. Conservation. Forests and forestry. THE SETTLERS' BRIDGE A Profit of Nearly S20,000 Was Made on This Bridge, which Cost, Originally, about S500 And this is not all. ]\lost of these homesteaders located in the vicinity left their claims during the severe win- ters, and sought residence in the sur- rounding towns. But Cascade Bill re- mained on his claim all winter, for there was money in it. About once a month, he dictated a letter to nearly every settler, informing him or her, that a storm had damaged the bridge to such an extent that it would have to be repaired immediately. He explained th
. Conservation. Forests and forestry. THE SETTLERS' BRIDGE A Profit of Nearly S20,000 Was Made on This Bridge, which Cost, Originally, about S500 And this is not all. ]\lost of these homesteaders located in the vicinity left their claims during the severe win- ters, and sought residence in the sur- rounding towns. But Cascade Bill re- mained on his claim all winter, for there was money in it. About once a month, he dictated a letter to nearly every settler, informing him or her, that a storm had damaged the bridge to such an extent that it would have to be repaired immediately. He explained that each man or wom- an's share of the expense would be about $5. It is said that, in the fifteen years he practiced this scheme, he collected about $8,000 for repairs to a bridge, which people in Index told me never was damaged but twice in that time, and then was repaired in a half day at a cost of about $50. But Cascade Bill soon met his Waterloo, as murder came out. He came home fearfully intoxicated one night in December, kicked his faith- ful spouse out of doors, locked her in the woodshed, and threw in after her the bones his dog had not touched that night. The next morning he temporarily disappeared, and one of our rangers found the woman in a half- dead condition from cold and hunger, two days later, attracted by her pitiful 584 cries for help, as he passed near the claim to a ranger station close by. \\^e took the woman in charge, and after she had fully recovered, she told us one of the most heart-rending sto- ries of abuse that I have ever listened to. A complete separation and divorce followed, and on the condition that she would testify against her husband in land matters, I agreed not to ])ush the poison case against her. The shadow of prison walls hover grimly over the wasted form of Cas- cafle Bill to-day, and his dreams can only be of the ill-gotten gold he took from the ignorant poor who trusted and listened to him. The guards say that he turns restlessly in h
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