The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1916-06-09

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with him. You know that long, mar.
row sandbar IN the river Just below
the mouth Of the upper canyon?"
Grislow nodded.
That is where we went for the
proof. Massingale dipped up a painful
OF the bar sand. which he asked me
to wash out for myself. | did 1t, and
you have the results there in that pa.
per. That bar Is comparatively rich
placer dirt"
Good Lord!" calculated the map
maker. Comparatively rich, you say?
and you washed this spoonful out of
a single PAM"
Keep your head" said Brouillard
coolly. "Massingale explained that
had happened to make a ten-strike;
that the bar wasn't any such bonanza
as that first result would indicate.
proved that, too, by washing some
more OF 1t without getting any more
than a few 'colors.' But the fact re.
mains: It's placer ground"
It was at this point that the larger
aspect Of the fact launched itself upon
the photographer.
"A gold strike!" he gasped. And
we-we're planning to drown It un.
der two hundred feet of a lake!"
BroNillard's laugh was harsh.
Don't let the fever get hold Of you,
Grislow. Don't forget that we are
here to carry out the plans of the rec
lamation service-which are more far
reaching and OF a good bit greater
consequence than a dozen placer
mines. Massingale drove the peg
down good and hard. II / would jump
In and pull every possible string to
hurry the railroad over the range, and
keep on pulling them, the secret of
the placer bar would remain a secret.
Otherwise he, Stephen Massingale,
would give it away, publish 1t, adver-
tise 1t to the world. You know what
that would mean for US, Murray"
My Lord! / should say SO! We'd
have Boomtown-on-the-pike right now,
with all the variations! Every white
man in the camp would chuck his Job
in the hollow half of minute and go
to gravel washing!"
"That's It precisely" Brouillard &C
Quiesced gloomily. "Massingale is a
young tough, but he is shrewd enough,
when he Is sober. He had me dead to
rights, and he knew It. You don't
want any gold camp starting up here
in the bottom Of your reservoir he
said; and had to admit it."
Grislow had found a magnifying
glass in the drawer of the mapping
table, and he was holding 1t in focus
over the small collection Of grain gold
and nuggets. In the midst Of the ca.
ger examination he looked up sudden
ly to say: Hold on a minute. Why is
Steve proposing to give this thing
away? Why isn't he working the bar
HIMSELF"
"He explained that phase of 1t, after
q fashion-said that placer mining was
always more or less of a gamble, and
that they had q sure thing Of it in
the Little Susan or course, II the
thing had to be given away he and
his father would avail themselves of
their rights as discoveries and take
their chance with the crowd for the
sake of the ready money they might
get out Of 1t. Otherwise they'd be
content to let it alone and stick to
their legitimate business, which is
quartz mining"
"And to do that successfully they've
got to have the railroad. How did you
settle 1t fnally?"
HE told me to take a week or two
and think about It,"
Grislow was biting the end Of his
penholder thoughtfully.
What are you going to do about
it, Victor?" he asked at length. eve
can't stand for any more chaos than
the gods have already doped out for
us, can WEI"
Brouillard took another long minute
at the Office window before he said:
What would you do If you were in
my place, Murray"
But at this the mapmaker put UP
his hands as If to ward off a blow.
"No, you DON'T" he laughed. 81
refuse to be that kind of fool. But
I'll venture small prophecy: The
golden secret will leak out. And after
that, the deluge."