The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1916-02-24
AZ CHAPTER w II;
~ Sands of Pactolus

II Victor Brouillard had been dis
posed TO speculate curiously upon the
possibilities suggested by Mr.. J. Yves
ley Cartwright on the occasion OF the
capitalists brief visit to the Niquoia
there was little leisure for It. Fairly
confronting his problem. Brouiilard
did not find himself hampered by de.
partmental inertia. While he was rap
idly organizing his force for the con-
structiye attack, the equipment and
preliminary material for the upbuild-
ing OF the great dam were piling up
by the trainload OH the sidetracks at
Quesado, and at once the man and
beast killing task Of rushing the exca-
vnting outfit OF machinery, teams,
scrapers, rock-drilling installations.
steam shovels, and the like, over the
War Arrow trail was begun.
During the weeks which followed
the same trail. and little later that
from the Navajo reservation on the
south, were strung with antlike pro-
cesslons OF laborers pouring into the
shut-in valley at the foot OF Mount
Chigringo. Almost as II by magic
pcpulous camp 81 tents. shelter shacks
and Indian tepees sprang up in the
level hsd-bottom OF the future lake.
campiires gave place TO mess kitch.
ems; the commissary became busy
department store stocked with every
thing that thrifty or thriftless labor
might wish TO purchase; and daily the
great foundation scorings in the but
tressing shoulders OF Jacks mountain
and Chigringo grew deeper and wider
under the churning Oh the air-drills,
the crashings OF the dynamite and the
rattle and chug of the steam shovels.
II was after the huge task OF foun-
dalton digging was well under way
and the work OF constructing the small
power dam In the upper canyon had
been begun that the young chief OF
construction, busy With thousand
details, had his first forcible reminder
OF the continued existence OF Mr.. ].
Wesley Cartwright
IL came in the form of communi-
cation from Washington, forwarded by
special post.rider service from Que
ssdo, and II called halt upon the up
river power project. In accordance |
with its settled policy. the reclamation
service would refrain, in the Niquoia
as elsewhere, from entering into COM !
petition with private citizens; would |
do nothing to discourage the invest
ment OF private capital. A company |
had been formed to take over the
power production and to establish
plant for the manufacture of cement,
and Brouillard was instructed to gov
ern himself accordingly. For his In
formation, the department letter
writer went on to say. IL was to be
understood that the company was
duly organized under the provisions OF
an act OF congress; that II had bound
itself to furnish power and material
at prices satisfactory to the service;
and that the relations between 1t and
the government field-staff on the
ground were to be entirely friendly.
It's graft--a pull-down with a
profit In 1t for some bunch OF money
leeches little higher upl" was the
young chiefs angry comment when he
had given Grislow the letter to read.
Without knowing any more OF the
details than that letter gives. I'd be
willing to bet months pay that this
is the fine Italian hand OF Mr.. ]. Wes-
ley Cortwright!"
Grlslow's eyebrows went up in
Interrogation
Ought | to know the gentleman"
he queried mildly. Il don't seem to
recall the name"
mo. you don't know him. II was
his motor party that was camping at
the Buckskin ford the night we broke :
in here-the night when we saw the
And you met him? | thought you
told me YOU merely went down and
took a look-didn't butt in7"
Il didnt-that night. But tho next
they wanted to see the val. :
ley, and | showed them the way in,
Cartwright is the multimillionaire pork
packer of Chicago. and he went up
into the air like a lunatic over the
chances there were to
be in this job. ! didn't pay much at
tentioD to his chortlings at the time.
It didn't seem remotely credible that
anybody with real money to invest :
would plant It in the bottom of the Nj I
quota reservoir"
But now you think he is going to ,
make his bluff good?"
That looks very much like it, said ;
Brouillard sourly, pointing to the let
ter from Washington. That scheme
is going to change the whole face of ,
nature for us up here, Grislow. 1t
will spell trouble right from the
jump"
"Oh, don't know" was the depre-
catory rejoinder 1T will relieve us
of lot of side-issue industries-cut
'em out and bury 'em, so far as we
are concerned"
THAT part of it is all right, OF
course; but it won't end there; not by
a hundred miles. Jobson says in that
letter that the relations have got to