The Kadoka press and Kadoka reporter. [volume] (Kadoka, S.D.) 1910-1923, 1918-03-15

ana tney passed with a mutuai 50
long,"
"What do you think Of that, old
girl?" Bill observed presently. "A
real, honest-to- goodness railroad going
by within hundred miles Of our
shack. Three years. tn be there be-
fore we know it. Wen have neigh
borS to burn"
"a hundred milesr' Hazel laughed
'Is that your idea of a neighborly dir
tance?"
whats a hundred miles?" he de-
Tended. ''Two days ride, that's all.
And the kind of people that come to
settle in a country like this don't stick
in sight of the cars. They're like
me-need lots of elbow room. Therell
be hardy souls looking for location
up where we are before very long.
You'll see"
They passed other crews of men,
surveyors with transits, chainmen,
stake drivers, AK gangs widening the
path through the timber. Most or
them looked at Hazel in frank sur
piiSts anu StblNu iOIS ditNi 'ii' tN'-
by. And when an open bottom beside
a noisy little creek showed the scat
tered tents of the survey camp, Hazel
said:
Let's not stop, Bill"
He looked back over his shoulder
with cOmprehending smile.
Getting shy? Make you uncom-
Portable to have all these boys look at
you, little person?" he bantered. "Ali
right, we won't stop. But all these
fellows probably haven't seen white
woman for months. You can't blame
them for admiring. You do look good
to other men besides me, you know"
So they rode through the camp with
but nod to the aproned cook. who
thrust ont his head, and gray-haired
man with glasses. who bumped over
a drafting board under an awning.
Their noon fire they built at a spring
five miles beyond
At length they Jared into Hazelton,
which is the hub of vast area over
which men pursue gold and furs.
cred there, where the stern-wheel
steamers that ply the turgid Skeena
reach the head Of navigation. A land
recording office and a mining recorder
Hazelton boasted as proof of its
civic Importance. The mining recorder.
who combined in himself many capaci-
ties besides his governmental function,
undertook to put through Bilps land
deal. He knew Bill Wagstaff.
"Wise man." he nodded. over the de-
scription. "If some more nh these boys
that have blazed trails through this
country would do the same thing,
they'd be better off. A chunk of land
anywhere in this country is good
bet now. We'll have rails here from
the coast in year. Better freeze
onto q couple uh lots here in Hazel
ton. while they're low. Be plumb to
the skies in ten years. Natural place
for a city. Bill. It's astonishin' how
the settlers is comm"
There was ocular evidence of this
last, for they had followed in a road
well rutted from loaded wagons. But
Bill invested in no real estate, not.
withstanding the positive assurance
that Hazelton was on the ragged edge
of n boom.
"Maybe. maybe" he admitted. "But
I've got other fish to fry. That one
piece up by Pine river will do me fol
while"
Here where folk talked only Of gold
and pelts and railroads and settlement
and the coming boom that would make
them all rich, Bill Wagstaff added two
more ponies to his pack train. These
he loaded down with food, staples only
flour, sugar, beans, salt, tea and cOf
fee, and a sack Of dried fruit. AlsG
he bestowed upon Niger a furthe,
burden of six dozen steel traps.
And in the cool of midsumme,
morning before Hazelton mad rubbe'
the sleep out of its collective eyes ant
taken up the days work of discussing
its future greatness Roaring Bill ant
his wife draped the mosquito nets owe
their heads and turned their face
north.
They bore out upon a wagon road
For brief distance only did this en-
dure. then dwindled to path. A turf
in this hid sight of the clustered 10,
houses and tents, and the two steam
ers that lay up against the bank. Tn
river itself was soon lost In the IA
stretches Of forest. Once more the,
rode alone in the wilderness. For tn,
first time Hazel felt a quick shrinking
from the North, an awe of it's huge
silent spaces, which could so easil,
engulf thousands such as they and still