The Adair County news., 1921-03-02

"We're Going to Parallel Pennington's
Logging Road"
of the opinion that we're not going to
do anything of the sort"
Perhaps. Nevertheless, If l can
demonstrate to a certain party that 1t
will not cost more than quarters
Of a million, he'll loan me the money"
The old man shook his head. 81
don't believe it. Bryce. Who's the
crazy manT
"His name is Gregory. He's Scotch"
"Now I know he's crazy. When he
hands you the money, you'll find he's
talking real money but thinking Of
Confederate greenbacks."
Bryce laughed. pal" he declared,
"if you and l have any brains, they
must roll around In our skulls like
buckshot in tin pan. Listen, now,
with all your ears. When Bill Hen
dersOn wanted to build the logging
railroad which he afterward sold to
Pennington, and which Pennington is
now using as club to beat our brains
out did he have the money to build
it?"
mo. I loaned it to him."
How did he pay you back?"
"Why. he gave me ten-year con-
lract for hauling our logs at a dollar
and a half thousand feet, and 1
merely credited his account with the
amount of the freight bills he sent me
until he'd squared up the loan, prin-
cipal and interest"
swell, if Bill Henderson financed
himself on that plan, why didn't we
think of using the same time-hOnored
plan for financing a road to parallel
Pennington's?
John Cardigan sat up with a jerk.
"By thunder r. he murmured. That
was as close as he ever came to utter
ing an oath.
"All right, John Cardigan. I forgive
you. Now, then, continue to listen:
To the north of that great block of
timber held by you and Pennington lie
the redwood holdings Of the Trinidad
Redwood Timber company"
"Never heard of them before"
"WeIl, timber away in there in back
of beyond has never been well adver-
tised, because it is regarded as prac-
tically inaccessible. You will remem-
Der that some ten years ago COM
pany was Incorporated with the idea
of building a railroad from Grants
Pass, Ore, on the line of the Southern
Pacific, down the Oregon and Califor-
mia coast to tap the redwood belt"
81 remember. There was a big
whoop and hurrah and then the propo
sition died abornin'. The engineers
found that the cost Of construction
through that mountainous country
was prohibitive."
"Well, before the project died,
Gregory and his associates believed
that it was going to survive. They
quietly gathered together thirty thou
sand acres of good stuff and then sat
down to wait for the. railroad. And
they are still waiting. Gregory, by the
way ID tic ~ CSAuCAI VI LhO 4AAuAOdu
Redwood Timber company. He's an
Edinburgh man, and the fly American
promoters got him to put up the price
of the timber and then mortgaged
their interests to him as security for
the advance. He foreclosed on their
notes five years ago."
"And there he is with his useless
timber| John Cardigan murmured
thoughtfully. "The poor Scotch suck.
erI"
"He isn't poor. The purchase OF
that timber didn't even dent his bank
roll. But he would like to sell his
timber, and being Scotch. naturally
he desires to sell it at profit In
order to create a market for 1t, how
ever, he has to have an outlet to that
market. We supply the outlet-with
his help; and what happens? Why,
timber that cost him fifty and seventy
FIVE cents per thousand feet stumpage
-and the actual timber will overrun
the cruisers estimate every time-wiil
be worth two dollars and fifty cents
perhaps more.
HE loans us the money to build
our road. We build it--on through
our timber and into his. The. collat-
eral security which we put up viii be