Arizona state miner., 1926-09-04
CHAPTER IV-Continued

3
"Present that at the gate to the
watchman," he said. HE will get you
In touch with Hinckley. The car is
yours for the day"
He waved aside all thanks but he
left Caleb pondering why he, with no
other medium than BaXter's intrOduc-
ton and the fact that he had been in
the same war with Jack Cox, and was
a civil engineer with a professed lean
ing toward water development, should
be rendered so many courtesies by this
man Of affairs Western hospitality
could not suffice for this. He sur
missed that Cox might be in special
need Of engineers but such a premise
was only barely probable. He found
Cox surveying him with shrewd eyes
In whicA CLINT of something, that
might be either kindness or humor,
ghone.
Anything you'd like to ask me?" he
queried. 81 shan't sign anything until
I come back after lunch, Harry" he
said, in dismissal Of the secretary.
Caleb took the question as a clever
method of examination His inquiries
would be apt to show his caliber in
short order.
''I gathered, from what your son told
me-" he said, "and from what I heard
Of the talk at the table last night, that
Golden faced, or was about to face,
water shortage that you considered
prejudicial to the progress Of the city.
Is that so?''
Cox nodded, took a box of cigars
from his desk drawer, handed it to
Caleb, chose one himself, passed the
matches and smoked for a few puffs
before he answered.
"There is no mystery about 1t. It Is
an unpleasant fact. You are going to
see the works tomorrow. / need not
tell you that water is the life-blood of
q city. 1t runs in it's mains, in its
flushing system, as it does through the
arteries and veins of a body. Over
build, without water, and you have
atrophy, as you cannot expect the
blood that is sufficient for child to
sustain the body of a full-grOwn man.
We know today exactly how many gal
Ions per capita we must figure on for
a modern city with domestic, civic and
manufacturing supply. The number of
gallons in our reservoirs, divided by
that ratio, marks the present limits of
Golden's population, Of it's progress.
And that limit is almost reached.
"We cannot get more watershed. To
dig more wells-there are many arte-
sian wells in the city-would only di-
ninish present flows. Distillation is
not practical Already the lower
peninsula is badly off for water. We
need a Moses to strike the rocks for
Us. Perhaps he may come out of the
East" he ended, the CLINT in his eyes
plainly a twinkle now. Anyway, Mr..
Warner, there is the situation. There
is a fortune for the man who can find
q solution for the present shortage
we have some schemes in view but
the cost prohibits them. The water
supply must be pure as we'll as plenti-
ful. Filtration alone is a serious
problem.
"As to yourself? I should be only
too glad to say we could use you in
such development of Golden's water
but none is forward Would you care
TO connect yourself with power COM
pany? One is now on paper-blue
prints and stock, with the latter al
most subscribed. 1t will take you up
In the mountains. The berth will be
open within a few weeks. 1 can ar
range it for you"
"You know nothing of my qualif1ca-
tions." said Caleb. Cox smiled.
"I'll take a chance on my own iudg-
ment," he said dryly. "YOu won't last
long If you are incompetent And you
don't appear that. The place is at
Beaver Lake, in Stanislaus county.
You'll be roughing it for accommoda-
tions. Of course. But it'll be good
practice in western methods I fancy
you'll find them different from east
ern. Different type of labor, for one
thing"
Caleb did not Immediately fill the
pause. He had made up his mind to
study the Golden proposition 1t did
not seem possible that he should dis
cover something that Cox and his ex-
perts had overlooked on their own
ground but that nebulOus thought was
uttll persistent