Chapter 3

All was not well with the road project. Bob Bastion had counted on being able to reach the mountain by cold weather where he was to make the cut for the new road. There was a two-mile swampy area before he could get there. The plan was to use the rock the mountain consisted of for fill to lay a base across the soft areas.

It was his own mistake for he had relied on the state engineer's plans to bid on the project. This put him in a bind not only time-wise for the completion, but he would have to haul in fill from somewhere else, just to get across the unstable land.

In retrospect, he should have hired his own engineering concern to probe how deep the soft ground was and how much fill he would need. He stood to lose everything, including the cost of the extra fill needed and of course the performance bond, if the project wasn't completed on time. He had a meeting on Saturday morning with all the men who were assigned to the job and explained the problem.

"This is going to put us two months behind and maybe even more. The fill I need, will have to be hauled a long distance and that in itself is costly. I counted on the mountain rock to provide the fill, but as you know, we can't reach the mountain until the ground freezes and even then it is iffy. Also there isn't enough stone from the cut we make through the mountain for all of our needs. Our construction up to this point has gone well and we are actually three weeks ahead of schedule, but now we are stymied."

Someone asked about coming in from the east side of the mountain. "It can't be done. It is the same situation, plus the river is much closer on that side and there is the chance that if we destabilize that side of the mountain some of it may slide into the river. The environmentalists would see that I lose my balls. I wanted to play with the big boys and it looks as if I'm going to pay for thinking I could."

I hadn't had anything to do involving this project. As the new man in the company, I had been doing cleanup, finishing other less important small jobs.

Closing out the situation meeting, Bob said, "If anyone has any ideas no matter how far out, I'll take a look at them. In the meantime, I'm going to get with my attorneys and see if I can get more money from the state because their project specs weren't viable. Wish me luck."

Helen was beside me as we had listened to all of this. "It looks as if you have a job, but only for a little while. I heard Dad tell Mom that he was going to lose everything. She just said they didn't have much when they were first married and they could live with a lot less than what they had accumulated over the years."

"That is true love isn't it?"

"I know, but it is still sad. Would you still love me if we lost everything?"

"If you loved me I would."

"We're okay, then."

After lunch I went into the construction office and pulled up everything concerning the road project. I first looked at all of the pictures taken from the air that showed the lay of the land. I got a good sense of what the project entailed. Someone, the engineers, I guess, had made notes that were on some of the copies. I read these so I knew the consistency of the soil.

I started making notes about certain facts of what would be helpful and those that would be a detriment. I laughed at myself, for I was just a lowly equipment operator and what did I know. But hell, I had helped build an airport in a foreign country so didn't I know a little something? Bob did say he would look at any and all ideas.

When I got to the specifications that were made by Bastion's engineers and compared these to what the state provided, I could see why he was so concerned. There was a note about why this land contained such a huge swamp. Even the source of the moisture had been identified. It was far up the side of the mountain and apparently drained down a fault. Over the eons the steep forested mountain had added to the area below and, because it was wet much of the year, it had created a swamp.

I figured most everyone, and this included Bob, had ignored this information because it didn't have much to do with the project itself. His engineers didn't do their own mapping of what lay beneath the swamp until after Bob had submitted the bid. He recently found that the state had done an inadequate job with their mapping. The swamp was much deeper by two times in certain areas than projected. At this point Bob knew he was in trouble, for much more fill would be required, hence the meeting this morning.

As I studied this, I was more concerned Bastion Construction would have even more trouble on the east side of the mountain than on the west side. There was a small wet area on the east side of the mountain, but there was no place to get rid of the material that needed to be removed. It had to come this way after the mountain had been cut through. I would question Bob about this. If it hadn't been so near the river it could have been dumped on either side of the cut to make room for the road bed.

It could still be accomplished, but that would mean that a berm would have to be built next to the river. I looked farther east and saw where the swamp material could be dumped, but it was five miles away. Also, the next section that Bob hadn't bid on was going to another construction company. Would they want a different company using the section they had received the bid for? I doubted it.

In fact, a few minutes later I found the figures of the projected cost to place the material there. It was a lot of money. I spent four hours looking at the notes and paperwork that was included in the voluminous files.

This all gave me a lot to think about. I went along home and played with the boys. I wasn't very attentive to either them or to Helen. At dinner she asked if something was wrong, "No, I was just thinking about your father's problem. He really has hung himself out to dry. Do you think he would be bothered if I made some suggestions? I know I'm new here, but I just looked over the plans and I think I saw where there could be some changes made to save time and maybe even some money."

"Dad said he would listen to any ideas or suggestions. Don't hesitate even if they aren't feasible. He will know you are trying, anyway."

"Okay, I will. I'll continue to think on it then."

"Rich, I love you so much. I think Mom is half in love with you herself. She tells me I made quite a catch when I snagged you."

"Is that what you did? I don't think I was knowingly ever snagged before."

"Oh you were, and that was the plan as far back as when you got into my truck the first time."

"I've been had."

"I have been too. Rub my tummy, there is new life growing there." Helen was curious about what my thoughts were on the road project. "Rich, can you tell me what you are thinking?"

"Not yet, I want to think about it some more. There is also some background on the area that I want to check out. I'm going to walk over the ground near where the swamp is located. I'll do that tomorrow. Do you want to go with me?"

"Can the boys go with us?"

"Of course. I wouldn't consider going without them if you are with me. I think you can make it and you aren't too pregnant yet."

"Rich, I can't be more pregnant than I am."

"I know that. I meant you are still agile enough to do some climbing and stuff like that. I want to get an early start. I don't know how far it is from where the job stops to where the swamp begins. Your dad has had me working other small jobs and I haven't had a chance to look the ground over."

"Okay, get up early; check. Get an early breakfast prepared; check. Make love to my husband as soon as the kids go to sleep; check. Is there anything I have missed?"

"Nope, that about covers it all. I'm going in and sit in the living room with the boys until you finish up out here in the kitchen, or do you need some help?"

"No, I can handle it."

I went in and played grab ass with the kids. All the time though, I was running the pictures of the landscape I had looked at in the pictures that were with the plans. Helen soon came and spoke to Brad and Scotty about hiking tomorrow. "You should go to bed now and get a lot of rest if you are going to keep up with Rich and me."

"Mom, you're going too?"

"Yes."

"Great! We will go to bed now, won't we Brad?

"Good night, Dad. Night, Mom."

"Night, boys."

It was chilly in the morning but clear, and shaped up to be a fine day. I had the use of one of the company trucks which had an extended cab so there was plenty of room for all of us. We went across the river where the state was having a bridge built by another construction company. We turned east, and three miles farther on we came to the construction that was being performed by the Bastion Construction Company.

The roadbed was graded for two miles and then it turned to rough. Heavy equipment was traveling over it, so I drove the truck as far as I could and still see a place to turn around. I parked the truck and we walked a bare hundred yards to where the land changed color. This was the beginning of the swampy area. Much work had been done. The brush had been cleared and survey stakes lined what was to be the right-of-way. All over the swamp there were test holes where test bores had been driven down to solid rock. There was a stake by every hole with the depth marked on it.

I peered into several holes expecting water in all of them. Not so, only about one in seven held water. The deepest always did. I examined the dirt piled next to the holes and most of it was rich and dark. We called this a swamp, but it wasn't like the Okefenokee Swamp in Florida. However, it wouldn't support equipment of any considerable weight, to say nothing about a highway. The only recourse was to remove it or bridge it.

I looked up and my eyes followed the line of stakes that seemed to go on forever. In the distance you could see the mountain spur that came down from a tall peak and went all the way to the river. This was what the company needed to cut through to get to the other side of the mountain. There would be stone fill to be had there, but you had to get to it first.

"Dad, are we going to look in all of the holes? There's a zillion of them."

"No Brad, someone else did that and we don't need to." Then it came to me, my stepson had just called me Dad again. This was becoming a steady, natural thing to be called Dad, and I glanced at Helen to see her smiling. My spirits raised me off the ground and I felt as if I was walking on air.

"Scotty and Brad, do you think you can climb up the mountain above the swamp a ways?"

"Sure, let's go."

I held Helen's hand as we followed the boys who were racing ahead of us. "Rich have you any idea how to solve this for my father?" I paused looking both up and down from where we were standing.

"Not yet. After looking at the plans yesterday, I'm checking things out. You know your father should have examined what he was bidding on more closely. I wonder if there isn't another company who was hoping his ego would push him to underbid everyone else, then hoping he would fail and never again be able to compete."

"It could be so. The competition was fierce for this project and it is a cutthroat business."

We hadn't moved from where I paused to look over the lay of the land. I remembered the topographical map I had studied and wished I had thought to bring a copy with me. My memory was pretty good and I had looked at it closely. The map had contained many notes and I had read them all. Apparently this mountain had been bigger at one time. Sometime many years ago, the side of the mountain where the swamp was now, shook loose and slid down toward the river.

It had not gone far enough to block the valley, stopping short, letting the river in the valley continue on its course. Another note I had read said there was a single water source above the top of the present swamp. Over the eons as the bowl had slowly filled with vegetation; it was kept damp by the water. and the swampy areas increased.

It now comprised a total area of 700 to 800 acres. The bowl had filled enough so although not flat, it sloped gently toward the river. The proposed road was going to cut it into two nearly equal parcels. The terrain above did rise steeply, but after looking at it, I knew heavy equipment could climb the mountain if it was necessary.

The land mass involved was owned by a person named Kenneth Knowles. The right-of-way for this road had been taken by eminent domain. It had been held up in the courts for several years until an agreement had been determined by the state supreme court. Needless to say the land owner was unhappy. When near-by fill was searched for, he wouldn't even talk to Robert Bastion, necessitating the need for Bob to haul it from many miles away.

I had read all that had been written about this man who was the landowner and I probably knew as much about him as he did himself. It was all in the folder of files containing every account that was published in the newspaper and of the battle he had waged in his fight with the state. The topographical map showed the boundaries of what he owned. He actually lived in the basin on the other side of the mountain. This was hemmed in by this mountain and a smaller one to the west. There was a lower ridge or saddle joining the two peaks together.

He was a rancher and farmer. He also admitted that what the state had taken didn't bother his present holdings at all. He only fought the state because he could. He wanted to prove the point that a man's home was his castle. I also gleaned from the newspaper accounts, that his neighbors liked him well enough, but he was a bit irascible sometimes and was known to dislike strangers. That would make him hard to approach.

When we reached where the wet area began, Helen and I sat down and looked over the swamp and then below it down to the river. This really was rugged terrain. The river, which was way down the valley, wound in and around the different mountains with only the narrow riverbed dividing them. Farther to the east, the land flattened out and was more heavily populated. This was the reason for the new road; it greatly shortened the distance between the two population centers in this part of the state.

The most difficult section of the road for eight miles had been bid on and won by Bastion Construction. The company was going to be in serious trouble if a solution wasn't found. Twice as much fill was now needed. At present there was none available nearby. If a deal could be reached to quarry the stone from the mountainside, the problem would disappear. Kenneth Knowles didn't have any great dislike against the Bastion Construction Company as such; his anger was with the state because he lost suit in that court. The result was the same, however.

I pointed out some things that verified what I had read in the notes the day before. "See those green seams above the surface of the swamp? Those are the wettest spots, where the water is following cracks in the stone from the single source above the swamp. It is like a spider web radiating from where the water comes closest to the surface and we can see it."

"Why are you showing me this? How will that help my father? It seems to me we have too much water when what we need is stone for fill."

"True, but what if we could swap that water for the right to quarry stone from right next to where we need it and if we can get it, it is the cheapest available source."

I went on, "Collect Scotty and Brad and we'll walk around the corner of the mountain to the lower ridge where we can look down into the valley on the other side. If I have read the reports correctly, I may have an answer to our problem."

"Rich, Dad says Knowles is an intractable old bastard and can't be dealt with at all. Dad went to him with his hat in his hand and Knowles blew him away."

"Let's leave that for later. Let's see if what I have in mind is in any way feasible." I looked for the boys. They were farther up the mountain, but when I motioned to them, they came rushing down. "Come on kids, I want to look down into the next valley. It isn't that far away. Hold your mother's hand so she won't fall."

We passed around a corner that jutted out just above the ridge we were headed for. Rounding it, the basin came into view before our eyes. The floor of the basin was hundreds of feet below us. The back side of the mountain was sheer bare rock over much of the face. "Helen, look across this ridge to the next mountain over. It is lower than this one by far. Do you see that small stream coming from the side of it?"

"Yes, but is that important?"

"Very much so. Follow the track the stream travels. It comes out of the side of that mountain and flows into the draw going down into the populated basin. See where a small dam has been constructed across the draw half-way down from here between the two mountains. According to one of the newspaper articles I read, Knowles built the dam and has a small pipe going down the draw to a turbine driven electrical generator. He had to downsize his expectation by half when he didn't have the water to drive the first one he counted on that was bigger.

"In your father's papers the state hired a hydrologist and he estimated there was four times the amount of water that is keeping the swamp a swamp than the one we are looking at. He also indicated it was an artesian type water source. You have heard of an artesian well driven by a well driller. Well this is the same in only that it is a natural one. Who knows what is forcing the water to rise to this height on the mountain and then start flowing out into the open. It doesn't matter really, it is just there."

"And how are we going to capitalize on the water when he won't even talk to Dad and the company needing rock for the fill?"

"We will work out something. Maybe I will send you down into the basin and you can become friendly with Knowles."

"No, the only one I get friendly with is you."

"I am kidding, but you might give some thought to a way we can approach him. We are going to need the fill within a month, so time is of the essence."

"Okay, I'm no dummy and not just a truck driver, you know. You'll have to get me some details on what he can do with the bigger amount of water. How much water are we talking anyway?"

"It is not only water, but where it is located. The weight of the water is very important as well and how far it falls down so it can drive the turbine. Think of gallons of water weighing eight pounds each stacked many hundreds of feet high. Imagine the pressure at the bottom of the stack. That is what drives the turbine that turns the generator to make electricity. I firmly believe there is that much water and more probably."

"How do you know all this?"

"Remember the landing strip we built where I first met you? A geologist saw a similar condition up on one of the mountains where we were locating the new airport. An eight-inch hole was bored into the side of the mountain and it tapped into the main vein of water. When it was piped, it was enough to provide electricity for the whole complex. It saved an inordinate amount of fuel to run the generators. I was struck by this when I read the files and could see this was much the same situation here. That is why I wanted to come here today and look things over."

There was one fly in the ointment. Knowles owned the water in the first place. Would pointing this out to him be enough for him to let us quarry stone on the mountain nearby for what we needed? It is hard to tell until someone from our camp met with him. It had to be worth making the effort.

Helen who had been her father's spare truck driver, told him Monday morning she couldn't work that day. This I was unaware of. She was still home when I went to work and home when I finished work. It had drizzled during the day and I noticed our personal vehicle was covered with mud when I went by it. "Did you work today?"