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Barbara. Often as Barbara sat looking over that greatbasin her heart cried out to know the secret it held.]
THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH
BY
HAROLD BELL WRIGHT
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
While this story is not in any way a history of this part of theColorado Desert now known as the Imperial Valley, nor a biography ofanyone connected with this splendid achievement, I must in honestyadmit that this work which in the past ten years has transformed avast, desolate waste into a beautiful land of homes, cities, and farms,has been my inspiration.
With much gratitude for their many helpful kindnesses, I acknowledge myindebtedness to H. T. Cory, F. C. Hermann, C. R. Rockwood, C. N. Perry,E. H. Gaines, Roy Kinkaid and the late George Sexsmith, engineers andsurveyors identified with this reclamation work; to W. K. Bowker,Sidney McHarg, C. E. Paris, and many other business friends andneighboring ranchers among our pioneers; and to William Mulholland,Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.
I am particularly indebted to C. K. Clarke, Assistant Manager and ChiefEngineer of the California Development Company, and to Allen Kelly,whose knowledge, insight and observations as a journalist and as astudent of Reclamation in the Far West have been invaluable to me.
To my friend, Mr. W. F. Holt, in appreciation of his life and of hiswork in the Imperial Valley, this story is inscribed. H. B. W.
Tecolote Rancho, April 25, 1911.
"Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall, Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants a tree, is more than all."
CONTENTS
II. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OFFERING
III. MISS BARBARA WORTH
IV. YOU'D BETTER MAKE IT NINETY
V. WHAT THE INDIAN TOLD THE SEER
VI. THE STANDARD OF THE WEST
VII. DON'T YOU LIKE MY DESERT, MR. HOLMES?
VIII. WHY WILLARD HOLMES STAYED
IX. THE MASTER PASSION--"GOOD BUSINESS"
X. BARBARA'S LOVE FOR THE SEER
XI. ABE LEE RESIGNS
XII. SIGNS OF CONFLICT
XIII. BARBARA'S CALL TO HER FRIENDS
XIV. MUCH CONFUSION AND HAPPY EXCITEMENT
XV. BARBARA COMES INTO HER OWN
XVI. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OPERATIONS
XVII. JAMES GREENFIELD SEEKS AN ADVANTAGE
XVIII. THE GAME PROGRESSES
XIX. GATHERED AT BARBARA'S COURT
XX. WHAT THE STAKES REVEALED
XXI. PABLO BRINGS NEWS TO BARBARA
XXII. GATHERING OF OMINOUS FORCES
XXIII. EXACTING ROYAL TRIBUTE
XXIV. JEFFERSON WORTH GOES FOR HELP
XXV. WILLARD HOLMES ON TRIAL
XXVI. HELD IN SUSPENSE
XXVII. ABE LEE'S RIDE TO SAVE JEFFERSON WORTH
XXIX. TELL BARBARA I'M ALL RIGHT
XXX. MANANA! MANANA! TO-MORROW! TO-MORROW!
XXXI. BARBARA'S WAITIN' BREAKFAST FOR YOU
XXXII. BARBARA MINISTERS TO THE WOUNDED
XXXIII. WILLARD HOLMES RECEIVES HIS ANSWER
XXXIV. BATTLING WITH THE RIVER
XXXV. NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE
XXXVI. OUT OF THE HOLLOW OF GOD'S HAND
XXXVII. BACK TO THE OLD SAN FELIPE TRAIL
XXXVIII. THE HERITAGE OF BARBARA WORTH