The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1916-12-14

stevedores trundling their trucks into
the hold, then up to the crane with its
straining burden of bridge material.
Every package was stenciled with his
rivals name, but he exclaimed:
Bravo, captain. Well be up to the
summit by Christmas. No graft. No
incompetence. The utmost publicity
in corporate affairs'-that's our plat
form. We're destined for a glorious
success. Glorious success.
go aboard and lie down." Brennan
said gently. You need a good sleep
Then. calling a steward. be ordered.
show Mr.. Gordon to my cabin and
give him what he wants"
He watched the tall figure stumble
up the gangplank and shook his head.
The utmost publicity IS it? Well,
it's you that's getting it now. And TO
think that you're the man with the
mines and the railroads and the wild
ow. I'm afraid you'll be in irons when
she sees you. But that's as good a
finish as you deserve, after all.
The building Of the Salmon river
bridge will not soon be forgotten by
engineers and men Of science.
Nowhere else in the history of bridge
building had such conditions been en-
Countered: nowhere on earth had work
of this character been attended with
greater hazards; never had circum-
stances created a situation of more
dramatic interest. BY many the whole
venture was regarded as n reckless
gamble: for more than a million dol
lars had been risked on the chance not
alone that O'Neil could build supports
which the ice could not dcmOlish. but
that he could build them under the
most serious difficulties in record break
TX time. Far more than the mere
cost Of the structure hinged upon his
success; failure would mean that his
Hhole investment up TO that point
would be wiped out. 10 say nothing of
the &2O,OO0,oOo project of Il trunk line
ZIP the valley Of the Salmon.
Had the government permitted the
hyak coal fields TO be opened up the
reaches of the 5. L. and y. would
have had Il value, but all activity in
that region had been throttIed, and the
.o,icy Of delay and iudeciSion at head
quarters promised no relief.
The actual erection of steel work vas
impossible during the coolest months;
Parker had planned only TO rush the
piers, abutmentS and false work u COM
4ction 50 that he could take advantage
If the mild spring weather preceding
the breakup. The execution OF this
plan was in itself an unparalleled uu-
arrtaking, making it necessary to hire
he weeks wore into months the intri-
details were wrought out one by
one and preparations were completed
the great race.
Late in, March Dan Appleton went
the front, taking with him his wife
and his sister. for whom O'Neil had
.~houghtfully prepared suitable living
quarters. The girls were as hungry
is Dan TO have a part in the deciding
,tru@gle, or al least to see it close at
land, for the spirit of those engaged
the work had entered them also.
Life at Omar of late had been rather
lneyentful, and they looked forward
With pleasure 10 a renewal of those
,ompanionable relations which had
made the summer months 50 full OF
interest and delight. But they were
disappointed. Life at the end of the
inc they found 70 be a very grim, a
earnest. and in some respects an
extremely disagreeable affair; the few
erish. unceasing activity of their friends
eft no time for companionship or rec
'eation Of any sort. More and more
too. came to feel the sense Of
taste Il strain pervading the whole
Of workers. the weight Of respon-
that bore upon the commander.
Dan became almost a stranger to
hem, and when they saw hin he was
Jbsessed by vital issues. Mellen was
.ruF and irritable; Parker in his pre-
ignored everything but his
OF all their former comrades
alone seemed aware Of their
presence. But behind his smile they
saw the lurking worries; In his eyes
was an abstraction they could not pen
In his bearing the fatigue of a
man tried 70 the breaking point.
To Eliza there was a certain joy
Ia being near the man she
owed. even though she could not help
icing hurt by his apparent indiffer-
.uce. The long weeks without sight
II him had ~deepencd her feeling and
she had turned for relief TO the writing
u her bOOk-the natural outlet for her
repregsed emotions. Into its pages she
had poured all her passion, all her
yearning. aud she had written with an
Intimate understanding OF O'Ncil's am
yitiOEs and aims which later gave the
story it's unique success as an epic OF