Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1922-06-22

CHAPTER I.


vii viz
Eighteen below: fair weather for
December In New Manitoba, where the
forest. though It chills the soil till
midsummer. yet shuts out the razor
edge of the winds that make the pral-
ries. farther south, an Icy inferno.
Here the bush. which had seemed
10 stretch out illlmitubly, thfnned into
h~edraggled patches among the up
cropping rocks. A little farther and
IL began once mere 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 scooped the foundation from the
frozen soil. and then had been with
drawn, leaving the imprints of the
great fnger-tips. {,
These finger-tips 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 finger-llnes 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 humpbacked ridge
could see extended beneath them.
Big Muskeg. at this point less than
half a mile across. was everywhere OF
nnsounded depth IL curved and wound.
a river OF ooze. now broadening into
chains of lakes. now narrowing Into
gullies; here and there crossed by
trails, but never stable, nowhere Of
fering firm foundation for the perma-
nent way of the Missatibi railroad.
The Missatibi was a branch line,
feeding the e road that was push
ing northward toward the ports.to.be
on Hudson bay. II linked with II at
Clayton, whence Ii was being extended
eastward into a virgin wilderness.
Even In the days when half a dozen
companies were pegging out ways for
lines that we're to divert the wheat
north. Joe Bostock's line had been the
joke of legislatures and financiers.
Those other lines that were being
built into Clayton passed through the
wheat-lands Joe's line ran east out of
had secured his capital. but he had no
competitors.
And slowly Mlssatibl, with its small
shareholders and limited means. had
ties had cleared a road to Big Mus
keg. The rails had beenLlaid half
way. But that was all, save for the
partly constructed shacks and build
ings 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 nc 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 Papll-
lon, 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 out
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 it's solution depended
the future of the Missatibi.
With the physical eye neither Joe
O Carrufhers could hope to accom-
push anything. Wilton WIS seeking
inspiration. though he did not know II.
Theoretically he WAS endeayoring to
Discern SONS place where a foundation
might be coax4d shove the unstable.
Quaking surface With trestling and
crib-work~ 4 crosstng that combined
the Isest possible deviation Of route
with no more than foxr-nfthx Of one