The Walters Brothers
Copyright© 2020 by qhml1
Chapter 18
Zeke and I were sitting in our saddles taking one last look at the valley. The new road had been cut and graded and as we sat on Derby Ridge I could see the green lushness of the valley, marred only by the mud of the mine and the surrounding settlement being built. Despite being the scene of so much suffering it was still a beautiful place. Em and her oldest daughter were traveling a ways with us on the way back to their ranch. They had a contract to sell and deliver supplies to the miners, including beef. Her oldests’ husband, our friend Bob, would freight the supplies bought through our partnership. Zeke and I tried to give it to them but Em had a fit. “It was mostly your money that got us here. You’re good luck boys and I want to hang on to that. If you like I can plough your shares back into the company and send you financial statements twice a year, but I ain’t lettin’ you pull out.”
Her second oldest daughter and her youngest were staying to cook for the camp. The older one was being wooed by one of the engineers and the youngest had locked down on Gal to the point he couldn’t see anything but her.
Gal was so overcome when we gave him the valley minus the mine of course, that he couldn’t talk. He deserved it. He and Emily had worked out a deal where she was bringing in a herd of young stuff to run in the valley. They would sell the beef to the miners and the small settlement that was bound to spring up around it. The older girl and her engineer had already picked a spot and laid out lots.