The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-07-08
CHAPTER /.
COLLARS AND cuFrs.

Southwestern at Copah loo
n northward over bald, brow
mesas and across the Pannikin to tn
eroded cliffs of the Uintah hills. TIL
prospect. lacking vegetation, artist
atmosphere ana color. is crude an
rather harshly aggressive. and to Lid
gerwood, glooming thoughtfully on
upon it through the weather worl
panes scratched and bedimmed b,
many desert sandstorms, it was pecul
iarly depressing.
mo, Ford; ] hate TO disappoint you
but I'm not the man you are loOllinJ
| for" he said, turning back TO things
present and in suspense and speaking
as one who would add reason to un
qualified refusal 1--WE been looking
over the ground while you were com
ing on from New York. IL isn't in me
TO fog the Red Butte Western into q
well behaved division of the p. S. W.
The grave eyed man who had Dor.
rowed superintendent Leckhard's pivot
chair nodded intelligence.
That is what you have been saying,
with variations for the last half hour.
Why?'
Because the job. asks for gifts that
! don't possess, At the present mo-
ment the Red Butte Western is the
most hOpelessly demoralized 800 miles
of railroad west of the Rockies. There
is no system, no discipline, no respect
for authority. The men run the road
ms If 1t were huge Joke. Add TO these
conditions the fact that the Red desert
is country where the large calibered
revolver is tasIat
"Yes. l know all that" interrupted
the man in the chair. "The road and
the region need civilizing- need il bad
ly. That is one of the reasons why
am trying to persuade you TO take
hold. You are long on civilization,
Howard"
mot on the kind which has to be
inculcated by main strength and
disregard for consequences
I'm no scrapper."
To the eye Of appraisal Lidgerwood's
appearance bore out the
assertion TO the final well
detail. Compactly built and
neatly, Drawn and bulk were conspic-
nously lacking. and the thin. intel
ectual face was made TO appear still
thinner by the pointed cut of the
loosely trimmed brown beard. A phys
economist would have classified him
rs a man of studious habit with the
eisure to indulge I'm Il. and uncon-
'ciously he dressed the part.
In his outspoken moments. which
we're rare, he was given to railing
against the fate which had made him
round peg in a square hole, n tech
heal engineer and n man of action
when his earlier tastes and inclina-
los had drawn him in other direc-
ions. But the temperamental quail
ies-the niceties, the exactness. the
horoughness-which, finding no outlet
n an artistic calling. had made him n
master in his unchosen profession
we're well known TO Mr.. Stuart Ford,
rst vice president of the Pacific
southwestern system. And it was
argely for the sake Of these qualities
hat Ford locked his hands over one
nee and spoke as man and a com
ade.
let me tell you, Howard. you've |
% idea what savage fight we've had |
n New York absorbing these same de |
noraliZed 800 miles. You know why |
We were obliged to have them. If the
'ranscontinental had beaten us it |
leant that our competitor would build |
yer here from Jacks Canyon, divide
he Copah business with us and have
line 300 miles nearer to the Nevada
old fields than ours.
president Brewster has copper
roperty somewhere in the vicinity of
Ingels and he knows the road. He
that we were buying two
freaks Of rust and right Of way I'm
ne Red desert. More than that. ne
sscrted that the executive officer
idn't live who could bring order out
T the chaos into which bad manage
lent and n peculiarly tough environ
tent had plunged the Red Butte West.
I'm. That's where I had him bested
toward. All through the hot fight
ept saying over and over to myself
nat I knew the man"
"But you don't know him. Stuart:
nat is the weak link in the chain. If
were merely n matter OF technical
tness ! suppose ] might go over to
ngels and do what you want done
ith the 400 miles Of Generalization
ut the Red Butte proposition asks
II more. for something that ! can't
VIC II. Stuart. there is yellow streak
me that you seem never to have dis.
'vered. i am coward"
The ghost Of an incredulous smile
about the tired eyes of the