a nshing
pond Of The bag. and a winter water
lngplace OF san fanCisCog Not ol
your gold toothpick'
Uncle hillys cye flashed Ia hrsi
hint az resentment stanioud's worst
enemy wouldn't think 90 calling hin
seyen.by-nno. aud reckon California
votersn have something 10 say. lie
lands got right smart Influence viii
them
Yes They voted both state ans
city bonds didn't they Mr Dodge
Vincent asked Joining the converse
ton 81 last.
"oh. call me Uncle Billy, said th'
driver "its 30 lonE since ANYONE
called me Dodge. ! need an introduo
lion Go the name
eNnn hot stnnfordn cot fnnurnci