The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-07-10

tentative 10 the thousands who haC
gone In on the crest Of the bonanzs
l wave. Almost as unanimously as II
had swept into the hill country, tho
| tide OF population swept out. For the
| gulch hamlets between the Timan
yonis there was still an industrial rea
| son for being. but the railroad Ian
guished, and Angels became the weir
10 catch and retain many of the leav-
ings, the driftwood stranded in the
slack water OF the outgoing tide. With
the railroad, the Copperette mine and
the "X-bar-Z" pay days TO bring regu-
larry recurring moments OF business
and with every alternate door I'm Mesa
avenue the entrance TO n bar. dance
hall, gambling den or the three in
combination, the elemental appetites
grew.
IL was during this period OF dry rot
that the eastern owners OF the rail-
road lost heart. Since the year of the
Red Butte thrush there had been no
dividends. At the moment of the
moribund railroads purchase by the
Pacific Southwestern the desert was
encroaching more and more upon the
town planted in It's western border
In the height Of Angels prosperity
there had been electric lights and n
one car street tramway. a bank and n
building and loan association attesting
its presence In rows OF ornate cot
tages on the second mesa. alluring bait
thrown out TO catch the potential saw
ings of the railroad colonlsts.
But now only the railroad plant was
electric lighted; the single ramshackle
street car had been turned into a chile
con-carne stand; the bank. unable TO
compete with the faro games and the
roulette wheels. had gone into liqulda-
ton; the building and loan directors
had long since looted the treasury
and sought fresh fields. and the cot
tages were chiefly empty shells.
OF the charter members of the build
ing and loan association only two re-
manned as residents of Angels the de-
cadent. One of these was Gridley,
the master mechanic. and the other
was Hallock. chief clerk for dimin-
ishing series Of imported superintend.
ents and now for the third time the
disappointed applicant for the head
ship of the Red Butte Western.
Associated for some brief time in
the real estate venture and haiIing
from the same far away eastern state
and city. these two had been at first
yoke fellows and afterward. as If by
tacit consent. inert enemies. AS wide
lNy tod H..
fstics. habits and In their outlook
upon life, they had little in common
and many antipathies.
Gridley was Il large man, virile of
face and figure. and he marched in the
ranks Of the full fed and the self in
dulgent. Hallock was big boned and
cadaverous of face. but otherwise a
fair physical match for the master
mechanic, dark man with gloomy
eyes and permanent frown. Jovial
good nature went with the master me-
chanic's gray eyes twinklng easily TO
a genial smile, but it stopped rather
abruptly at the straight lined, sensual
mouth and found n second negation in
the brutal jaw. which was only thinly
masked by the neatly trimmed beard.
Hallock's smile was bitter. and IL he |
had social side no one in Angels had |
ever discovered It.
1t was In an upper room of the |
Crows Nest headquarters building |
that these two. the master mechanic |
and the acting superintendent. met late !
in the evening of the day when Vice |
President Ford had kept his appoint |
ment In Copah with Lidgerwood.
Gridley. clad like gentleman and |
fitting comfortably In his chair as he |
smoked cigar that neither love nor |
money could have bought in Angels.
was loosely sarcastic. Hallock. shirt |
sleeved. unkempt and with the perma-
nent frown deepening the furrow be-
tween his eyes, neither tilted nor
smoked
A listener, knowing neither, would
have remarked the curious similarity
OF the grating note i'm both voices.
"Vice President Ford is In Copah. and
the new superintendent is with him."
said Gridley
Hallock leaned forward in his chair.
"Who is the new man?' he asked.
Nobody seems TO know him by
name. But he is friend of Ford's all
right. That is how he gets the lob"
"A college man. suppose" comment
ed Hallock: otherwise Ford wouldn't
be backing him"
"Oh, yes; ! guess it's safe to count
on that"
"And man who will carry out the
Ford policy"
Gridley's eyes smiled. but lower
down on his face the smile became
cynical barring Of the strong teeth.
"A man who may try to carry out the
Ford idea he qualified. adding. The
desert will get hold Of him and eat him
alive. as II has eaten the Others"
Maybe" said Hallock thoughtfully.
Then. with sudden heat: Its rotten.
Gridley! I've hung on and waited
and done the work for their figure
who, visioning the things that were to
be, borrowed from the California Mo.
neers and named the halting nloca ON