davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
CHAPTER III.
cha%er the maggie Darling"

StofsS' h'S "dHSiC
AS luck would have 1t, the loss. or
rather the theft of Henry P. Tobias
narrative was not so serious as 1t at
arst seemed. for 1t fortunately CHANGED
that John Saunders had had It copied !;
but the theft remained none the less
mysterious.
However, leaving that mystery for
later solution, John Saunders, Charlie
Webster and 1 spent the next evening
in a general and particular criticism
OF the narrative itself. There were
several obvious objections to be made
hgninst Its authenticity. To start with.
Tobias, at the time of his deposition,
was an old man-seventy-tive years
old-and 1t was more. than probable
that his experiences as a pirate would
date from his early manhood; they
were hardly likely to have taken place
as late a. his fortieth year. The mar
rative, indeed. suggested their taking
place much earlier, and there would
thus be space of at least forty years
between the burial of the treasure
and his deathbed revelation. 1t was
natural to ask: Why during all those
years did he not return and retrieve
the treasure for himself? Various
circumstances may have prevented
him. the inability from lack of means
to make the journey. or what not |;
but certainly one would need to imag-
inc circumstances of peculiar power
that should be strong enough to keep
a man with so valuable secret In his
possession so many years from taking
advantage Of it.
For long while, too. the names
given to the purported sites of the
treasure caches puzzled US. Modern
maps give no such places as Dead
Mems Shoes" and "Short Shrift
lsland," but at last. in map dating
back to 1T63, we came upon one of
the two names. So far the veracity
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26

back to the object Of my trip, those
doubloons and pieces of eight that lay
in glittering heaps somewhere out in
those island wildernesses.
Then Tom came up with my break
fast. The old fellow stood by to serve
me as l ate, with pathetic touch of
the old slavery days in his deferential,
half-fatherly manner, dropping a
quaint remark every now and again
as, when drawing my attention to the
sun bursting through the clouds, he
said, "The poor mans blanket is COM
ing out, sah'-phrases in which there
seemed whole lot of pathos to me.
Presently, when breakfast was over,
and I stood looking over the side into
the incredibly clear water, In which
it seems hardly possible that boat
can go on floating, suspended us she
seems over cleaning CULTS Of liquid
space, down through which at every
moment it seems she must dizzily fall.
AS Tom and l gazed down, lost. in
those rainbow deeps, l heard voice
at my elbow saying with peculiarly
sickening unction:
"The wonderful works of God"
1t was my unwelcome passenger,
who had silently edged up to where
we stood. l looked ut him, with the
question very clear in my eyes as to
what kind of disagreeable animal he
was.
Precisely" said. and moved away.
had been trying to feel more kind
ly toward him, wondering whether /
could summon up the decency to offer
him cigar, but "the wonderful works
Of God" finished me.
"HellO! captain" I said presently,
pointing TO some sails coming up rap
idly behind US. whats thls7 I
thought we'd got the fastest boat In
the harbor."
TITS the Susan B., sponger," said
the captain.
The captain was man of few
words.
The Susan b. was rakish-looking
craft with black hull, and she GER
tainly could sail. No doubt It was pure
imagination. but did fancy that I no
ticed our passenger signal to them in
peculiar way.
confess that his presence was be-
ginning to get on my nerves. and /
was ready to get "edgy" at anything
or nothing-an irritated state of mind
which I presently took out on George
the engineer, who did not belle his
hulking appearance. and who was for
ever letting the engine stop and tax.
/ Ing forever to get 1t going again. One
could almost have sworn he did 1t on
purpose.
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26

of Tobias was supported. Dead
Mems Shoes" proved to be the old
name for certain cay some twenty
miles long, about day and a half's
sail from Nassau, one of the long
string of coral islands now known as
the "Exuma Gays" But of "Short
shrift island" we sought in vain for
o trace.
"All the same" said I, "the adven-
ture calls me; the adventure and that
million and half dollars-and those
Dead Mems Shoes-and I intend to
undertake 1t. I am not going to let
your middle-aged skepticism discour-
age me. Treasure or no treasure,
there will be the excitement of the
quest. and all the fun of the sea-"
"And some duck perhaps" added
Charlie.
"And some shark fishing for GER
TAIN" said John.
The next thing was to set about
getting boat and q crew.
After looking ever much likely and
unlikely craft we finally decided on
. two masted schooner Of trim but
solid build. the Maggie Darling. 42
feet over all and 13 beam; something
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
EASTERN LIVEsTOCI<
At Chicago,

Chicago. = Hogs : Heavy. s16.5O@
1900; medium, s17.0041s25: light
sl7OO@1S 1925; light light. $165O@175O:
heavy packing sows, smooth, s15.5O6p
1925; packing sows. rough, s14.5OD
$l5.25: pigs. $15.5O0l7.5O.
Cattle-Beef steers. medium and
heavyweight. choice and prime. $1,000
nl6.50: medium and good, s11.00@
lloo; common. $3.50 100: light
weight. good and choice. $1375017.Y5.
common and medium, S8OOD185 5o
butcher cattle heiferx. $65O617.4S:
cows, $6.2 @l3.50: Gamers and cutters
1929 a 6.25; veal calves. light ana
handy h,andyweightc s2o.ooQ 21.oO: feeder
ssseers, Sno0Q 1928; stocker steers.
s6Z5 q 1000; western range staers
fs9ee @lS.oo; cows and heifers. $3.50
Sheep-Lambs. 81 pounds dow,
$l325 q 1915: culls and common a. m
1900; yearlinE wethers, siO2hgSSS
iS00; ewes, medium, good and choics
StsSSoW8'8'; ~ cuiis and common. s2.259
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
The pockmarked man
proves an interesting pas
senger and the voyage is far
from monotonous
tTo BE CoNTINUED.)
Statement That Counts.

DO not let the man who says. ''This
Is the year when am going to show
you how to farm IT," think that he will
nave all clear sailing. He will meet
Wildcats and bears at every turn, and
ne may consider himself lucky IL he
gets on with whole hide. The big
thing is to stand on the far end Of the
Held when the harvest Is gathered in
ana be able to say. II did Whist said
I would dl"-EychanRa
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
THE PocK-MARkEO MAN.

Synopsis-The man who tells this
story-call him the hero. foE short
Is visiting his friend John Saunders.
British official in Nassau. Bahama
Islands. Charlie Webster, a local
merchant, completes the trio of
friends. Conversation turning upon
buried pirate treasure. Saunders
produces a written document pur-
porting to be the death-bed state
ment Of Henry P. Tobias. q sue
cessful pirate. made by him in 1859.
1t gives two spots where two mil
Hons and a half of treasure were
buried by him and his companions.
The conversation of the three
friends Is Overheard by a stranger,
whose face is deeply pitted by
small pox
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
Cash Grain In ChIc,..

Ghicago..ocorn-No. 2 mixed, ,146o
i%on NO. yellow. $1.46A @1.Th.
white. 66067Mc. NO.
Rye-No. 2. $1.43.
Barley-S1.lsQi.32.
Tlmothy-NominaI,
Clover-Nominal,
Pork-Nominal,
Lard-124.9b
Rihs--.lts 40 q 40 90
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
NcEclnIllca.

Flour md Sugar.
Wholesale Prices by U. S. Bureau of
Markets.)
Wheat flour lin quarters,
halves and 9S-lb. sacks).
per cwt. :........ $500
Cornmeal. yellow and white.
;. per cwt. ........... ,4.2oQ4.so
sugar. granulated. per cwt.. 1906
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
Filling the Gill.

"That parrot you sold me last week
doesn't talk Mt ALL
"No, mum: you said you wanted
one that wouldn't be n nuisance to
the neighborhood." = Boston Tran
script.
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26

graciously: "Very well. Get aboard.
You can help work the boat" and
with that l turned away to my cabin.
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
METAL MARKETS.
Colorado Settlement pr,r.

"eOeMt FF1Ce1.
Bar silver. 31.1Sh.
Sopper, pound. 22024c.
Lead. 5000.
Spelter. $7.44.
Tungsten. per unit, $7.bO01eoo
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
The Silly Night.

AS the chip of the old block is In.
clined so the twig is bent.
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
Dressed Poultry.
Live Poultry.
EGGS.
ftnph rDSa
ltlitter.

EGGS. strictly fresh. case
count ..................S $1,000 q l2ao
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
Green snItcd IIorscr,,c,.

cured. ''
cured. ~
The Dolores star., 1919-09-26
DISCOURAGED

II was in terrible shape from kidney
trouble" says ID. Reuter-, North St.
West Chicago, III. Il couldn't stoop
and the steady, duh misery almost
Imperial Valley press., 1919-12-01
MERRILL D. DAVIS.

Southern Pacific. Periodically stage
numbered back and forth, but the heat
and the thick cloud of fine dust that
enveloped the vehicle throughout the
journey made it somewhat objection
able. Mr.. Holt discovered that one
could propel bicycle anywhere over
the flat, hard surface of the desert.
With one of those machines he used to
pump up to the railroad point in five
hours-and then frequently sit on the
hot end of tie for five hours more to
flag late train. Travelling was not a
popular pastime.
However, after ali, this is only the
experience of the most fortunate few
among the settlers; for the great major
ity of them came in with almost no
money.
File on Land
Here is the extraordinary plan on
which the Valley was developed: The
feeble development company had cut
the bank of the river, in a rather tenn
pOrary and make-shift fashion, just
beyond the American line. thus letting
the water into the Alamo channel
where it meandered through Mexico
and up on the American side; and the
company had started to build a main
canal from the Alamo channel. Once
the water was out the river the engi-
leering was comparatively simple and
inexpensive. The soil throughout the
Valley is the loose alluvial silt brought
down by the Colorado river, and is easi-
ly dug. The Valley looks as level as a
floor. yet slopes and undulates suffic-
ient,y TO- irrigation. AS the coloriz
alton company brought in settlers the
development company gave most Of
them work in digging the canal. Mean
time the settlers filed on land under the
desert-land act-all the land except at
the head of the Valley then being own
under this act required an initial pay
ment of only 25 cents an acre.
In this way the settlers were
both canal diggers, employed by
the development company and pros
pective land owners. In the latter
capacity they organized themselves
into mutual water company under
the California law, each man, talk
ing, as rule, one share Of stock
in the water company for each acre
Of land he had filed ON. The shares
in the original company were Sl2
each, or about that sum, Mostly
the settlers had no money with
which to pay for their water stock;
SO they gave notes payable i'm in
staIIments. Then the mutual water
company, in effect, turned these
notes over to the development
Imperial Valley press., 1919-12-01

quality of the water-as Mr.. Holt frank
ly admits-deteriorated sadly. The
culinary resources of the1 tiny settle
ment were in the able hands of a
Chinese landlord of a canvas hotel The
food, of course, was all canned, and the
landlord specialized in jams. His table
bore jars labeled strawberry, raspberry
plum and apricot, from which a guest
could axe his choice; but the contents
of all jars consisted of Stewed prunes
Hot Sometimes
l should pause here to explain the
temperature of the valley. In those
days, according to all accounts, it ran
up in midsummer to 130 deg. or even
140 deg. Fahrenheit; in fact, this ex
cessive heat was mostly what dis
couraged all the capitalists Mr.. Rock
wood sounded. They said that, even if
the valley was irrigated nobody would
live in such an oven. There were nc
official weather reports in those days
but old settlers unanimously agree tina,
bringing in water, thereby converting.
the valley from brown desert to its
present high safe of cultivation ans
perpetual green, has greatly modific,
the climate.
Anyone can obtain circumstantial evi.
dence in proof of that statement b.
simply riding through the green vale,
and then out on the uncultivated deser
beyond. The latter certainly feels hot
ter.
So nowadays inhabitants of the vale
regard even 115 deg. as quite a tori
SPELL Moreover they complain-anf
agree with them-that, though there
is a lot of it. 1t is really superior article
of heat, because it is perfectly. dry. n
one who knows the difference betwee
a dry climate and a humid one will pa,
undue attention to thermometers The
valley Is certainly hot in summer, but
10000 people manage to live there.
Anyone who has lived in tent in hot
weather knows that canvas augments
heat. / am told that the Chinaman's
little canvas hotel at Imperial was
something to rob any future state of
all terrors. They say the metal handles
of the implements got so hot that a
guest had to blow on his knife lest it
blister his hand. Ice, of course, was
not to be dreamed of; nor was there
any cold water. This made butter a
very perpleXing question until the
landlord neatly solved the problem by
putting his butter into beer bottle,
with a goose quill through the cork.
Then guest helped himself to butter as
one does to ketchup.
Bringing in the Water
The nearest railroad pointNwas thirty.
five miles away, on the main line Of this
Imperial Valley press., 1919-12-01

the scheme financed" Mr.. Rock
wood tells me. land then went
ahead without any financing to
speak Of"
Indeed, one of the biggest things
about the story of Imperial is that, ex-
cept for the valuable preliminary la
has made itself from the beginning to
this day. 1t owes nothing whaever to
the government or to any other outside
agency, with tho exception of the
Southern Pacific Railroad, to be describ-
ed later, which it is now prepared to
discharge; in fact. it may be paid in
full by the time this article appears in
print
Along in the late '90's Mr.. lockwood
discovered that what he fondly mistook
for ample financial backing. The Cali
fornia Development Company was then
organized and it raised some actual
cash, but apparently only a few thou
sand dollars. On account of the noun
famous sand dunes and osler topo-
graphical features it was necessary to
bring water in a loop round through
Mexico and back to the American side.
A year or two was Vainly spent in try
ing TO get certain concessions from the
Mexican government. Then a separate
Mexican corporation was formed to
cooperate with the American one. Lack
of money prevented the company from
following the most approved engineer
ing plan, including head gate founded
on solid rock; in fact. lack of money
is the Outstanding feature of the early
development work.
Company Formed
To supply that lack a colonization
company was formed. its mission being
to advertise the valley and attract set
tiers, TO its-as yet-perfectly arid
acres. Surprising as it seems, the com
pany succeeded in this unpromising
task. What settlers found is typified
by the experience of Leroy Holt, for
merly country banker in Missouri,
now president of three banks in the val
ley, largely interested in the electric
light and power system and in various
other fiourishing enterprises.
Mr.. Holt went TO the spot where I'M
perial now stands in 1901. The only
available water was eight miles away
in a hole III New Rivers otherwise dry
bed. There it was dipped up and haul
ed across the hot desert TO Imperial.
at the June flood the Colo
RADIO sent down new water TO freshen
up the hole. In the ensuing eleven
months. under a temperature that ran
am TO 1870 or 140 deg. in the shade, with
constant sand storms and high mortahty
rate among the impounded fish, the
Imperial Valley press., 1919-12-01

900 from a Los Angeles bank, and so
stave off the dissolution that seemed
imminent.
just One Trouble After Another
No doubt the expert, arguing from
conditions of soil and water elsewhere,
had scientific warrant for his conclus.
ions; but he had never seen what just
that kind of soil under just that kind
of water would do.
About that time the development
company received another jolt from
Washington. The government had
started a great reclamation project
over in Arizona, above and around
Yuma, building dam at Laguna to
divert the waters of the Colorado. 1T
challenged the right of the development
company to take water from the Color
ado at all. 1 believe the company had
never obtained permit from the secre
tary of war, and the department said
| it was interfering with navigation-at
least prospectively. Naturally, that
did nothing to bolster up the develop
ment company's tottering credit.
Another trouble soon appeared: Tho
valley had been surveyed many years
| pany began bringing people in the or
| iginal survey had become pretty thor
oughly obliterated So the colonization
company had new survey made, on
| the basis of which settlers laid out
their farms. Presently there was an
official survey, which disclosed the fact
| that the colonization survey was all
wrong. The true lines were not at all
| <lnvy, 70, l,<
Everybody overlapped on his neighbor
somewhere or other, and his neighbOr
overlapped on him. 1t took sever years
to straighten that out. Meantime set
tiers could not get title to their land,
which prevented them from using it a
basis of credit.
There were troubles enough to
kill any project that was not
founded on bedrock, but meantime
the bedrock foundations Of this pro-
jcct were disclosing themselves
more and more cOnvincingiy.
by the close Of 1903 probably
1000 people had come to the valley
and were actually raising abundant
crops. A year later the population
/ had increased to 1000, and the pos
sibilitics of the soil were even
more extensively demonstrated.
Land Cheap
! Government land was then obtain
able under the desert-land act at $1.25
an acre.
To get water on the land cost, on an
average, about S12 an acre-represent-
cd by an investment in mutual water
company stock, as rule, going with
one acre of land The cost varied ac-
cording to the locality, running as low,
believe, as $3.50 an acre, and from
that up to $40; but in any event man
with no capital to speak of could get
title to very productive land.
The development had all along been
a very precarious handto-mouth sort
of concern. 1t had never at any time
had money enough to do its work at
the Colorado river in the best manner.
When the government challenged it's
right to tap the river, wanting more
water it went to the Mexican side and
cut the bank there.
The river water is heavily charged
with silt, and the new canal soon filled
UP. This caused a shortage OF water
in the valley. With the means at It's
command the company could not
dredge out the canal in time, so 1T went
Imperial Valley press., 1919-12-01

company to pay the latter for con-
structing the irrigation system,
and the development company bor-
rOwed money ON the notes to carry
forward the work. Meantime the
stockholders of the water company
were working for the development
company, digging canals. The tle-
velOpment company paid part of
their wages i'm casl-enOugh to keep
them gOing-and applied the re-
mainder on their notes. 1--WE lift
ed ourselves" says Mr.. lockwood,
by our own bOOtstrap."
And the Valley settlers did, indeed
pretty nearly accomplish that unusual
ieat. or course, the development com.
pany mad some cash to begin with. brt
not large amount Some cash was
raised by other means. I have not at
tempted above to follow the technical
ramifications of the relationship be.
tween the two companies, but the out.
standing fact is that these settlers.
while digging canals, were prospective
owners of prospectively irrigated lands.
and the credit they themselves created
was the chief resource for completing
the irrigation system.
Water i'm 1902
Water was turned into the main
canal in March, 1902 Mr.. Rockwood
calculated there may then have been
1000 people in the Valley. Others came
In. filing on more lands and organizing
other mutual water companies. thereby
providing credit instrument by which
the work was continued.
1t was a feeble enough instrument in
view of the work to be done by it. Los
Angeles banks, in fact, looked with de-
cided suspicion on these notes signed
by settlers in the still practically bar.
reh valley-settlers whose assets were
mostly of prospective nature Yet the
development company did manage to
scrape up enough cash to keep the
work going in handto-mouth fashion.
| Then it INDUCED in an expensive fam.
iiy row. An inside company was form.
ca 10 raise money for the parent con
cern on such onerous terms that the
latter was practically using up 81 OF
assets for every 81 cash it received
There was trouble over it, and the UP.
shot was that the inside company re-
tired, taking with it great deal of the
best assets of the development com
pany-that is, the settlers notes given
| for mutual water company stock.
This left the development com
! pally in rather stripped and
emaciated condition, when it receiv.
| ed body blow from Uncle Sam.
A soil expert from the department
of agriculture examined the valley
and published highly discOurag-
ing report on it. He said the soil
was so heavily charged with alkali
that the sort of crops settlers were
mainly expecting to raise there
| wOulsl not grow. On some of the
/ land, he thought, sugar beets and
sorghum might be produced. the
remainder being worthless for agri-
cultural purposes.
! This report, coming from the govern
ment, naturally raised presumption
| that the valley was either a great
/ blunder or a great bunco game. 1t no,
| only stopped settlers from coming in
! but undermined the none-too-stable
| credit of the development company
! The report was published early in 1902
and it was only after some crops, such
as the expert said would not grow, had
been actually raised that the develop
ment company was able to borrow S25
Imperial Valley press., 1919-12-01

-. On reaching the sea. the earthly con-
.ytents of the water were precipitated
So the river filled in the whole valley
nfantime building itself bed over to
TIE west; but in its land-making opera
Iidns the river built higher the farther
-so2th it went. The head of the valley
3t Salton is 200 feet below sea level
3 From there southwark the land grad
! ually rises. until at the Mexican border
) it reaches sea level. In this way the
: natural incline of the region was re-
sversed. Though the river flows south.
the slope of the made valley that it
skirts is to the north.
Two Wztercourses
From time to time, down round the
s.MeKican border OR somewhat below it,
~yvaters ran north to the Salton Sink.
Z In this way two Notwithstanding
watercourses, known as the New river
and Alamo river, were traced through
the valley. They We're called rivers
only because there was nothing else in
particular to call them; in fact they
were quite dry nearly all the time,A ex-
cept for one or two holes in which the
occasional spillage of the Colorado
stood.
If ! have made the situation plain,
it will be evident that turning the
water of the Colorado into the valley
involved nothing more than making
a cut in its bank, and so letting
stream into the shallow courses known
as New river and Alamo river.