Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-05-25
~ CHAPTER XIV AZ;
The Feast of Hurrahs


ting. roaring, wide-open mining camp
of twenty thousand souls by the time
the railroad, straining every nerve and
crowding three shifts into the 24-hour
day, pushed its rails along the foothill
bench of Chigringo, tossed up it's tenn
porary station buildings, and signaled
its opening for business by running s
mammoth excursion from the cities of
the Immediate East.
Busy as It was, the city took time
to celebrate fittingly the event which
linked 1t to the outer world. By proc
lamation Mayor Cartwright declared
holiday There were lavish displays
Of bunting, an tmpromptu trades pa
rade, speeches from the plaza band
stand, free lunches and free liquor
a day of boisterous, hilarious triumph
ings, with, incidentally, much buying
and selling and many transfers Of the
precious front foot"eor choice et'cor-
ner" = - go
Yielding to pressure, which was no
less imperative from below than. from
above, Brouillard had consented to
suspend work on the great dam during
the day OF triumphs, and the recla-
nation service force, smaller now than
at any time since the beginning of the
undertaking, went to swell the crowds
on Chigringo avenue. MI Cartwright
had been inexorable, and Brouillard
found himself discomfOrtingly empha-
sized as chairman of the civic recep-
ton committee.
It was after his part Of the speech
making, and while the plaza crowds
were still believing their approval Of
the modest forensic effort, that he
went to sit beside Miss Cartwright in
the temporary grand stand, hopping
his face and otherwise exhibiting the
after effects Of the unfamiliar strain.
81 didn't know you could be so con-
vincing," was Miss Genevieve's COM
ment. "It was splendid! Nobody will
ever believe that you are going to go
on building your dam and threatening
to drown US, after this"
What did I say?" queried Brouil-
lard, having, at the moment, only the
haziest possible idea of what he had
said.
"As If you didn't know" she
laughed. "You congratulated every
body. And the funny thing about it Is
the NiQuoia dam"
Didn't I? That shows how COM
pletely your father has converted me,
how helplessly | am carried along on
the torrent of events"
But you are not" she said accus-
ingly. Deep down In your inner con-
seriousness you don't believe little bit
in Mirapolis You are only playing the
game with the rest Of US, Mr.. Brouil-
lard"
German, Mr. Cortwright's ablest
trumpeter in the real-estate booming,
was holding the plaza crowd spell
bound with prophetic outlining of the
Mirapolitan future.
In the middle distance and back
grounding the buildings on the oppo-
site side Of the plaza. rose the false
work of the great dana standing for
est of sawed timbers, whose afternoon
shadows were already pointing like a
many-fngered fate toward the city OF
the plain. But, though the face Of the
speaker was toward the shadowing for
est, his words ignored 1t. "The snow
capped Timayonis," "tne mighty Chi
gringo," and the goiden-veined slopes
Of Jacks mountain" all came In for eu-
logistic mention; but the massive wall
of concrete, with its bristling parapet
of timbers, had no part in the orstor's
famboyant descriptive.
Brouillard loved Amy Massingale
with passion which. however blind 1t
might be on the side OF the higher
moralities, was still keen-sighted
enough to assure him that every
plunge he made In the Metropolitan
whirlpool was sweeping him farther
away from her.
He had transferred the power COM
pany's stock, minus a single share to
cover his official standing on the
power company's board. to Cartwright,
and had opened an account at the Nj
quota National. The ninety-nine thou
sand nine hundred dollars had since