White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-07-05
LUMBER BARON AT ~,
RECORD OF AVIATOR
Soldier of Fortune Develops
1O,OOO-Acre Tract.

from River, Mich.-Aviator at sew.
enteen, soldier of fortune at twenty
and lumber baron at twenty-seven-
thai is the career of W. Kent Rideout,
son of w. A. Rideout, Oshkosh, Wis,
and clerk for the Patten Lumber COM
pany at Amasa, Mich. He left May
II for Panama to harvest nearly L.
O0O,000,00O feet Of mahogany and San.
to Maria lumber on 10,000-acre tract
decided to him by grateful Panama
government.
After vain efforts of several years
to convince capitalists that his story
was not pipe dream Rldeout has
been financed by the Patterson-Weis
company, Pensacola, Fla, which has
ordered monthly shipments Of 1880.
600 feet of timber.
Kent's life for the last ten years has
been crowded with adventure which
reads like tale by Richard Harding
Davis. When he was barely seventeen
he enlisted and became combat pilot
In the A. q. b. Once he landed safely
beyond the enemy lines after his gas
mask had been shot from his face.
On another occasion machine gun
sprayed lead into his left leg and
splintered 1t so badly that metal
shaft was used to replace bone.
Soldier of Fortune.
The youth reveled In the risk of his
eagle days. The armistice was scarce.
~ two weeks old when he signed with
the Peruvian government as aviation
instructor. After nine months In Peru
at daily stipend of $50 in gold he
served in the military forces of the
Argentine republic. Then he turned
prospector In South America for gold.
oil ar silver
When Panama marshaled its mill
tary forces In 1929 to settle by force
the frontier dispute with Costa Rlca
he FASTENED northward with an Amer.
lean companion, scenting gunpowder.
and was commissioned lieutenant.
colonel in the army of the Panama
republic. Meanwhile United States
marines had been dispatched to inter
vene and the military plans of Pan
| UNA COlluDSCu NIlGlI IT'S lOINCS
face to face with the marines.
Prevented by the United States gov
eminent from paying the two Ameri-
can officers In money. the republic Of
fered tay-free timber and mineral
grants, Kent. coming from family of
lumbermen, chose timber and received
a deed to 10000 acres near the Pacific
coast. He added to his holdings by
taking an option on more accessible
timber land and induced an older
brother to assist in exploiting it. When
he returned from the timber company
to the headquarters office he found
that his brother had taken sole title to
1 the new holdings.
Hunt for Backing.
Kent returned to the United States
to interest capital In his original
grant, but the fanciful story and his
evident poverty won him Indifferent
attention and many laughs. a Texan
offered $4,000 for a controlling inter
est but Kent scoffed at the overture
! An advertisement In the American
Lumberman brought inquiries. but the
inquiries lost interest upon hearing
Kent's seemingly wild tale.
The youth worked for several Wis
consin and Michigan lumber compa.
MES to earn a living, and his father
took up the hunt for capital.
Several months ago the Pensacola
firm investigated the claims of Kent's
father and sent man to Panama TO
check the validity of the deeds. Find
Ing them legal, the company agreed to
finance S3O0.000 corporation The
Rideouts received a S150000 interest
tor development and will he permitted.
rs the profits grow. to repay the com
pany and regain full control. The
Patterson-W eis company is entitled to
all shipments of lumber for five years
at S75 thousand feet AT the Panama
dock and monthly shipments must not
fall below l,250,000 feet.