“Huh,” the sheriff grunted. “Who’d you hear that from?”
Jim pointed to Neill with his fork. “Captain Neill went through this country a time back.”
“That so?” The sheriff eyed Neill.
“I scouted for a rail line,” Neill shrugged. “But the pass is too narrow. Easier to go down south toward Susanville.”
“Sacramento Company?”
“That’s who it was for,” Neill answered. “I thought there might be a few places open near Canby.”
“Rough country,” the sheriff said. “Some fellows tried ranching over that way. I think they did more panning than ranching.”
“What happened to them?” David said.
“Blizzard killed a big part of their herd. Then they didn’t find any gold and talk started about the big strike in Bidwell’s. They decided to head for warmer country.”
“Too cold up here for cows?” Jim said.
“It gets cold, sure, but those two didn’t seem to know much about cattle. They didn’t have any hay put up when the snow came. I don’t even think they knew they had to go out and chop through the ice so they could drink. Cows were all pretty old when they brought them in. I think wolves got several.”
Jim scowled. How many of his own cattle had shared a similar fate?
“So there’s no ranching here at all?” Colton asked.
“Couple outfits south of town. They’re pressed up tight against the mountains. Run their cattle in the high meadows in summertime, then winter them down on the flats. Seems to be working for them. But there’s not much market for beef around here. You’ve got to drive a critter down into Nevada or Sacramento to make it pay.”
“We wouldn’t expect to sell any for a few years,” David said.
They rose to go, and the sheriff stopped them. “You know, if you’re interested, you might try a few miles north of Canby. There, or up north along the Warners. Those other outfits are south of the high pass, but there’s water to the north, too, right up to the Oregon border. Lots of timber, a few meadows. Big lake, too. Shallow, though.”
“Why didn’t any of these others settle up there?” Jim said.
The sheriff shrugged. “There’s nothing up there, and it’s a lot farther to drive cattle to market. But the grazing seems like it might be better.”
“Thanks,” Jim said.
“I know where he’s talking about,” Neill said when they’d left. “It’s wild country, really wild, but it would make a good ranch.”
“Let’s go see it,” Jim said. “That’s what we came for.”
Chapter 25
The sun was just setting when Jim called them to a halt beside the Pit River. The winding river had carved out a channel in the land, cutting a notch almost ten feet down from the surrounding landscape. There were trees and brush scattered about the banks, pine, juniper, willow, a few stunted aspen, but the landscape was open and grassy except for clumps of sage.
“We’ll camp here,” he said, and pointed to a flat area up above the water.
While David and the others set up the camp, Jim walked some distance off to take in the view.
To the east, the Warner mountains rose like a castle’s battlements, high and strong. Bits of snow clung to a few peaks, but most were covered in a thick blanket of trees. These mountains weren’t so tall as the great Sierras, though they had a lonely feel to them that Jim appreciated.
Farther east, over the mountains, lay Cedarville, Fort Bidwell, and Lake City, strung along in a chain against the mountain’s base. Beyond that was the desert, empty and foreboding.
From where they were, Alturas lay ten miles to the south.
North, there was little by way of settlements until beyond the Oregon border. According to Neill, there was a large lake up there and another small town called Lakeview. But between Alturas and Lakeview, there had been neither ranches nor settlements.
The sun faded, and the sky turned a pinpricked blue. A wolf howled in the distance and Jim wondered how his own wolf was doing. He would not have called it a pet by any means, but they’d grown to have a common understanding of sorts.
“It’s a grand place,” Neill said as he approached.
“You called it wild,” Jim said. “And you were surely right.”
“Might be hard on womenfolk.”
“Yes,” Jim said and frowned. “We’ll be a long ways off from anyone else. But if you marry that girl and settle here along with us, it won’t be so bad.”
Neill grinned. “Married? What gave you the impression I was the marrying type?” Then he scowled. “Not that she’d have me.”
“I see the way you look at her and I see the way she looks at you.”
“Jim, I…well, I’m not exactly a catch. Sure, I’ve cleaned up some. No booze and all, but I’ve got nothing to show for—”
“You have a share of the richest gold mine in California,” Jim said. “But I’m not sure she’d care about that one way or the other.”
Neill took off his hat, running his hands over the brim, then examining the crown. “Whatever I am, wealthy or not, Delphi deserves so much better.”
“I don’t think she sees it that way.”
