Chapter 18: The Siege of the Deed

The economic siege launched by the Cattlemen’s Association was swift and coordinated, proving Cates’s prediction that a family was difficult to feed when the surrounding world starved them out. They weren’t fighting Steward; they were fighting the ranch’s ability to operate.

The key threat was the demand to immediately call in the long-term loan on the valuable northern grazing land—a section integral to their seasonal cattle rotation. The Association had arranged this through their network, invoking the “Material Adverse Change” clause in the loan agreement, arguing Steward’s new political and social isolation constituted a catastrophic financial risk. This was a corrupt maneuver, but a legal demand they had to meet to prevent the land seizure that would collapse the ranch’s primary asset.

The Problem of the Herd

Steward and Elara faced the maps and ledgers in the ranch office, Miya sitting quietly at the edge of the large table, listening intently.

“The loan call is for twelve thousand dollars, Father,” Elara summarized, her finger tracing the lines on her meticulously kept ledger. “We have the Emancipation Trust principal of five thousand and another four thousand in liquid assets. We are still three thousand dollars short, and the interest rate doubling means we can’t get a loan anywhere else in the Territory.”