The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1922-12-05

Dad, what does 1t mean. this
~,,ruovino arOnnd FOrlOrn River2"


surveying around Forlorn River?'
II don't know, Nell," replied Beld.
ing, thoughtfully. 1T worries. me. 1t
looks good for Forlorn River, but bad
for Dicks plan to irrigate the valley.
Lord, I'd hate to have some one fore
stall Dick on that"
\"No, no, We won't let anybody have
Dicks rights" declared Nell.
"Where have been keeping myself
not to know about these surveyors?" ?"
muttered Belding. "They must have
just come"
Belding discovered that he was, in
deed, the last man of consequence In
Forlorn River to learn Of the arrival
of Ben Chase and son, mine owners
and operators in Sonora. They, with
force of miners, had been besieged
by rebels and finally driven off their
property. This property was not de-
stroyed, but held for ransom. And the
Chases, pending dev elopments, had
packed outfits and struck for the bor-
der. Casita had been their objective
point, but, for some reason which
Belding did not learn, they had ar
rived instead at Forlorn River. It
had taken Ben Chase just one day to
see the possibilities of Altar valley,
and in three days he had men at work.
Bedding returned home without go
ing to see the Chases and their Oper-
ations. He wanted to think over the
situation. Next morning he went out
to the valley to see for himself. Mex
leans were hastily erecting adobe
houses upon Ladd's one hundred and
sixty acres, upon Dick Gales, upon
Jim Lasf's and Thorne's. There were
men stalking the valley floor and the
river bed. That was sufficient for
Belding. He turned back toward
town and headed for the camp of
these intruders.
He came to a big tent with a huge
canvas fly stretched in front, under
which sat several men in their shirt
sleeves. They were talking and smok-
ing.
my names Bedding. I want to see
this Mr.. Chase" said Bedding, gruff1y.
Slow-witted as Belding was, and alb
sorbed in his own feelings, he yet saw
plainly that his advent was disturbing
to these men. One of them, tall,
rugged man with sharp face and
shrewd eyes and white hair, got up
and offered his hand.
"I'm Chase, senior" he said. my
son Radford Chase is here somewhere.
You're Bedding, the line inspector, I
take it? I meant to call on you"
He seemed a rough-and-ready, loud
spoken man, withal cordial enough.
Eyes, I'm the inspector" replied
Bedding, ignoring the proffered hand,
land I'd like to know what in the
HI you mean by taking up land
claims-staked ground that belongs
to my rangers"
Land claims?'' slowly echoed
Chase, studying his man. "We're TAX
ing up only unclaimed land"
"That's lie. You couldn't miss the
stakes"
"Well, Mr.. Bedding, as to that,
think my men did run across some
staked ground. 2ut we recognize
only squatters. If your rangers think
they've got property just because they
drove few stakes in the ground
they're much mistaken. A squatter
has to build a house and live on his
land so long, according to law, before
heSowns it."
This argument was unanswerable,
and Bedding knew it.
According to law!" exclaimed
Bedding. "Then you own up; you've
jumped our claims"
"Mr. Bedding, I'm a plain business
man. I come along. I see good
opening. Nobody seems to have ten
able grants. I stake out claims, locate
squatters, start to build. 1t seems to
me your rangers have overlooked GER
tain precautions. That's unfortunate
for. them. Tn prepared to hold my
claim and to back all the squatters