Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1917-08-29

ditIlIeo pIONluS lHdueQuute LOT lleSe,
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
stakeholder 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
Ouitclaims changed their minds and
sued for relief, and after the work was
we'll under way it appeared that there
was a cloud on the title of the dam site
itself. All of these clashings we're ear
r1ed into court, and the rancher pro-
motors found themselves confronting
invisible enemies and obstacle-raisers
at every turn.
We've got to go in deeper, colonel :;
| thprp iS nnthinu also To do ~ u-o &h,
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. "Im afraid our crowd
won't stand for that. A good part of it
is ready to lie down in the harness
right now"
"How about a bond issue?" asked
the engineer.
"Nhat 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
a charter and go to work on a plan a
little bit bigger han the neighborhood
ditch idea. You couldn't float bonds in
Timanyoni Park, and we're none of us
fovr ororrh To ro JNoct orl aoot ,o,, >,
81 guess that's right. too admitted
Williams. Besides, with the stock
gone off the way it has, it would take
a mighty fine-haired financial sharp to
sell bonds"
whats that?" demanded the presi-
dent. "Who's been selling any stock?"
Buck Gardner, for one; and that
man Boiling, up at the head of Little
creek, for another. Maxwell, the rail-
road superintendent, told me about it,
and he says that the price offered, and
accepted, was thirty-nine."
dad burn a cuss with a yellow
streak in him!" rasped the Missouri
colonel. "We had a fair and square
agreement among ourselves that if any
body got scared he "a to give the rest
of us a chance to buy him out. Who
bought from these welshers?'
Maxwell didn't know that. He said
it was done through Kinzie's bank.
From what I've heard on the outside,
I'm inclined to suspect hat Crawford
Stanton was the buyer"
"Stanton, the real-estate MANI"
1.-THE same"
Again the president stared thought
fully at the glowing end Of his cigar.
"There's another Of the COMPOUNDED
mysteries" he growled. "Who is Craw-
ford Stanton, and what is he here for?
I know what he advertises, but every
body in Brewster knows that he hasn't
made a living dollar in real estate
since he came here last summer Will
liams, do you know, I'm beginning to
suspect that there is a mighty big
niger in our little wood pile?
you mean that all these stubborn
holdups have been bought and paid