ntacles
into southwestern Washington, and, with the exception of those regions
where good harbors had partially solved the problem of transportation,
timber in Washington was very cheap. Consequently, since Hector McKaye
was one of those hardy men who never hesitate to take that which no
man denies them, he reached forth and acquired timber.

A strip of land a quarter of a mile wide and fronting the beach was
barren of commercial timber. As grazing-land, Hector McKaye was
enabled to file on a full section of this, and, with its acquisition,
he owned the key to the outlet. While "proving up" his claim, he
operated a general store for trading with the Indians and trappers,
and at this he prospered. From time to time he purchased timber-claims
from the trappers as fast as they "proved up," paying for these
stumpage-prices varying from twenty-five to fifty cents per thousand.

On his frequent trips to the outer world, McKaye extolled the
opportunities for acquiring good timber-claims down on the Skookum; he
advertised them in letters and in discreet interviews with the editors
of little newspapers in the sawmill towns on Puget Sound and Grays
Harhor; he let it be known that an honest fellow could secure credit
for a winter's provisions from him, and pay for it with pelts in the
spring.

The influx of homesteaders increased--single men, for the most part,
and poor--men who labored six months of the year elsewhere and lived
the remaining six months in rude log huts on their claims down on the
Skookum. And when the requirements of the homestead laws had been
complied with and a patent to their quarter-section obtained from the
Land Office in Washington, the homesteaders were ready to sell and
move on to other and greener pastures. So they sold to the only
possible purchaser, Hector McKaye, and departed, quite satisfied with
a profit which they flattered themselves had been the result of their
own prudence and foresight.

Thus, in the course of ten years, Hector McKaye' acquired ten thousand
acres of splendid Douglas fir and white cedar. But he had not been
successful in acquiring claims along the south bank of the Skookum.
For some mysterious reason, he soon found claims on the north bank
cheaper and easier to secure, albeit the timber showed no variance in
quantity or quality. Discreet investigations brought to light the fact
that he had a competitor--one Martin Darrow, who dwelt in St. Paul,
Minnesota. To St. Paul, ther