settlers in the days after the grasshopper raid he drew all
the trade west of Big Wolf to this new town, cutting deep into the
Wykerton business. Misfortunes hunt in couples when they do not gather in
larger companies. Not only did the Jacobs store decrease the income of the
Wykerton stores, but, following hard after, came the shifting of county
lines. Wolf county fell into three sections, to increase three other
counties. The least desirable ground lay in the north section, and the
town built up on a brewery and the hopes of being hit by a railroad
survey, and of holding the county seat, was left in this third part which,
like Caesar's third part of all Gaul, was most barbarous because least
often the refining influences of civilization found their way thither.

Then came the crushing calamity, the Prohibitory Law, which put Hans Wyker
out of business. And hand in hand with this disaster, when the railroad
came at last it drove its steel lines imperiously westward, ignoring
Wykerton, with the ugly little canyons of Big Wolf on the north, and the
site of Carey's Crossing beside the old blossom-bordered trail on the
south. Finding the new town of Careyville a strategic point, it headed
straight thither, built through it, marked it for a future division point,
and forged onward toward the sunset.

Dr. Carey had located an office on his claim when there were only four
other buildings on the Careyville townsite. Darley Champers opened a
branch office there about the same time, although he did not leave
Wykerton. But the downfall of Wyker and his interests cut deeper into the
interests of the Grass River settlement than anyone dreamed of at the
time. It sifted into Wyker's slow brain that the Jew, as he called Jacobs
with many profane decorations, had been shrewd as well as selfish when his
silent vote had given Wykerton the lead in the race for a county seat
location.

"Infernal scoundrel," Hans would cry with many gestures, "he figger it out
in his own little black het and neffer tell nobody, so. He know to hisself
dat Carey's Crossing's too fur sout, so--an' Big Wolf Creek too fur nort,
so." Hands wide apart, and eyes red with anger. "He know der survey go
between like it, so! And he figger it hit yust fer it hit Grass River,
nort fork. An' he make a townsite dere, yust where Doc Carey take oop.
Devil take him! An' he pull all my town's trade mit his fat pocketbook,
huh! I send Champers to puy all Grass River claims. Dey