Under the Desert Sky Read Online Free PDF Page B

He’s of riper years, but there’s no truth to the rumor that he, personally, welcomed Coronado to Arizona.”
    After polite laughter, Hancock stood up. “I’m going to speak to you as an old resident of the territory and as one of the longest residents of the valley. The question that has brought us together is of vital importance to everyone, be it man, woman, beast, or bird.
    â€œNow, to get directly to Mr. Fowler’s question, let me say that, yes, we do have a sufficient amount of water; it’s just a matter of controlling it. Our catchment basin is twenty-seven times greater than the area of land we want to irrigate. The catchment basin gets an average precipitation in rain and snow of fifteen inches per annum, and a runoff equal to one-fifth of that. That’s three inches per annum from the watershed. That, times twenty-seven, is eighty-one acre-inches of water for our land.”
    â€œWait a minute,” Fowler said. “Are you telling us that we’re going to get eighty-one inches of water per acre? That’s not possible. Why, with water like that, we could grow a jungle and have monkeys swinging through the trees.”
    The others laughed, including Captain Hancock.
    â€œWell, that’s what we’ll start with. We’ll lose half of that by evaporation and other sources, but that leaves us with about forty inches of water for our land. This is a good showing for us to make if we want to raise funds.”
    â€œRaising funds, yes, and that brings up the big question: How much is such a thing going to cost?” Fowler asked.
    â€œMy estimate is five million dollars.”
    â€œFive million dollars?” A. C. McQueen stood up. “We may as well go home now. We can’t come up with that kind of money.”
    â€œI agree with A.C.,” Norton said as he put on his hat.
    â€œDon’t go yet,” Prinsen said. “Christian, you’ve been listening to this talk. Do you have any ideas?”
    â€œLook, Prinsen, I respect you, but why would you think your houseguest would have any ideas that’d bring us any closer to raising five million dollars?” McQueen asked.
    â€œI daresay that everyone in this room has heard of Cecil Rhodes, have you not?” Prinsen asked. “Well, Christian’s worked for Rhodes for close to ten years, and he knows a thing or two about putting capital together. Wouldn’t you say that’s correct, Christian?”
    â€œI’ve done a fair amount of negotiating in my time, but I no longer work for Rhodes. However, I believe I could offer a suggestion.”
    â€œGo ahead and tell us what’s on your mind,” McQueen said.
    Christian stood and looked out at the faces that were fixed on him. For a moment his gaze lingered on Mrs. Sloan. He found her an uncommonly attractive woman.
    â€œWell, what is it?” someone asked, calling to Christian’s attention that perhaps his gaze had lingered too long on the face of a married woman.
    â€œAs I understand the situation, the land under the present canal contracts amounts to approximately 275,000 acres,” Christian began. “The people who own these lands are the ones who would most benefit from the construction of the reservoir; therefore it is from them that we must get the initial funds.”
    â€œLook, Mr. De Wet, it isn’t an abstract them you’re talking about; it’s us,” Fowler said. “And I think I can say without fear of contradiction that our aggregate worth doesn’t equal five million dollars.”
    â€œYou’ll have to borrow the money.”
    â€œWhy didn’t we think of that,” McQueen said sarcastically.
    â€œYou would need to show the lender that he has a reasonable expectation of profiting from the loan. I suggest you draw up a contract with the people who own the land to the effect that they or their successors will pay the company ten dollars an acre for the land