THE FRAUDULENT HOMESTEADER 



583 



"Drink up, and I will show you 

 about the place," he insisted. 



I thanked both of them graciously, 

 but I said I never drank coffee, and we 

 left the table. I thought the locator 

 looked disappointed. I urged Mrs. 

 Bill and her husband to exhibit their 

 garden and other "improvements," and 

 managed to get them outside without 

 disturbing the debris of the dinner. 

 Then I gave the signal for the boys, 

 and soon they sauntered quietly in. In 

 a moment, while one of the rangers 

 was engaged with Cascade Bill and his 

 wife over a peculiar species of berry 

 that grew in the mountains, I managed 

 to get the other ranger aside, and 

 instructed him to get into the cabin 

 unseen, if possible, and empty the con- 

 tents of that coffee cup into his can- 

 teen. 



This feat was dextrously performed, 

 and we soon left the claim, after 

 expressing ourselves pleased with the 

 call, and myself with the dinner. 

 Sufficient to relate, that after an analy- 

 sis of the coffee by an expert, it was 

 found to contain one-half ounce of rat 

 poison. Thus does man escape the 

 traps set for his downfall. I was very 

 grateful that the manufacturer had 

 inserted an odor into his poison. I 

 often wonder what Cascade Bill said to 

 his wife about it after I left their hos- 

 pitable roof. 



I went on with my work of investi- 

 gation, and turned up startling and 

 lurid tales about this man and his dark 

 deeds. As fast as the deceived home- 

 steaders gave up their land, they 

 unfolded their troubles to me, and were 

 willing witnesses as to his treachery. 

 Space will not permit me to repeat one- 

 tenth of these stories, but the history 

 in brief of Cascade Bill's creation of 

 the "Settlers' Bridge" should not be 

 overlooked. 



None of the claims in question could 

 be reached by a single roadway, as they 

 were located between two steep moun- 

 tain walls, with no highway entrance to 

 the outside world. The railway crept 

 through a narrow strip of right of way, 

 following the river banks into the town 



and out of it. Index is perhaps one 

 of the very few towns in the United 

 States having no roadway in or out of 

 it to the country outside. 



Therefore, when Cascade Bill first 

 located in this timber fairyland, one of 

 his first acts was to build a suspension 



ANOTHER RICH "CLAIM" 



This 160 Acres Contains Nearly Ten Million Feet of 

 Valuable Timber 



foot bridge across the river. It was 

 constructed of wire cables and short 

 planking, closely set, with timber arch- 

 ways at either end. The bridge is said 

 to have cost originally $500. From 

 each new settler crossing that bridge 

 to fame and fortune, the old locator 

 collected $10, as his or her share of 

 building that structure. It is carefully 

 estimated that Cascade Bill located in 

 the neighborhood of 1,200 persons in 

 the twenty years he carried on his sys- 

 tem in that country. Thus he realized 

 the fabulous profit of $11,000 on his 

 orisfinal investment. 



