Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-02-08

Il thought Estrada was the original
promoter?" he inquired.
"Estrada's a recent comer-oh, you
mean the general. He started the bal
rolling; that was all. Bad health, fol
lowing the Bliss complication, tied his
hands"
The man in the seat ahead was lis
tening. His head was leonine, his
body shriveled. Rickard could see on
the neck the ancient burns that had
spared the magnificent head. The rest
of the man had been shrlveled and
twisted into terrible deformity. Rick.
ard found himself puzzling over the
incident with it's accompanying mir.
acle. There was not a scar on the
powerful face.
"Estrada's business methods were
then not different from Sather's and
Hardin's" 1t was a deep, rich organ
"0h, you can't class Hardin with
Sather," protested Richards compan.
ion. "Sather used Hardin. Hardin's
honesty cannot be questioned. It's not
moneys he's after. His whole heart
is in this reclamation scheme"
"Hardn's a false ALARM" growled
the owner of the massive head. "He
makes promises. He never Keeps
them"
The older mans smile was tolerant.
Barton he indicated. "is the presl-
dent Of the water companies. And If
you want to hear about rogue and a
scoundrel ask the water companies
their opinion of Hardin"
"Well, what sort Of hole has he
got us lnto?" demanded the other with
heat.
''Hardin's in a hole himself.
''NO one seems to remember that he
cruclfed himself to save the valley.
Eve a great respect for Thomas Har.
din"
"Yes| returned Richard, whose llk-
ing had been captured by the speaker.
The impression of distinction sharp
ened. The stranger wore laundered
pongee silk shirt, open at the neck but
restricted by brown silk tie; and it
was trinity belted. There were but
two neckties in the entire car, and
they occupied, Rickard observed, the
same seat.
"tl'he beginning of the canal sys-
tenn"
Richard looked out upon fiat, one
toned country, marked off in rec
tangles by plows and scrapers. Far
ther south these rectangles were edged
by young willows. He fancled he
could see, even at that distance, the
CLEAN Of water.
1t was the passing of the desert. A
few miles back he had seen the desert
in its primitive nakedness, which not
even cactus relieved. He was passing
over the land which man and horses
were preparing for water. And he
could see the land where water was.
''1'hat was the way Riverside looked
when | first saw It." commented the
other man who wore a tie. "Come out
on the rear platform. We can see bet.
ter"
Rlckard followed to the back of the
dust-swept, sitting car. The glare on
the platform was intense. He stood
watching the newly made checkerboard
of country slip past him. Receding
were the two lines of cleaning steel
rails which connected and separated
him from the world outside. He was
'gOlng In" Not in Mexico even had
he such feeling Of ultimate remote
ness. The mountains, eonverglng per
spectively toward the throat of the
valley, looked elusive and unreal In
their gauze draperies Of rose and VIC
let. The tender hour of day was cloth
ing them with mystery, softenlng theil
sharp outlines, They curtalned the
world beyond. Rlckard felt the sus
pense Of the next act.
1t was torpid Imagination, he
thought, which would not quicken over
this conquest of the desert. East OF
the tract men and teams were prepar
ing the newly furrowed ground for the
seed. The curved land knives. were
breaking up the rich mold into ridges
of soft soil as uncoheslve and feathery
as pulverized. chocolate. 1t was the
dark color of the chocolate of com
merce, this silt which had been pill
fered from the states through which
the vagrant river wandered. The smell
of the upturned earth, sweetly damp
struck against his nostrils. Rickard
indulged u minute of whimsical fancy
this was California territory over
which his train was passing. but the
soil, that dark earth those blades were
crumbling, was it not the tribute OF
other states, of despoiling Wyoming
of ravlshlng Colorado and Arizona?
To the west new squares We're being
leveled and outlined. Shrubby rec
tangles were being cleared OF their ere,
osote bush and tough mesquite. Com
pared with other countries, the prepa-
ration for planting was the simplest
Horses were dragging over the ground
a railroad rail bent into v angle
which pulled the bushes by the roots
and dragged them out of the way. Be
yond, farther west, could be seen the
untouched desert. The surface fol
many miles was cracked by water
lines, broken and baked into irregular