Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1922-08-03
CHAPTER xx-continued.
Copyright s. Edwia s.ln.r

aWhat is 1t you want to know"
Sheriff. asked.
what were the relations between
Benjamin Corvst and Captain Stat.
ford?"
Sheriff. thought q moment.
sa Corvet," ne replied, twas q very
able man; he had insight and mental
grnsp-and he had the fault which
sometimes goes with those, a hesitancy
of action. STAFFORD was an able man,
too, considerably younger than Corvet.
Twenty years ago, when the conflict
of competing interests was at it's
height, Coryet was the head Of one
aine, Stafford was head Of another, and
the two lines had very much the same
connections and competed for the same
eargoes." =
u begin to sect Father Perron ex-
claimed. "Please 20 on
s I'm the early nineties both lines still
were young; Stafford had, l believe,
two ships; Corvet had three"
Il SO few7 Yes; 1t grows plainer!n
I'm 1894, Stafford managed a stroke
which, II fate had not interviewed, must
have assured the ultimate extinction
of Corvet's line OF. its absorption into
sStafford's. Stafford gained as his part
ner Franklin Ramsdell, a wealthy man.
whom he had convinced that the lake
traffic offered chances Of great profit;
and this connection supplied him with
the capital whose lack had been ham,
Dering him, as it was still hampering
.Corvet. The new firm-Stafford and
Ramsdell-projected the construction,
with Ramsdell's money, Of number
s,of great steel freighters. The first Of
these-the Miwaka, test ship whose
experience was to guide them In the
construction Of the rest-was launched
An the fall Of 1895, and was lost on its
maiden trip with both Stafford and
-Ramsdell aboard. The Stafford and
-Ramsdell interests could not survive
the death of both owners and lisap-
peared from the lakes. Is this what
you wanted to know"
The priest nodded. Alan leaned
stensely forward, watching; what he
had heard seemed to have increased
and deepened the priests feeling over
what he had to tell and to have aided
his comprehension Of 1t.
s'His name was Caleb Stafford, !" F,a-
ther Perron began. .(This is what
Benjamin Corvet told to me when he
was dying under the wreckage on the
ferry.) He was as fair and able a
man as the lakes ever knew. had
any will Of most men in the lake trade
Din those days; but I could not. have
my will of him. With all the lakes to
trade In, he had to pick out for his that
traffic which I already had chosen for
my own. But fought him fair, Fa-
ther--I fought him fair, and would
have continued to do that to the end.
~ was ut Manistee, Father, in the
end Of the season December fifth of
1896. The Ice had begun to form very
early that year and was already bad !.
there was cold and high gale. had
faid up one Of my ships at Manistee,
and I was crossing that night upon a.
tug to Manitowoc. where another was
to be laid up. had still a third one
aoadsng up on the northern peninsula at
Manistique for last trip which, IL 1t
could be made, would mean good
profit from; season which SO far, be-
cause Of Staftord's competition, had
been only fair. After leaving Manis-
zee. It grew still more cold, and was
afraid the Ice would close In on her
and keep her where she was, so I deter
mined to 90 north that night and see
that she got out. None knew, Father.
except those aboard the tug, that L had
made that change.
sss. at midnight, Father, to westward
sf the Foxes, we heard the four blasts
SOf . steamer IN distress the four long.
blasts which have sounded in my soul
pver since We turned toward where
we saw the steamers lights we went,
nearer and, Father, It was his great
phip-,the Miwaka We had heard two
days before that she had passed the,
500 we had not known more than that
Of where she was. She had broken her
sew shaft, Father. and was intact ex-s
sept for that, hut helpless In the rising
The priest broke OF. .The Miwakai
IL did not understand all that that had
meant to him until just now-the new
ship Of the rival line, whose building
meant for him failure and defeatl
There IS no higher duty than the
rescue Of those a peril at sea. He
benjamin Corvet., told me this
sKore to me that, at the beginning
none upon the tug had any thought ex-
cspt Ito give aid. a small line was
drifted down to the tug and to- this4ai
hawser was attached which they
hauled aboard. There happened then;
the tlrst Of those events which led
Those upon the tug into doing great
WRONG Ben aminS Corve had
/ taken charge Of the wheel Of the ting;
three men we're handling the hawser
IN Ice and washing water at the stern.
The whistla accid entally blew. witch
! those on the lltwaka understood to
Aean that tiie hawser had been se-
= tthsy Srsw - the slack; -
t