Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-06-15
~ CHAPTER XXI On
VA An Evening Call \
28 >&

y
Metropolitan awakening to a realization
that once more the tide had turned to
bring new pillows Of prosperity tum-
bling into the valley of the Niquoia
came with sudden and triumphant
shock.
The first of the quickening waves
fell upon the government reservation.
Between sunrise and nightfall, on q
a. wisol the cloud OF dapresz!on red
grown black with panic threatenings,
the apathy which had lately character
lied the work on the great dam disap-
peared as If by magic. The city found
its billboards posted with loud calls
for labor; the idle mixers were put in
commission; The quarries and crush
ers began to thunder again; and the
stagfngs once more shook and trembled
under the feet Of busy army of pud-
dlers.
While the revival was as yet only In
the embryonic period, Sresh labor be-
gan to come in gangs and in carloads
and presently by special trains. Swarm
ing colonies of Greeks, Italians and
Bulgarians were dumped upon the city
through the gate of the railroad sta
ton, and once more Chigringo avenue
at night became a cheerful midway
answering to the speech of all ma
tions.
Change, identification, termination
instantly became the new order Of
-
self joyOusly into the fray, reaping
where 1t had not sown and sowing
only where the quickest crop could be
gathered. For now the dullest of the
reapers saw that the government work
was really the Metropolitan breath Of
life. Neither the quickening Of the
city's industries nor the restarting of
the gold dredges in the Quadjenai
canals, the reOpening of the Real Els
tate exchange nor the Buckskin COM
pany's sudden resumption of the profit
less prospecting on Jacks mountain
served to obscure the principal facts
that without the money the reclama-
ton service was disbursing the new
prosperity structure would collapse
like house Of cards.
This new and aforementioned con-
victiOn wrought an eager change In
men and in methods. Credit vanished
| and spot cash was tacitly acknowl-
| edged to be the only way to do bust
ness in live community. Fortunes
changed hands swiftly, as before, but
| now there was little bargaining and,
with hot haste for the foreword, little
| time for it. To the western motto OF
Go to 1t and get the money" was
| added: And don't come back with
| out it." 1t was said with a laugh, but
behind the laugh there was a menace.
Among the individual transforms
| tons wrought by the new conditions,
| the young chief Of the reclamation
| service afforded the most striking ex-
ample. From the morning when he had
| summarily Cancelled the lease for the
| offices in the Niquoia building and had
| returned his headquarters to the old
| log buildings on the government reser-
| walton and thence had issued his first
| series of orders for the resumption of
! fullforce work on the dam and canals,
| those who had not known him best dis
| covered that they had not known him
| at all. Even to Grislow and the men
| Of his staff he was curt, crisply manda-
| tory, almost brutal. For one and all
| there was rarely anything beyond the
| shOtlike sentence: Drive 1t, men
drive it; that's what you're here for
drive it,"
| The time he took to eat his hurried
meals at Bongras' could be measured
| in minutes, and what hours he gave
| to sleep no man knew, since he was
| the last to leave the headquarters at
night and the first on the work In the
morning. Twice, after the renewed
| activities on the great wall had be-
come a well-ordered race against time,
and the concrete was pouring into the
| high forms in steady streams from the
| ranked batteries of mixers, Mr.. Cort.
wright had sent for Brouillard, and on
each occasion the messenger had gone
back with the brief word TOO busy
during working hours" And when a
third messenger came to inquire what
Mr.. Brouillard's working hours were,
the equally blunt answer returned was
"All the time"
In the face of such disbursements
| Mr.. Cartwright was constrained to
| pocket his dignity as mayor, as the
| potentate of the exchanges, and as
the unquestionable master of the surly
young industry captain who refused
to come when he was called, and to 90
in person. Choosing the evening hour
when he had been assured that he was
likely to find Brouillard alone and at
work, he crossed the boundaries of the
sacred reservation and made his way
to the door Of the log-built mapping
room.
L came around to see what is eating
you these days." was the pudgy
tyrant's greeting for the young man
sitting under the shaded desk lamp
Why don't you drop in once in q
while and give me the run of things?"
I gave your clerk the reason said
Brouillard laconically. I'm too busy
The devil you are!" snapped the
great man, finding the only armchair
IN the room and dropping heavily into
1t. "Since when?'
no Arcf %4x