Gilpin observer., 1919-04-24


He began to piece together the per-
sonal background Of the story.
ut was long time before Estrada
could get it started. and it's a long
story. As soon as he began he was
knocked down. Other men took hold.
You'll hear 1t all in the valley. Har-
din took a day to tell 1t to mel He
sees himself as martyr. Promoters
got in; the thing swelled into a
swindle, a spectacular swindle. They
showed oranges ON Broadway before
drop Of water was brought in. Har-
din has lots Of grievances He'd made
the original survey. So when he sued
for his back wages he took the papers
Of the bankrupt company in settle
ment. He's grim sort Of ineffectual
bulldog. He's clung with his teeth
to the Estrada idea. And he's not big
enough for 1t. He uses the optimistic
method-gives you only half Of a case.
half Of the problem, gets started on
false premise. Well, he got up an
other company on that method. the
Desert Reclamation company, tried to
whitewash the desert project; 1t was
in bad odor then. and he managed to
bring a few drops Of water to the
desert"
1T was Hardin who did that?"
"But he couldn't deliver enough.
The cut silted up. He cut again, the
same story. He was in q pretty bad
hole. He'd brought colonists in al
ready; he'd used their money. the
money they'd paid for land with wa
ter. to make the cuts. No wonder he
was desperate"
It recalled the man Rickard had
disliked. the rough-shod, loud-voiced
student Of his first class in engineer
ing. That was the man who had made
the flamboyant carpets Of the Holmes
boarding house impossible any longer
to him. He had sudden disconcert-
ing vision Of large unfinished face
peering through the honeysuckles at
man and girl drawing apart in
confusion from their first and last
kiss. He wanted to tell Marshall he
was wasting his time.
"Overwhelmed with lawsuits" Mar
shall was saying. "Hardin had to de-
liver water to those colonists. Il was
then that he ran over into Mexico.
30 AZ to get a better gradient for his
canal. and made his cut there. You
know the rest. It ran away from him.
It made the Salton sea-"
ibid he ever give you any reason"
frowned Rickard reminiscently, "any
reasonable reason why he made that
cut without any head gatef'
"No money!" shrugged Marshall,
getting out another cigar. II told you
he's a raw dancer. always starts of
too quick. begins on the wrong foot.
oh. yes, he has reasons, lots Of them,
that fellow, but. as you say. they're
not reasonable. He never waits to get
ready"
Why was 1t that the face Of the
half-sister came to Rickard then. with
that look Of sentative high breeding
and guarded reservef' And she Har-
dini Sister to the loud-spilling mouth I
Queer cards nature dealsi And pretty
cards Marshall was trying to deal out
to him. Go down there and finish
Hardin's job. show him up to be the
fumbler he was, give him orders, give
the husband Of Gerty Holmes Or
ders-i
"It was Hardin who came to me,
but not until he'd tried everything
else. They'd worked for months try
ing to dam the river with q few lace
handkerchiefs. and perhaps a chiffon
veilw Marshall was twinkling over
his own humor. "Hardin did put up
q good talk. It was true. as he said |;
we'd had to move our tracks three.
no. four times at Salton. It was true
that It ought to be one Of the richest
districts tapped BY the o. p. But he
clenched me BY a clever bait-to put
out a spur in Mexico which would
keep any other railroad or by q fifty.
mile parallel, and there the sandhills
make a railroad impossible.
"The government must eventually
come to the rescue. Their works at
Laguna hang on the control Of tho
river down at the heading. Once. he
told mel don't know how much
truth there was In it-the service. rec
lamation service. did try to buy up
their plant for q paltry sum. He
wouldn't sell. The short II. recon-
mended long-sighted assistance to
Faraday. promised to turn that
river. save the district. We expected
before the year was out to have the
government take the responsibility Oh
our hands,"
Rickard made IN impatient shrug.
A nice problem Narshall had taken
unto himself. He wanted none Of lt.
Hardin-ths thing was impossible.
he met laggardly Aarshall's story.
He heard him say: agreed with Far
aday. The Desert Reclamation com.
pany was - helpless ~ Q swaddled
infant. We made the condition that
We rsorganise the company. / was
put In Hardin's place ~ president Of