Speaker 1: This is section seventeen of the Gilded Age. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age, A
Speaker 1: Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen. We have viewed it and measured it within
Speaker 1: all by the scale the richest tract of land love
Speaker 1: in the Kingdom there will be made seventeen or eighteen
Speaker 1: millions or more asked may be handled. The devil is
Speaker 1: an ass nobody dressed more like an engineer than mister
Speaker 1: Henry Brierly. The completeness of his appointments was the envy
Speaker 1: of the corps, and the gay fellow himself was the
Speaker 1: admiration of the camp servants, axe men, teamsters, and Cook's.
Speaker 1: I reckon, you didn't get them boots Nowher's this side
Speaker 1: of Saint Louis queried the tall Missouri youth who acted
Speaker 1: as Commissary's assistant. No New York, Yes, I've hearn of
Speaker 1: New York. Can aided the butternut lad, attentively studying each
Speaker 1: item of Harry's dress and endeavoring to cover his design
Speaker 1: with interesting conversation. There's Massachusetts. It's not far off, I've
Speaker 1: hear Massachusetts was a blank of a place. Lissy, what
Speaker 1: states Massachusetts? In Massachusetts kindly replied, Harry is in the
Speaker 1: state of Boston. Boston wanted they must have cost right smart,
Speaker 1: referring to the boots. Harry shouldered his rod and went
Speaker 1: to the field, tramped over the prairie by day, and
Speaker 1: figured up results at night with the utmost cheerfulness and industry,
Speaker 1: and plotted the line on the profile paper, without, however,
Speaker 1: the least idea of engineering, practical or theoretical. Perhaps there
Speaker 1: was not a great deal of scientific knowledge in the
Speaker 1: entire corps, nor was very much needed. They were making
Speaker 1: what is called a preliminary survey, and the chief object
Speaker 1: of a preliminary survey was to get up an excitement
Speaker 1: about the road, to interest every town in that part
Speaker 1: of the state in it under the belief that the
Speaker 1: road would run through it, and to get the aid
Speaker 1: of every planter upon the prospect that a station would
Speaker 1: be on his land. Mister Jeff Thompson was the most
Speaker 1: popular engineer who could be found for this work. He
Speaker 1: did not bother himself much about details or practicabilities of location,
Speaker 1: but ran merrily along, sighting from the top of one
Speaker 1: divide to the top of another, and striking plum every
Speaker 1: town site and big plantation within twenty or thirty miles
Speaker 1: of his route. In his own language, he just went booming.
Speaker 1: This course gave Harry an opportunity, as he said, to
Speaker 1: learn the practical details of engineering, and it gave Philip
Speaker 1: a chance to see the country and to judge for
Speaker 1: himself what prospect of a fortune it offered. Both he
Speaker 1: and Harry got the refusal of more than one plantation
Speaker 1: as they went along on and wrote urgent letters to
Speaker 1: their eastern correspondence upon the beauty of the land and
Speaker 1: the certainty that it would quadruple in value as soon
Speaker 1: as the road was finally located. It seemed strange to
Speaker 1: them that capitalists did not flock out there and secure
Speaker 1: this land. They had not been in the field over
Speaker 1: two weeks when Harry wrote to his friend Colonel Sellers,
Speaker 1: that he'd better be on the move, for the line
Speaker 1: was certain to go to Stone's Landing. Any One who
Speaker 1: looked at the line on the map as it was
Speaker 1: laid down from day to day would have been uncertain
Speaker 1: which way it was going. But Jeff had declared that,
Speaker 1: in his judgment, the only practicable route from the point
Speaker 1: they then stood on was to follow the divide to
Speaker 1: Stone's Landing, and it was generally understood that that town
Speaker 1: would be the next one hit. We'll make it, boys,
Speaker 1: said the chief. If we have to go in a
Speaker 1: balloon and make it. They did. In less than a week,
Speaker 1: this indomitable engineer had carried his moving caravan over sleughs
Speaker 1: and branches, across bottoms and along divides, and pitched his
Speaker 1: tents in the very heart of the city of stones Landing.
Speaker 1: Well I'll be dashed, was heard the cheery voice of
Speaker 1: mister Thompson as he stepped outside the tent door at
Speaker 1: sunrise next morning. If this don't get me, I say,
Speaker 1: Yon Grayson, get out your sighting iron and see if
Speaker 1: you can find Old Cellar's town. Blame me if we
Speaker 1: wouldn't have run plumb by it, if twilight had held
Speaker 1: on a little longer, Oh sterling, briefly, get up and
Speaker 1: see the city. There's a steamboat just coming round the bend.
Speaker 1: And Jeff roared with laughter. The Mayor'll be round here
Speaker 1: to breakfast. The fellows turned out of the tents, rubbing
Speaker 1: their eyes and stared about them. They were camped on
Speaker 1: the second bench of the narrow bottom of a crooked,
Speaker 1: sluggish stream that was some five rods wide in the
Speaker 1: present good stage of water. Before them were a dozen
Speaker 1: log cabins with stick and mud chimneys, irregularly disposed on
Speaker 1: either side of a not very well defined road which
Speaker 1: did not seem to know its own mind exactly, and
Speaker 1: after straggling through the town, wandered off over the rolling
Speaker 1: prairie in an uncertain way, as if it had started
Speaker 1: for nowhere and was quite likely to reach its destination.
Speaker 1: Just as it left the town, however, it was cheered
Speaker 1: and assisted by a guide board, upon which was the
Speaker 1: legend ten Mills to Hawkeye. The road had never been
Speaker 1: made except by the travel over it, and at this season,
Speaker 1: the rainy June, it was a way of ruts cut
Speaker 1: in the black soil, and of fathomless mud holes. In
Speaker 1: the principal street of the city. It had received more
Speaker 1: attention for hogs great and small rooted about in it
Speaker 1: and wallowed in it, turning the street into a liquid
Speaker 1: quagmire which could only be crossed on pieces of plank
Speaker 1: thrown here and there. About the chief cabin, which was
Speaker 1: the store and grocery of this mart of trade. The
Speaker 1: mud was more liquid than elsewhere, and the rude platform
Speaker 1: in front of it, and the dry goods boxes mounted thereon,
Speaker 1: were places of refuge for all the loafers of the place.
Speaker 1: Down by the stream was a dilapidated building which served
Speaker 1: for a hemp warehouse, and a shaky wharf extended out
Speaker 1: from it into the water. In fact, a flat boat
Speaker 1: was there moored by it, its setting poles. Lying across
Speaker 1: the gunwales. Above the town, the stream was crossed by
Speaker 1: a crazy wooden bridge, the supports of which leaned all
Speaker 1: ways in the soggy soil. The absence of a plank
Speaker 1: here and there in the flooring made the crossing of
Speaker 1: the bridge faster than a walk, and a fence not
Speaker 1: necessary to be prohibited by law. This gentleman, said jeff
Speaker 1: Is Columbus River alias Goose Run. If it was widened
Speaker 1: and deepened, and straightened and made long enough, it would
Speaker 1: be one of the finest rivers in the western country.
Speaker 1: As the sun rose and sent his level beams along
Speaker 1: the stream, the thin strata of mist or malaria rose
Speaker 1: also and dispersed. But the light was not able to
Speaker 1: enliven the dull water, nor give any hint of its
Speaker 1: apparently fathomless depth. Venerable mud turtles crawled up and roosted
Speaker 1: upon the old logs in the stream, their backs glistening
Speaker 1: in the sun, the first inhabitants of the metropolis to
Speaker 1: begin the active business of the day. It was not long, however,
Speaker 1: before smoke began to issue from the city chimneys, and
Speaker 1: before the engineers had finished their breakfast. They were the
Speaker 1: object of the curious inspection of six or eight boys
Speaker 1: and men, who lounged into the camp and gazed about
Speaker 1: them with languid interest, their hands in their pockets. Everyone,
Speaker 1: Good morning, gentlemen, called out the chief engineer from the table.
Speaker 1: Good morning, drawled out the spokesman of the party. Aye,
Speaker 1: allow the shares the railroad. I hearn it was a comin'. Yes,
Speaker 1: this is the railroad, all but the rails and the
Speaker 1: iron horse. I reckon. You can get all the rails
Speaker 1: you want out in my wide oak timber over there,
Speaker 1: replied the first speaker, who appeared to be a man
Speaker 1: of property and willing to strike up a trade. You'll
Speaker 1: have to negotiate with the contractors about the rails, sir,
Speaker 1: said Jeff. Here's mister Brierly, I've no doubt would like
Speaker 1: to buy your rails when the time comes. No, said
Speaker 1: the man. I thought maybe you'd fetch the whole billain
Speaker 1: along with you. But if you want rails, I've got em.
Speaker 1: Hain't I f heaps said f without taking his eyes
Speaker 1: off the group at the table. Well, said mister Thompson,
Speaker 1: rising from his seat and moving towards his tent. The
Speaker 1: railroad has come to Stone's landing. Sure I move, We
Speaker 1: take a drink on it. All round the proposal met
Speaker 1: with universal favor. Jeff gave prosperity to Stone's landing and
Speaker 1: navigation to Goose Run, and the toast was washed down
Speaker 1: with gusto in the simple fluid of corn, and with
Speaker 1: the return compliment that a railroad was a good thing,
Speaker 1: and that Jeff Thompson was no slouch. About ten o'clock,
Speaker 1: a horse and wagon was decried making a slow approach
Speaker 1: to the camp over the prairie. As it drew near,
Speaker 1: the wagon was seen to contain a portly gentleman who
Speaker 1: hitched impatiently forward on his seat, shook the reins, and
Speaker 1: gently touched up his horse in the vain attempt to
Speaker 1: communicate his own energy to that dull beast, and looked
Speaker 1: eagerly at the tents. When the conveyance at length drew
Speaker 1: up to mister Thompson's door, the gentleman descended with great deliberation,
Speaker 1: straightened himself up, rubbed his hands, and, beaming satisfaction from
Speaker 1: every part of his radiant frame, advanced to the group
Speaker 1: that was gathered to welcome him, and which had saluted
Speaker 1: him by name as soon as he came within hearing.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Napoleon, gentlemen, Welcome. I am proud to see
Speaker 1: you here, mister Thompson. You are looking well, mister Sterling.
Speaker 1: This is the country, sir, right glad to see you.
Speaker 1: Mister Brierly, you got that basket a champagne. No, those
Speaker 1: blasted river thieves. I'll never send anything more by him.
Speaker 1: The best brand Roderer, the last I had in my
Speaker 1: cellar from a lot sent me by Sir George Gore
Speaker 1: took him out on a buffalo hunt when he visited.
Speaker 1: Our country is always sending me some trifle. You haven't
Speaker 1: looked about any yet, gentlemen. It's in the rough yet.
Speaker 1: In the rough, those buildings will all have to come
Speaker 1: down that's the place for the public square, court house, hotels, churches, jail,
Speaker 1: all that sort of thing about where we stand the depot.
Speaker 1: How does that strike your engineering eye, mister Thompson. Down
Speaker 1: yonder the business streets running to the wharves, the university
Speaker 1: up there on rising ground, sightly place. See the river
Speaker 1: for miles. That's Columbus River, only forty nine miles to
Speaker 1: the Missouri. You see what it is, placid, steady, no
Speaker 1: current to interfere with navigation. Wants widening in places and dredging.
Speaker 1: Dredge out the harbor, and raise a levee in front
Speaker 1: of the town, made by nature on purpose for a
Speaker 1: mart Look at all this country, not another building within
Speaker 1: ten miles, No other navigable stream. Lay of the land
Speaker 1: points right here. Hemp, tobacco, corn must come here. The
Speaker 1: railroad will do it. Napoleon won't know itself in a year,
Speaker 1: don't now, evidently, said Philip, aside to Harry, Have you breakfast,
Speaker 1: colonel hastily, cup of coffee? Can't trust any coffee. I
Speaker 1: don't import myself, but I put up a basket of provisions.
Speaker 1: A wife would put in a few delicacies. Women always will,
Speaker 1: and half dozen of that burgundy. I was telling you
Speaker 1: of mister Brierly, By the way, you never got to
Speaker 1: dine with me. And the Colonel strode away to the
Speaker 1: wagon and looked under the seat for the basket. Apparently
Speaker 1: it was not there, for the Colonel raised up the flap,
Speaker 1: looked in front and behind, and then exclaimed, unfound it.
Speaker 1: That comes of not doing a thing yourself. I trusted
Speaker 1: to the women folks to set that basket in the wagon,
Speaker 1: and it ain't there. The camp cook speedily prepared a
Speaker 1: savory breakfast for the colonel, broiled chicken, eggs, corn bread,
Speaker 1: and coffee, to which he did ample justice, and topped
Speaker 1: off with a drop of old bourbon from mister Thompson's
Speaker 1: private store, a brand which he said he knew well
Speaker 1: he should think it came from his own sideboard. While
Speaker 1: the engineer corps went to the field to run back
Speaker 1: a couple of miles and ascertain approximately if a road
Speaker 1: could ever get down to the landing, and to sight
Speaker 1: ahead across the run and see if it could ever
Speaker 1: get out again, Colonel Sellers and Harry sat down and
Speaker 1: began to roughly map out the city of Napoleon on
Speaker 1: a large piece of drawing paper. I've got the refusal
Speaker 1: of a mile square here, said the Colonel, in our
Speaker 1: names for a year, with a quarter interest reserved for
Speaker 1: the four owners. They laid out the town liberally, not
Speaker 1: locking room, leaving space for the railroad to come in
Speaker 1: and for the river as it was to be when improved.
Speaker 1: The engineers reported that the railroad could come in by
Speaker 1: taking a little sweep and crossing the stream on a
Speaker 1: high bridge, but the grades would be steep. Colonel Sellers
Speaker 1: said he didn't care so much about the grades if
Speaker 1: the road could only be made to reach the elevators
Speaker 1: on the river. The next day, mister Thompson made a
Speaker 1: hasty survey of the stream for a mile or two,
Speaker 1: so that the Colonel and Harry were enabled to show
Speaker 1: on their map how nobly that would accommodate the city.
Speaker 1: Jeff took a little writing from the Colonel and Harry
Speaker 1: for a prospective share, but Philip declined to join in,
Speaker 1: saying that he had no money and didn't want to
Speaker 1: make engagements he couldn't fulfill. The next morning, the camp
Speaker 1: moved on, followed till it was out of sight by
Speaker 1: the listless eyes of the group in front of the store,
Speaker 1: one of whom remarked that he'd be dog gone if
Speaker 1: he ever expected to see that railroad any more. Harry
Speaker 1: went with the colonel to Hawkeye to complete their arrangements,
Speaker 1: a part of which was the preparation of a petition
Speaker 1: to Congress for the improvement of the navigation of Columbus
Speaker 1: River end of Chapter seventeen.