DENVER AND BEYOND 29 



The next morning they awoke to find that the 

 Bear River had quietly taken its own again. The 

 beautiful roadbed, ties and rails, as well as some 

 equipment, were in the lake. One of those floors 

 had given away again and let the whole right-of- 

 way down into the lake. 



Right then and there, if I had been on the job, 

 I would have cussed the whole thing comprehen- 

 sively, wired my resignation and tackled some- 

 thing that promised completion before Time and 

 Eternity got mixed up. But these boys were not 

 built that way. They looked at each other and 

 said, "Well, that's h — 1, ain't it?" spat on their 

 hands and went to work again. They selected 

 another nice-looking, handy mountain range, 

 and proceeded to tear it down and spill it into the 

 lake. 



In the meanwhile word had to come to the Pres- 

 ident, who is the ex-officio keeper of the scenery of 

 the U. S., that Mr. Harriman was misplacing a lot 

 of his 'scenery. The matter was referred to the 

 department for the protection of pinochle and 

 other wild game of America, which immediately 



3 



