The Republican journal., 1920-04-01

paid my competitors and the pr1ce
which they originally placed their VI
ders with me. And the delay CAUSED
them further loss"
He smoked meditatively for min
ute. 1--WE always been land-poor, NJ
explained apologetically. whenever
had idle money. l put it into timhe
IN the San Hedrin watershed, because
realized that some day the railroad
would build in from the south. tai
mat timber and double its value. iv'
aot as yet found reason to doubt thu
wisdom of my course; but"-he slghe<
the railroad is a long time com
ing!"
John Cardigan here spoke of mos
important factor III the situation. The
crying need of the country was a 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
q 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-
foundly difficult and expensive task.
Don't worry, Dad. 1t will come"
Bryce assured his father. "It's bound
to-"
Eyes, 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. 81 had my |
lesson that first year, but l 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, l 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 1t 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, 1--WE would be in much the
same position with our San Hedrn
timber as Colonel Pennington is with
his Squaw creek timber. We would
have the comforting knowledge that
we owned it and paid taxes on it but
couldn't do dad-burned thing with
TIP
Fright you are! The thing to do,
then, as | viewed the situation. Bryce,
was to acquire body of timber north
Of SeQuoa and be prepared for either
avcntuality. And this / did"
Silence again descended upon them;
and Bryce, gazing into the open fire
place. recalled an event in that period
Henderson had come up to their house
o dinner one night. and quite sud
ienly, In the midst of his soup, the
Did fox had glared across at his host
md beloved:
John, ] hear you've bought six
acres up in Township nine.
Going to log it or hold it for invest Z.
ment?"
at was a good buy" Cardigan had
replied systematically; $50 l thought
I'd better take it at the price. l sup
pose Bryce will log it some day." {
"Then l wish Bryce wasn't such a
boy, John. See here, now, neighbor.
I'll 'fess up. took that money PEN
nington gave me for my Squaw creek
timber and put 1t back into redwood {
in Township nine, slam-bang up
against your holdings there. John,
I'd build a mill on tidewater if you'd
sell me a site, and I'd log my timber
if"
"Tll sell you mill-site, Bill, and l
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
l haven't enough ready money to make
the grade. Better throw in with me,
John, and we'll build the road and
operate it for our joint interest"
9Th not throw in with you, Bill, at
my time of life. l 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
tha roa6 and oivo mo a tpn-ya1r con-