Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1921-01-07
1T was a good bur" Cardigan had

ut was a good buy" Cardigan ha,
replied systematically; $50 though
I'd better take 1t at the price. / sup
pose Bryce will log 1t some day."
| ''Then / wish Bryce wasn't such !.
| boy, John. See here, now, neighbor
I'll 'fess up. took that money Pen
nington gave me for my Squaw creek
timber and put It back into redwood
in Township nine. slam-bang uI
against your holdings there. John
| I'd build a mill on tidewater IL you'd
| sell me site, and I'd log my timber
| If"
"I'll sell you q mill-site, Bill, and
won't stab you to the heart, either
Consider that settled"
'Thats 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
/ 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"
"I'll 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 ali the grief and worry of
the road and give me a ten-year con-
tract at dollar and half per thous-
and feet, to haul my logs down to
tidewater with your own. My mini
mum haul will be twenty-five million
feet annually, and my maximum fifty
million"
"SoldI" cried Henderson. And it
was even so.
Bryce came out of his reverie. "And
now" he queried of his father.
II mortgaged the San Hedrin tim
Der in the south to buy the timber in
the north, my son; then after l COM
menced logging In my new holdings,
came several long, lean years Of famine,
the market dragged In the doldrums,
and Bill Henderson died. and his boys
got discouraged, and -"
A sudden flash Of inspiration illumi-
mated Bryce Cardigan's brain. "And
they sold out to Colonel Pennington"
he cried.
Exactly. The Colonel took over
my contract with Henderson's COM
pany, along with the other assets, and
it was incumbent upon him, as as
signee, to fulfill the contract. For the
past two years the market for redwood
has been most gratifying, and IL
could only have gotten q maximum
supply Of logs over Pennington's road.
I'd have worked out Of the hole,
but"
"He manages to hold you to a mini
mum annual haul of twenty-five million
feet, eh?"
John Cardigan nodded. HE claims |
he's short Of rolling stock-that wrecks
and fires have embarrassed the road. |
He can always find excuses for falling |
to spot in logging trucks for Cardigan's |
logs"
what does Colonel Pennington
want, pard?"
HE wants." said John Cardigan |
slowly, my Valley Of the Giants and |
a right Of way through my land from
the valley to log-dump on deep |
water"
"And you refused himf
Naturally. You know my ideas on
that big timber" His old head sank
fo act tDlI
Cardigan's redwoods now" he MUIR
INJURED. "Cardigan's redwoods-and |
Pennington would cut theml Oh, |
Bryce, the man hasn't soul !'
"But fail to see what the loss of |
Cardigan's redwoods has to do with |,
the impending ruin of the Cardigan
Redwood Lumber company" his son
reminded him. "We have all the tim |
Der we want"
"My ten-year contract has but one |
more year to run, and recently 1 tried
to get Pennington to renew it. He |
was very nice and sociable, but-he |
named me freight-rate for a renewal
of the contract for five years, of three
dollars per thousand feet. That rate !
is prohibitive and puts us out of bust
ness"
Then" said Bryce calmly, 'we'n
shut the mill down when the log
hauling contract expires, hold our tim
Der as an investment, and live the
simple life until we can sell it or a
transcontinental road builds into Hum
boldt county and enables us to start
up the mill again."