The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1920-08-13

my contracts, while unavoidable, never
theless would have caused them
serious loss, and when they were
forced to buy elsewhere, paid them
the difference between the price they
paid my competitors and the price at
which they originally placed their or
ders with me. And the delay caused
them further loss"
He smoked medltatively for a min
ute. '.I've always been land-poor," he
explained apologetically. Whenever I
had idle money, I put 1t into timber
in the San Hedrin watershed, because
I realized that some day the railroad
would build in from the south, tap
that timber and double its value. I've
not as yet found reason to doubt the
wisdom of my course; but"-he sighed
the railroad is long time COM
ingr'
John Cardigan here spoke of most
important factor in the situation. The
crying need of the country was feeder
to some transcontinental railroad. By
reason of natural barriers, Humboldt
county was not easily accessible to the
outside world except from the sea,
and even this avenue of ingress and
egress would be closed for days at a
stretch when the harbor bar was on
rampage. With the exception Of a
strip of level, fertile land. perhaps five
miles wide and thirty miles long and
contiguous to the seacoast, the heavily
timbered mountains to the north, east,
and south rendered the building Of a
railroad that would connect Humboldt
county with the outside world a pro-
foundry difficult and expensive task.
"Don't worry, Dad. 1t will come"
Bryce assured his father. ."It's bound
to-"
"Yes, but not in my day. And when
1t comes, stranger may own your
San Hedrin timber and reap the re-
ward of my lifetime of labor"
Again a silence fell between them,
broken presently by the old man.
'That was mistake logging in the
San Hedrin," he observed. II had my
lesson that first year. but I didn't
heed it. If / had abandoned my
camps there, pocketed my pride, paid
Colonel Pennington two dollars for
his Squaw creek timber, and rebuilt
my old logging road, would have
been safe to-day. But was stubborn /;
I'd played the game so long, you
KNOW didn't want to let that man
Pennington Outgame me. It's hard to
teach an old dog new tricks, and be-
sides, / was obsessed with the need
of protecting your heritage from at
tack in any direction"
John Cardigan Strengthened up in
his chair and laid the tip of his right
index finger In the center of the palm
Of his left hand. "Here was the sit
uation, Bryce: The center Of my
palm represents Sequoia; the ends Of
my fingers represent the San Hedrin
timber twenty miles south. Now. If
the railroad built in from the south.
you would win. But If it built in from
Grants Pass, Oregon, on the north
from the base Of my hand. the terminus
of the line would be SeQuoia, twenty
miles from your timber in the San
Hedrin watershed"
Bryce nodded. "In which event."
he replied, s''we would be in much the
same position with our San Hedrin
timber as Colonel Pennington Is with
his Squaw creek timber. We would
hot
we owned 1t and paid taxes on it but
couldn't do q dad-burned thing with
itw
"Right you are! The thing to do,
then, as I viewed the situation, Bryce,
was to acquire body of timber north
of Sequoia and be prepared for either
eventuality. And this l did"
Silence again descended upon them !;
and Bryce, gazing into the open fire
place, recalled an event in that period
Of his fathers activities: Old Bill
Henderson had come up to their house
to dinner one night, and quite sud-
denly, in the midst of his soup. the
old fox had glared across at his host
and beloved:
"John, I hear you've bought six
thousand acres up in Township nine.
Going to log 1t or hold 1t for invest
ment?"
sit was good buy" Cardigan had
replied systematically; $50 thought
I'd better take It at the price. I sup
pose Bryce will log It some day."
"Then / wish Bryce wasn't such a
boy, John. See here, now, neighbor.
I'll Tess UP. / took that money Pen
nington gave me for my Squaw creek
timber and put 1t back into redwood
liz Township nine, slam-bang up
against your holdings there. John,
I'd build mill on tidewater If you'd
sell me site, and I'd log my timber
if"
"Pll sell you mill-site, Bill, and !
won't stab you to the heart, either.
Consider that settled"
''That's bully, John; but still, you
only dispose of part of my troubles.
There's twelve miles of logging-road
to build to get my logs to the mill, and
I haven't enough ready money to make
the grade. Better throw in with me,
John, and We'll build the road and
operate 1t for our joint interest"
"Tll not throw in with you, Bill, at
my time of life. don't want to have
the worry of building, maintaining,
and operating twelve miles of private
railroad. But I'll loan you-the
money you need to build and equip
the road. In return you are to
shoulder all the grief and worry of
| the road and give me ten-year con-
tract at dollar and half per thous-
and feet, to haul my logs down to
| tidewater with your OVID NV mini