Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-03-30

through skillfully located irrigation
bitches the water was to be given to
the millions of hungry little wheatlets
and cOrnlets, which would clamor for q
drink. The fierce sun was no longer to
work its unthwarted will in burning
up the prairie.
With the promise of water on the
plain beyond, Coronado sprang into
newer and more vigorous life. In the
language of the West it "boomed." The
railroad had been a for1urn branch
running up into the mountains and
ending nowhere. Its first builders had
been daunted by difficulties and lack
of money, but as soon as the great dam
was projected, which would open sew
eral hundred thousand acres for cult
walton and serve as an inspiration in
its practical results to other similar
attempts, people came swarming into
the country buying up the land, the
price for acreage steadily mounting.
The railroad accordingly found It
worth while to take up the Iong-aban-
doned construction work of mounting
the range and crossing it. Men sud-
denly observed that it was the short
est distance between two cardinal
points, and one Of the great transcon-
tinental railways bought it and began
improving it to replace its original
rather unsatisfactory line.
The long wooden trestle which
crossed the broad, sandy depression in
front of the town, the bed of the an
cient river, through which the Picket
Wire and further down it's aff1uent, the
Kicking Horse, flowed humbly and
modestly, was being replaced by
great viaduct of steel. Far up the
gorge past the other side of the Span
ish Mesa another higher trestle had al
ready been replaced by a splendid
steel arch. A siding had been built
near the ravine, a path made to the
foot of the mesa, and arrangements
were being made to run local train
up from the town when all was COM
pleted to give the people an oppor-
tunity to ride up the gorge and see the
great pile of rock, on which enterprise
was already planning the desecration
of a summer hotel, the blasphemy Of
an amusement park!
Up the valley of the Picket Wire one
morning in early fall came young
man roughly dressed like the average
cow-puncher from the ranches further
north. He rode well, yet with GER
tain attention to detail and a niceneSs
that betrayed him to the real rough
rider Of the range, just as the clothes
he wore, although they were the Or
binary cattleman's outfit, were worn
in little different way that again be-
trayed him. One look into the face Of
the man, albeit his mustache and beard
hid the revealing outlines of mouth
and chin, sufficed to show that here
was no ordinary cow-puncher. He rode
boldly enough among the rocks of the
trail and along the rough road, which
had been made by the wheels of the
wagons and hoofs of the horses. There
was about him some of the quiet con-
fidence begot of achievement, some of
the power which knowledge brings and
were uncertainty and hesitation, too,
as if all had not been plain sailing on
his course. -t- F.t
To be the resident engineer charged
with the construction of great earth
| dam like that across the Picket Wire,
requires knowledge Of a great many
things beside the technicahties of the
| Of n
knowledge of men. AS the newcomer
threw his leg over the saddle-horn,
stepped lightly to the ground, drop
ping the reins of his pony to the soil at
the same time, Vandeventer,, the en-
gineer in question. looked at him with
approval. Some subtle recognition of
the mans quality came into his mind.
Here was one who seemed distinctly
worth while, one who stood out above
the ordinary applicant for jobs who
came in contact with Vandeventer, as
the big mesa rose above the foothill.
However, the chief kept these things
to himself as he stood looking and
waiting for the other man to begin:
"Are you the resident engineer?'
asked the newcomer quietly, yet there
was certain nervous note in his voice
which the alert and obServant engineer
found himself wondering at, such a
strain as might come when man is
about to enter upon course of action
to take strange or perilous step, such
little shiver In his speech as naked
man might feel in his body before he
plunged into the icy waters Of the
wtntry sea.
81 am"
''rd like a Job" '-
ave have no use for cow-punchers
ON this DAM"
"Tm not exactly cow-puncher, sir.
stWhat are your"
Look here" said the man, smiling
a little, "I've been out in this country
long enough to learn that all that it is