Read Online Canyon Secret by Patrick Lee - Free Book Online
Authors: Patrick Lee
Tags: historical thriller
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I’ve read each of them several times. When I’m horny and just into a good quick read, I choose these trashy novels written by unknowns but a hell of good time regardless.”
He looked at her and back down to the worm in his left hand and the waiting hook in his right. “Well, well okay then. I’ll just fish and let you read.” This was the first time he ever heard a woman use the word horny. He thought how this last hour with her was the first time for a lot of things.
CHAPTER EIGHT
O n Monday morning, Mikhail and Tomas walked into the quonset hut and waited for the bus to take them up to the dam site. The predicted June rain started during the night. The mood in the hut matched the dreary weather outside. A large group of men sat on benches and read the June 19th Hungry Horse News. Tomas picked up a discarded copy of the local newspaper and started to read the weekly Dam progress page.
To facilitate the rapid clearing of the dense forest area, the clearing contractors used a method which involved using a two inch steel cable dragged by two heavy tractors to snap and uproot brush and small trees on the steep sides of the reservoir. A four and a half ton hollow steel ball, eight feet in diameter, weighed down the cable and supported it at the most effective height. The balls are constructed of one-inch boilerplate with a steel shaft in the center that connects to the heavy cable. The cable is kept about four feet off the ground. Contractors cleared dense forest with trees up to twelve inches in diameter as fast as a man could walk. Two hundred acres were cleared last Tuesday in four hours.
As the reservoir filled with water, contractors constructed a ferry made of four pontoon boats lashed together that hauled men and equipment across the South Fork River. Logging and clearing crews worked seven days per week and ten hours per day and earned as much as $1,000 per month.
Mikhail interrupted Tomas and handed him the bulletin regarding a worker who accidentally died late Sunday afternoon. The man was killed just fifteen minutes before quitting time while working with a logging and clearing crew in the reservoir area. He worked as a signalman and a choker setter. The crew worked in a swampy area near Graves creek on the west side of the reservoir when a tree fell on him crushing his shoulder and breaking his back and leg and several ribs, and puncturing a lung. He died about forty-five minutes later. Mikhail spoke quietly, “We’ll each be giving one days pay for the man’s family. I signed us both up. It’ll come out of your next check. Your brother-in-law will take the money over to the widow.”
“Oh Dad, I can’t imagine what it will be like for that family. I don’t know what we’d do if anything ever—”
“Just pay attention. Watch what you’re doin’ all the time.” The bus honked outside and the men paraded out the door. Their heads were down and no one spoke a word the entire ride up the road to the dam site. Mikhail took a brief glance at Lion Lake as the bus passed by. A brief thought of Hannah entered his mind but quickly disappeared as he thought about the young man killed yesterday in the logging accident. He also thought about Tomas’ comment about what the family would do if anything happened to him. He glanced at Tomas and treasured the closeness of him.
CHAPTER NINE
W.R. Scalf, General Superintendent of Contractors GSM reviewed the final draft of his memorandum for the craft department heads, shift foreman, and walking bosses the June 27, 1952 payroll information for the Hungry Horse Dam Project.
Payrolls reached their 1952 peaks with 1,834 jobs or about 150 more jobs than last year’s peak. Payrolls are now about $2,480,000 a month.
Included in the GSM employment total are 525 laborers, 345 carpenters, 100 steamfitters, 70 mechanics, 68 truck drivers, 60 electricians as well as other crafts and trades. Our employment pattern at Hungry Horse actually
He looked at her and back down to the worm in his left hand and the waiting hook in his right. “Well, well okay then. I’ll just fish and let you read.” This was the first time he ever heard a woman use the word horny. He thought how this last hour with her was the first time for a lot of things.
CHAPTER EIGHT
O n Monday morning, Mikhail and Tomas walked into the quonset hut and waited for the bus to take them up to the dam site. The predicted June rain started during the night. The mood in the hut matched the dreary weather outside. A large group of men sat on benches and read the June 19th Hungry Horse News. Tomas picked up a discarded copy of the local newspaper and started to read the weekly Dam progress page.
To facilitate the rapid clearing of the dense forest area, the clearing contractors used a method which involved using a two inch steel cable dragged by two heavy tractors to snap and uproot brush and small trees on the steep sides of the reservoir. A four and a half ton hollow steel ball, eight feet in diameter, weighed down the cable and supported it at the most effective height. The balls are constructed of one-inch boilerplate with a steel shaft in the center that connects to the heavy cable. The cable is kept about four feet off the ground. Contractors cleared dense forest with trees up to twelve inches in diameter as fast as a man could walk. Two hundred acres were cleared last Tuesday in four hours.
As the reservoir filled with water, contractors constructed a ferry made of four pontoon boats lashed together that hauled men and equipment across the South Fork River. Logging and clearing crews worked seven days per week and ten hours per day and earned as much as $1,000 per month.
Mikhail interrupted Tomas and handed him the bulletin regarding a worker who accidentally died late Sunday afternoon. The man was killed just fifteen minutes before quitting time while working with a logging and clearing crew in the reservoir area. He worked as a signalman and a choker setter. The crew worked in a swampy area near Graves creek on the west side of the reservoir when a tree fell on him crushing his shoulder and breaking his back and leg and several ribs, and puncturing a lung. He died about forty-five minutes later. Mikhail spoke quietly, “We’ll each be giving one days pay for the man’s family. I signed us both up. It’ll come out of your next check. Your brother-in-law will take the money over to the widow.”
“Oh Dad, I can’t imagine what it will be like for that family. I don’t know what we’d do if anything ever—”
“Just pay attention. Watch what you’re doin’ all the time.” The bus honked outside and the men paraded out the door. Their heads were down and no one spoke a word the entire ride up the road to the dam site. Mikhail took a brief glance at Lion Lake as the bus passed by. A brief thought of Hannah entered his mind but quickly disappeared as he thought about the young man killed yesterday in the logging accident. He also thought about Tomas’ comment about what the family would do if anything happened to him. He glanced at Tomas and treasured the closeness of him.
CHAPTER NINE
W.R. Scalf, General Superintendent of Contractors GSM reviewed the final draft of his memorandum for the craft department heads, shift foreman, and walking bosses the June 27, 1952 payroll information for the Hungry Horse Dam Project.
Payrolls reached their 1952 peaks with 1,834 jobs or about 150 more jobs than last year’s peak. Payrolls are now about $2,480,000 a month.
Included in the GSM employment total are 525 laborers, 345 carpenters, 100 steamfitters, 70 mechanics, 68 truck drivers, 60 electricians as well as other crafts and trades. Our employment pattern at Hungry Horse actually
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