The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1912-01-25

cd that II was too dig for him q
handle, and when they gave him a
ulttmatum to that effect he accepssa
and bought them out. The plan was
his own, but he SEN down to the
States for competent engineers to car
ry II out. In the Rinkabilly water
shed, eighty miles away, he built his
reservoir, and for eighty miles the
huge wooden conduit carried the wa
ter across country to Ophir. EST
mated at three millions, the reservoir
n conduit cost nearer four. Nor
did he stop with this. Electric power
plants were installed, and his work
ings were lighted as we'll as run by
electricity. Other s~ourdoughs, who
had struck 1t rich in excess of all
their dreams, shook tteir heads gloom
lily, warned him that he would 90
broke, and declined to invest In so ex-
travagant a venture. But Daylight
smiled, and sold out the remainder or
his town-site holdings. He sold at the
right time, at the height of the placer
boom. When he prophesied to his old
cronies, In the M~oosehorn Saloon, that
within five years town lots in Dawson
could not be given away, while the
cabins would be chopped UP for fire.
wood, he was laughed at roundly, and
assured that the motherhood would
be found ere that time. But be went
ahead, when his need for lumber vas
finished, selling put his sawmills as
well. Likewise, he began to get rid
or his scattered holdings on the yari-
creeks, and without thanks to any
one he finished his conduit, built his
dredges, imported his machinery. and
made the gold of Ophir Immediately
accessible. And he, who five years
before had crossed over the divide
from Indian River and threaded the
silent wilderness, his dogs packing In
dian fashion, himself living Indian
fashion on straight moose meat, now
heard the hoarse whistles calling his
hundreds of laborers to work, and
watched them toll under the white
glare of the arc-lamps.
But having done the thing, he was
ready to depart. And when he let the
word go out, the Guggenhammers
Wed with the English concerns and
with a new French company in hid
ding for Ophir and all its plant. The
.uggenhammers bid highest, and the
price they paid netted Daylight a clean
million. 1t was current rumor that he
was worth anywhere from twenty to
thirty millions. But he alone knew
Just how he stood, and that, with his
last claim sold and the table swep,
clean of his winnings, he had ridden
his bunch to the tune OF Just a triae
eleven millions.
His departure was a thing that
passed into the history of the Yukon
along with his other deeds. All the
Yukon was his guest. Dawson the
OF the festlvity. On that one
asst night no mans dust save his own
vas good, Drinks were not to be pur-
chased. Every saloon ran open, with
extra relays of exhausted b%artenders,
the drinks were given away. A
nan who refused this hospitality. and
persisted In paying, found a dozen
lights on his hands. The veriest
'hechaquos rose up to defend the
lame of Daylight from such insult.
And through it all, on moccasined feet,
moved Daylight, hell-roaring Burning
Daylight, overspilling with good ma
ure n camaraderie, bowling his he
Volt howl and claiming the night as
bending mems arms down on the
'ars, performing feats of strength, his
face flushed with drink, his
eyes flashing, clad in ~overalls
nd blanket coat, mis- ear-fiaps dang.
ing and his gauntleted mittens swing
ne from the cord acros the should
RS. But this time 1t was neither an
nte o a stake that he threw away,
ut a mere marker In the game that
% who held so many markers would
lot miss.