Shadow on the Land Read Online Free

nodded. “It is from a railroad man’s standpoint. The thing that started it is the fact that large areas of Oregon, such as this Deschutes country, have no railroads. Harriman has made promises, and a dozen rumors have flooded the country. Harriman has even talked about extending his Columbia Southern south from Shaniko. Well”—Stevens spread his hands—“the people in the interior have seen no steel being laid. All the rumors have turned out to be hot air.”
    â€œHarriman never did anything on the North Bank until Jim Hill moved in,” Lee said.
    â€œAnd it’s Hill who’s starting him up the Deschutes.” Stevens tapped the map thoughtfully against a knee. “Not long ago I made a fishing trip into the Bend country and on down the Deschutes. I landed some rainbows.” He smiled. “I told one man I was going to start a fish hatchery at the mouth of Trout Creek. What’s more to the point is that I got a right of way. It’s a real trip down that river, Dawes . . . wild water, two thousand foot cliffs, rattlesnakes, and some stubborn ranchers who don’t think much of a railroad. The Oregon Trunk has a survey up the cañon, but it has done very little besides that. The controlling interest belonged to Billy Nelson, and I bought him out.”
    â€œFor Hill?”
    Stevens’s eyes twinkled. “Keep guessing, Dawes. It’s just as well you don’t know everything right now. When the Oregon Trunk got serious about a railroad, it ran into trouble with the Bureau of Reclamation, which had an idea about building a power dam on the Deschutes. So we were hung up, and central Oregon still didn’t have a railroad.”
    â€œThen that’s what is behind the state-owned railroad?”
    Stevens nodded. “That’s part of it. We got the trouble with the Bureau of Reclamation straightened out, but the state-owned railroad proposal will be on the ballot at the next general election. Now Harriman has promised the governor they’ll get started, but he’s abandoned the Columbia Southern. The grade to the top of the plateau is too tough. They’ve formed the Deschutes Railroad Company, which will come up the cañon. When Porter Brothers moved a couple of barge loads of grading machinery for us across the Columbia to the mouth of the Deschutes, it was like setting off a charge of dynamite under Ed Harriman’s chair.”
    Lee laughed. “It’ll be a case of who gets there fastest with the mostest railroad.”
    â€œThat’s it. Don’t underestimate the importance of getting our missing pieces of right of way. What we’ve got now is like a checkerboard. Some of the leases and entry rights the Oregon Trunk had have lapsed, and we’ve got to beat Harriman to them.”
    Lee’s grin was quick and confident. “I’ll beat them.”
    Stevens raised a hand. “Don’t be too sure. That brings me to your second assignment. There’s one piece of property between Madras and Crooked River that’s going to be hard to get a right of way through, and it’s vital. Crooked River gorge is about four hundred feet deep, but there’s one narrow place where we can bridge it. This property I mentioned belongs to a girl named Hanna Racine, and it’s strategic because it controls the approach to this crossing.” Stevens paused, eyes on Lee. “What’s the matter?”
    â€œDid you say Hanna Racine?” Lee asked weakly.
    â€œYes. Do you know the girl?”
    â€œI’ve heard the name,” Lee admitted, thinking of how he had abruptly left her at the rail when he’d gone looking for Deborah Haig.
    â€œHer father was a big rancher and a very well known man in Crook County,” Stevens went on. “And I’ll say that Herb Racine was just about the toughest old codger I ever ran into. Hated both Hill and Harriman. He did a lot of work getting this