The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1922-08-17
CHAPTER 4.
A Bolt From the Blue.

Eighteen below; fair weather for
December in New Manitoba, where the
forest, though 1t chills the soil till
midsummer, yet shuts out the razor
edge Of the winds hat make the prai-
ries, farther south, an Icy inferno.
Here the bush, which had seemed
to stretch out illimitably, thlnned into
b~edraggled patches among the up,
cropping rocks. A little farther and
1t began once more; the break was like
a great, curving arm thrust into the
heart Of II, as If some giant fingers
had plucked up the trees In handsful
and sc0oped the foundation from the
frozen soil. and then had been with
drawn, leaving the imprints Of the
great inger-tIps.
These finger-tlps were huge sink
holes, sometimes filled with water, so
that they formed clear lakes; more
often sodden sponges Of decayed veg
etable matter, ooZy, ~treacherous and
unstable. The fiEger-lines were the
circular ridges marking the subsistence
OF the mud. The thumb was Big Mus
keg. which the two men who stood on
the top of the h~umpbacked ridge
could see extended beneath them.
Big Muskeg, at this point less than
half a mile across, was everywhere Of
~unsounded depth. 1t curved and wound
a. river OF ooze, now broadening into
chains of lakes, now narrowing into
g%ullies; here and there crossed by
trails. but never stable. nowhere Of
feifng firm foundation for the perma-
nent way of the MissatIbi railroad.
The Missatibi was a branch line,
feeding the new road that was push
Ing %northward toward the ports.t to be
on Hudson bay. IL linked with 1t at
CLAYTON. whence 1t was being extended
eastward into a virgin wilderness.
Even In the days when half a dozen
companies were pegging out ways for
lines that were to divert the wheat
north, Joe Bostock's line had been the
joke Of legislatures and ~hnanciers.
Those other lines that were being
built into Clayton passed through the
wheat-lands Joe's line a east out Of
Clayton into a wilderness. Joe Bostock
had secured his capital. but he had no
competitors.
And slowly Mlssatlbi, with its small
shareholders and limited means, had
gone ahead. The first location par
ties had cleared a road to Big Mus
keg. The rails had been laid half
way. But that was all. save for the
partly constructed shacks and build
sngs for the workmen there, and the
sheds for the construction material
that had not yet been frelghted In.
Joe, standing with legs straddling
the top OF the ridge. turned to Wilton
,Carruthers. the chief engineer of the
company. with eyebrows arched and
humorous inquiry on his weather.
beaten old face. There was no need
for speech at that moment, because
the mind Of each man dwelt on the
Identical problem.
The two men had come east by dog.
sleigh. accompanied by two half
breeds. Jean Passepartout and Papil-
Ion, the one In charge OF the dogs, the
other carrying the transit-compass
They had camped seven miles back on
the preceding evening. and had SET our
at daybreak to survey the swamp
lands from the ridge. For the prob
lem which had suddenly risen up to
confront them clamored for solution
before construction could be carried
forward. and on tn solution depended
the future OF the Missatibi.
with the physical eye neither Joe
Carruthers could hope to accom-
plish anything, Wilton was seeking
Inspiration. though he did moi know II.
Theoretically he was e~ndeavoring to
some place where a foundation
might be coaxed above the unstable.
Iuaking surface with tresriing and
.rIb-work. q crossing that combined
he least possible deviation OF route
With no more than fogr ifths Of one