Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-05-04


ducing your good father to my bank
ers in Chicago? 1t was years ago, at
a time when he was interested in float
ing a bond issue for some growing in
dustry down on the Wabash And to
think that away out here in this howl
ing wilderness, thousand miles from
nowhere, as you might say, l should
meet his san!"
Broulllard laughed and fell headlong
into the pit of triteness.
THE world isn't so very big when
you come to surround it properly, Mr..
Cartwright" he asserted.
you are wondering what fool no.
ton chased us away out here in the
desert when we had comfortable ho-
tel to stop at" he ratified on. 'sPll
tell you, Mr.. Brouillard-in confidence.
1t was curiosity-raw, country curios-
ity. The papers and magazines have
been full of this Buckskin reclamation
scheme, and we wanted to see the
place where all the wonderful miracles
were going to get themselves wrought
out. Have you got time to put US
next o"
Brouillard, as the son of the man
who had been introduced to the Chi
cage money gods in his hour of need,
could scarcely do less than to take the
time. The project, he explained, con-
templated the building of a high dam
across the upper end of the Niquoia
canyon and the converting of the in
land valley above into a great storage
reservoir. From this reservoir a series
OF distributing canals would lead the
water out upon the arid lands of the
Buckskin and the miracle would be a
fact accomplished.
Sure, sure!" said the cheerful quer-
1st, feeling in the pockets of the au-
tomobile coat for a cigar At the
match-striking instant he remembered
thing neglected. "By George! you'll
have to pardon me, Mr. BrouiIlard; I'm
always forgetting the little social dew
dabs. Let me present you to my
daughter Genevieve Gene, shake
hands with the son of my good old
friend, Judge Antoine Brouillard of
Vincennes''
1t was rather awkwardly done, and
somehow Brouillard could not help
| fancying that Mr.. Cartwright could
| have done it better. But when the
| unquenchable beauty stripped her
gauntlet and gave him her hand, with
| a dazzling smile and a word of &C
acknowledgement which was not bor-
rowed from her fathers ELUSIVE vo-
cabulary, he straightway fell into an
other pit of triteness and his saving
| hrst impressions Of Mr.. J. Wesley Cort-
wright's character began to fade
I'm Immensely interested" was
Miss Cortwright's comment on the out
lining OF the reclamation project do
you mean to say that real farms with
green things growing on them can be
made out of that frightful desert we
drove over yesterday afternoon ?"~
I Brouillard smiled and plunged fatu-
ously. "Oh, yes; the farms are al.
ready there. Nature made them, you
know; she merely forgot to arrange
for their watering" He was going or
to tell about the exhaustive expert
ments the department of agriculture
experts had been making upon the
Bucksk1n soils when the gentleman
whose name had once figured upon
countless thousands of lard packages
cut in.
Mr.. Brouillard, how far is it up to
where you are going to build your
| damn"
I'll be glad to show you the way If
| you care to try" Brouillard offered
and the tentative invitation was
promptly accepted.
! The transfer of viewpoints from the
lower end of the canyon to the upper
was effected without incident, save at
| Its beginning, when the father would
have called down to the young man
| who had waded ashore and was drying
himself before the campfire ivan
Bruce won't care to CO." the daughter
nastened to say; and Brouillard, whose
gilt 1t was to be able to pick out and
Identity the human derelict at long
range, understood perfectly well the
AS0Soh Aoi TIE young woman nasty
interruption. One result of the sue
cessfully marketed lard packages was
very plainly evident in the dissipated
face and hangdog attitude of the mar
keter's son.
Conversation tagged on the climb
from the Buckskin level to that of the
reservoir valley; but when they
reached the pine tree of the anchored
blueprints at the upper portal, Mr..
| Cartwright recovered his breath suffi-
GENTLY to gasp his appreciation of the
prospect and its possibilities.
Why, good goodness, Mr.. Brouil-
lard, It's practically all done for you!"
he wheezed, taking in the level, noun
tain-inclosed valley with an appraisive
eye-sweep. What will you do?-buiId
your dam right here and take out your
canal through the canyon? Is that the
plan?"
Brouillard nodded and went little
further into details. showing how the