The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-08-31

Father Perron Went to q Desk and
Took Therefrom Some Notes Which
He Had Made.
too, considerably younger than Corvet
Twenty years ago. when the conflict
Of competing interests was at its
height, Corvet was the head Of one
line. Stafford was head of another, and
the two lines had very much the same
connections and competed for the same
cargoes."
II begin to see!" Father Perron ex-
claimed. please go on"
"In the early nineties both lines still
were young; Stafford had, 1 believe.
two ships; Corvet had three"
$50 few? Yes; 1t grows plainer!"
"In 1894, Stafford managed stroke
which, II fate had not interviewed, must
have assured the ultimate extinction
of Corvet's line or its absorption into
Stafford's. Stafford gained as his part
ner Franklin Ramsdell. 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,
pering him, as it was still hampering
Corvet. The new firm-Stafford and
Ramsdell-projected the construction.
with Ramsdell's money, of a number
of great steel freighters. The first Of
these-the Miwaka, a test ship whose
experience was to guide them in the
construction Of the rest-was launched
in 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 disap-
peared from the lakes. Is this what
you wanted to know?"
The priest nodded. Alan leaned
tensely 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.
'His name was Caleb Stafford" Fa-
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
man as the lakes ever knew. l had
my will of most men in the lake trade
in those days; but 1 could not have
my will of him. With all the lakes to
trade in, he had to pick out for his that
traffic which 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.
az was at Manistee. Father, In the
end of the season-December fifth of
1895. The ice had begun to form very
early that year and was already bad;
there was cold and high gale. had
laid up one, of my ships at Manistee,
and 1 was crossing that night upon a
tug to Manitowoc, where another was
to be laid up. had still a third one
loading up on the northern peninsula at
Manistique for last trip which, II 1t
could be made. would mean good
profit from season which SO far. be-
cause of Stafford's competition, had
been only fair. After leaving Manis-
tee, 1t grew still more cold, and was
afraid the ice would close in on her
and keep her where she was, so deter
mined to go north that night and see
that she got out. None knew, Father,
except those aboard the tug, that had
made that change.
"'At midnight. Father, to westward
Of the Foxes. we heard the four blasts
of steamer in distress-the four long
blasts which have sounded In my soul
ever since! We turned toward where
we saw the steamers lights; we went
nearer and. Father. 1t was his great
ship-the Miwakai 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
new shaft. Father. and was intact ex-
cepr for that. but helpless in the rising
The priest broke off. 1.-THE Miwaka
did not understand all that that had