Silver Creek - G.L. Snodgrass Page 0,70

through the forms. He held his breath until he found the one for the 166 quarter section on Silver Creek.”

“Damn,” he muttered under his breath as he looked down at the name registered as the owner of the property across from Tom Johnson’s.

Ben Tuthill.

Luke’s gut grumbled with confusion. Why? Why was a banker laying claim to worthless property in the middle of nowhere? And what did that have to do with the killing of Tom Johnson?

Then, the memory of that look of confusion and open denial when asked about anyone laying claim to this piece of property. Perhaps the more important question was why had the banker lied about it and what else had he lied about?

As Luke rode back to Reno his mind whirled with possibilities and many more questions than answers. None of it made sense. He was just passing the railroad camp when a new possibility occurred to him. Pulling his horse around, he rode into the camp. It only took a few questions before he found the man he wanted.

Big Tim Newton sat behind a large desk covered in stacks of papers. Enough to wallpaper a good-sized barn. The man looked up with a deep frown.

“Luke Parker, Sheriff out of Silver Creek,” Luke said as he held out his hand. “Was wondering if you could answer some questions. It’s about a murder.”

The man’s eyes grew big for a second then he waved his hand indicating Luke should sit.

Luke paused for a moment, wondering where to start and whether he was tracking rabbits down the wrong hole. “You’re the man to talk to about the railroad, I was told.”

Newton nodded. “I suppose I am.”

Luke took a deep breath. This man might have the answers he needed. Or it could be another dead end.

“I was told you lot were following the old Emigrant trail up the Humboldt. Is that right? Or could it be possible you might take another path? Maybe out across Silver Creek?”

The big man studied him for a long moment then shrugged his shoulders. “It ain’t been decided. Not yet. But yes, we were looking at cutting off at Peabody and heading away from the Humboldt. It would have knocked off a good fifty miles of track.”

Luke let out a long breath. “You said, were looking at?”

Newton scoffed. “It ain’t been decided. Not officially. But it won’t go that way. We’ll stay on the Humboldt.”

“How can you be sure?” he asked.

The big man smiled. “Because I’m the man who has to build it. Once the owners get my numbers, they’ll see that the cutoff doesn’t make sense. Not in either time nor money.” He got up from his desk and fished around in a pile of large maps until he found the one he wanted.

“See,” he said as he pointed out the Humboldt River. “It’s an easy grade. If you think about it. That was why the settlers used it. We’ll put in a few bridges, but no tunnels. More twist and turns, and this long bend. But like I said, nothing more than a two percent grade. It’s the steepness that kills railroads. The wheels can’t get traction.”

Luke studied the map for a moment. “The other course would go through here?” he asked. “If’n you were to go that way. And you’d be needing water along this track. Here maybe?” he asked as he laid his finger over where Tom Johnson’s property stood.

The large foreman nodded. “Our beasts don’t go anywhere without water. They become a huge hunk of iron without it. That and fuel of course.”

“The creek is the only water within a dozen miles. I imagine you’d have to put in a station. Water, fuel. And with a station comes a town?”

Again, Newton nodded as he frowned. Obviously, trying to understand what this was all about.

Luke paused for a long moment as he studied the map. “The papers were saying as how you lot get paid by the government giving you land along the tracks. What if someone already owns it?”

“It ain’t an issue. They just give us some from somewhere else. It’s alternating on either side of the track. So, they just double up somewhere to make up for the shortage. The railroad is hoping to sell it to settlers.”

Luke took a deep breath. “Just so I got this right. A man owning this land. He’d probably get wealthy.”

Newton laughed. “Owning a town? I don’t know how he couldn’t. And it ain’t like them mining towns. They shrivel up and blow