Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-05-31
il could be seenT

and said he was subject to little nerv-
Gus attacks like that when anybody
touched him Unexpectedly. He took
Burdell over to Pete Simm's shack sa-
loon and bought him a drink. Perkins,
the timekeeper, says he's going to get
a megaphone so he can give due notice
in advance when he wants to call
Smiths attention.
The colonel pulled out a drawer in
the desk. found his box of diplomatic
cigars and passed IT to the engineer,
saying: Light up a sure-enough good
one, and tell me what you think Smith
has been doing back yonder in the
other country"
Williams took the cigar but he SHE'D
at the cOnundrum.
ASK me something easy" he said,
'Tve stacked up a few guesses. He's
from the middle West-as the Bible
says, his speech betrayeth' him-and
he's had good job of some kind; the
kind that required him to keep abreast
of things. If there's anything in looks,
you'd say he wasn't a thief or an en-
bezzler, and yet it's pretty apparent
that he's been used TO handling money
in chunks and making it work for its
living. I've put it up that there's a
woman in it. Perhaps the other fell
low got in his way, or came up behind
MIN and touched him unexpectedly, or
something Of that sort. Anyway, I'm
aot going to believe he's a crooked
crook until have to-"
Colonel Baldwin helped himself to
3ne of his own cigars, and the talk
went back TO business. In the irri-
cation project, Williams was a stock
holder as well as chief of construction,
and Baldwin had more than once
found him a safe adviser. There was
need for counsel. The TimanyOni
Ditch company was in a rather hazard
Gus condition financially, and the preSi-
dent and Williams rarely met without
coming sooner or later to a threshing
out Of the situation.
The difficulties were those which are
apt to confront a small and local enter
prise when it is so unfortunate as to
get in the way of larger undertakings.
Colonel Baldwin, and a group Of his
neighbors on the north side of the
river, were reformed cattlemen and
horse breeders. Instead of drifting
farther west in advance of the incom-
ing tide of population following the
coming of the railroad, they had
availed themselves of their homestead
rights and had taken up much Of the
grass land in the favorable valleys, ir-
rigating it at first with water taken
out of the river in private or neighbor-
hood bitches.
Later on came the sheep-feeding
period, and after that the utilization
of larger crop-raising areas. The small
bitches proving inadequate for these,
Colonel Baldwin had formed a stock
company among his neighbOrs in the
grass lands and his friends in Brewster
for the building of a substantial dam
in the eastern hills. The project had
seemed simple enough In the beginning.
The stock was sold for cash and each
stockhOlder would be a participating
user Of the water. Williams, who had
been a United States reclamation man
before he came to the Timanyoni, had
made careful estimates, and the stock
subscription provided money enough
to cover the cost of the dam and the
main ditch.
After some little bargaining, the
dam site and the overflow land for the
reservoir lake had been secured, and
the work was begun. Out of a clear
sky, however, came trouble and harass-
ment. Alien holders of mining claims
in the reservoir area turned up and
demanded damages. Some few home
steaders who had promised to sign
quitclaims changed their minds and
sued for relief, and after the work was
well under way it appeared that there
was cloud on the title of the dam site
itself. All Of these clashings were car
ried into court, and the rancher pro-
moters found themselves confronting
invisible enemies and obstacle-raisers
at every turn.
The legal fight, as they soon found
out, cost much money in every phase
Of it; and now, when the dam was
scarcely more than half completed, a
practically empty treasury was star
ing them in the face. There was no
Disgusting the fact that a crisis was
approaching, a financial crisis which
no one among the amateur promoters
was big enough to cope with.
"We've got to 60 IN deeper, colonel;
there is nothing else TO DO" was the
engineers summing up Of the matter at
the close Of the conference. "The snow
is melting pretty rapidly On the range
now, and when we get the June rise
We'll stand to lose everything we have
If we can't keep every wheel turning
to get ready for the high water"
Baldwin was holding his cigar be-
tween his fingers and scowling at 1t as
If it had mortally offended him.
Assessments on the stock, you
mean?" he said. ''Pm afraid our crowd
won't stand for that A good part Of 1t
is ready to lie down In the harness
right now
'How about a bond issue?" asked
the engineer.
"What do we, or any Of US, know
about bond issues? Why, we knew
barely enough about the business at
the start to chip in together and buy US
charter and go to work On plan
little bit bigger than the neighborhood
ditch idea. You couldn't float bonds In
Timanyoni Park, and we're none Of US