Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1916-12-28

Our sleep was short, and In spite or
our youth and the vitality we had
stored In the healthy life Of the hills
we felt dragged out and tired. Five
hours sleep in two days is not enough.
l was up a few minutes before the
rest, and l sat in front Of the hotel
basking in the sun like a lizard.
Talbot appeared last, fresh and sml-
ing. Breakfast finished, he took US all
with him to the new brick building.
After some business we adjourned
once more to the Arcade. There Tai
bot made his report.
| wish | could remember it and re
peat it to you verbatim. It was worth
it. But l cannot, and the most can
do is to try to convey to you the sense
Of that scene-We three tanned, wealth
er beaten outlanders listening open
mouthed to the keen, competent, sell
assured magician who before our eyes
spun his glittering fabric. Talbot
Ward had seized upon the varied pos
sibilities Of the new city. The earn
ings on his first scheme-the ship store
houses and the rental Of the brick
building On Montgomery street, you
will Observation-Disclosures net the first
month, believe, to some $4,000. With
his share Of this money he had laid
narrow margins on a dozen options.
Day by day, week by week, his OPP
erations extended. He was in wharves,
sand lots, shore lots. Tightening, plank
roads, a new hotel. Dag after day.
week after week. he had turned these
things over, and at each turn money
hal dropped out. Sometimes the play
thing proved empty, and then Talb0;
had promptly thrown it away, appar-
emily without aftcTthCu"ht or regret.
AS fast as he acquired a dollar he in
vested it in a new chance, until his in.
torests extended from the Presiaio to
the water front Of the inner bay. These
interests were strange odds and ends.
He and a man with his own given
name, Talbot H. Green, had title in
much of what is now HarbOr View
that is to say, they would have clear
title as soon as they had paid heavy
mortgages. His shares in the CONNER
cial wharf lay in the safes Of bank
ing house, and the dollars he had
raised on them were valiantly doing
duty in holding at bay pressing debt
on precariously held water front equi-
ties. Talbot mentioned glibly sums
that reduced even the most successful
mining to a child's game The richest
strike we had heard rumOred never
yielded the half of what our friend
had tossed into a single deal. Our
own pitiful thousands were beggarly
by comparison, insignificant not worth
considering.
OF all the varied and far extending
affairs the Ward block was the flower.
Talbot owned options, equities, proper
ties, shares in all the varied and nu-
merOuS activities of the new city, but
each and every one Of them he held
subject to payments which at the pres
ent time he could by no possibility
make. Mortgages and loans had suck
ed every Immediately productive dol
lar, and those dollars that remained
were locked tight away from their
owner until such time as he might
gain possession Of golden key. This
did not very him.
'They are properties that are bound
to rise in value" he told Us. "In fact,
they are going up every minute we
sit here talking. They are futures"
Among other pieces, Talbot had been
able to buy the lot Oh the Plaza where
M 10
He paid q percentage down and gave
mortgage for the rest. Now all the
money he could sqeeZe from all his
other interests he was putting into the
structure. That IS why | rather fan
cifully alluded to the Ward block as
the flower Of all Talbot's activities.
Building is the one thing you have
to pay cash for throughout" said Tai
bot regretfully. Labor and materials
demand gold. But | see my way clear,
and first class, well appointed bust
ness block in this town right now is
worth more than the United States
mint. That's cash coming in for you
regularly every month. 1t will pay
from the start four or five times the
amount necessary to keep everything
else aflOat Jim Reckett has taken the
entire lower floor at thirty thousand.
The offices upstairs will pay from a
thousand a month up. and they are
every one rented in advance. Once
we get our rents coming in the strain
is relieved. | can begin to take up my
mortgages and loans, and once that
is begun we are on the road to Million
aireville.'
Once more he recapitulated his at
fairs-the land on the Plaza, two hun
dred thousand; the building, eighty
thousand; the HarbOr View lands, any
thing they might rise to. but nearly a
quarter million now; ten thousand par
value of the wharf stock already pay
ing dividends; real estate here and
there, and everywhere in the path of
the city's growth; shares in new hO-
tel that must soon touch par; the plank
road-as we jOtted down the figures
and the ma 0ir total grew Such trifiino