Miracles and Nitroglycerin (Jarrod's Story)
Jarrod Barkley sat at his desk in the study. Nick and Heath were spending the night in the line shack. Victoria and Audra were in Sacramento. Silas had turned in for the night. While sitting alone, Jarrod couldn't help but think back a couple of years. How close he and his brothers had come to losing their lives to make a firebreak to stop a raging forest fire that was heading towards Stockton. Just a couple of days before, three men had been killed trying to do the same. As Jarrod sat at his desk, he retrieved a pad and pencil and began to write down his thoughts. unbeknownst to him, his brothers as well as his mother and sister, and Silas had also started to recount their thoughts and feelings of that fearful and dangerous time.
I was in my office when I heard the explosion. My whole body went momentarily numb for I knew what had happened. I just prayed that the men were alive, which turned out not to be the case. So, the thought had crossed my mind that it was up to my brothers and myself to take the nitroglycerin up the mountain. Before I had the opportunity to discuss the situation with my brothers, there was a knock at my door.
A young lady by the name of Gail Miller was at my door. She was the girlfriend of Clem Carter one of the
men that had been killed when the nitro exploded. She came to me wanting me to help her get some money that Clem had promised her. She felt that she was entitled to it even though they hadn't gotten married. Well, after talking to her at length, I came to the conclusion that she really didn't love Clem, you see Gail worked in the Saloon in Stockton, and he was just one of the cowboys that came in and, well, she stole Clem's heart. And she apparently figured that being with him he could give her money and a new and better life. So, in reality she didn't really love him, she just wanted his money, Now, I'm not saying she didn't
care for him. I just felt she wasn't in love with him. To make that long story short, I finally talked to her just before my brothers and I were going to go up the mountain. I convinced her that if she really wanted to make a go at life she just had to reach out and grab it. So, she decided to move to San Francisco to open a dress shop which I might add has really worked out well.
About the planned firebreak, I don't have to tell you I was nervous and a little scared, but my brothers and I knew what had to be done. We just hoped the Barkley luck would hold out. My mother and sister had no idea what we had planned to do at first, only Silas, our trusted houseman, and believe me when I tell you he didn't like the idea one bit. Especially when we asked him not to tell our mother and sister, but of course we knew the less they knew about what was going on the better.
So, we got the word as to when the nitro would be arriving by train. I went back to the office after we convinced Silas to go on back to the Ranch. I wanted to put some of our personal affairs in order just in case we were killed. Nick went to the home of the Marquis De LaCaise to check on when the train was to be in, and of course also to see his daughter. Nick was very sweet on her. And as fate would have it the visit with her and her father turned out to be a wrong relationship for all concerned. He also went to the fire station to borrow some of the horses because as Nick had pointed out when we were planning what to do and use, those horses are not fire shy. He came back to where we were to meet in front of the saloon. Heath went to see Sam Beckett. Mr. Beckett was an undertaker that had a special hearse. So, Heath suggested a hearse is what we could use to take the Nitro up the mountain.
Our plan was set into motion. By the way, I forgot to mention that our mother's birthday was just a few days away from the day we were going up on the mountain. We had bought her a painting that Nick had picked out and while Heath and I were not overly excited about it, Nick said he was sure she would love it.
So, we headed out, and by the time we were leaving the town was looking like a ghost town. The only person that I saw on our way out was Gail. She was standing in front of one of the shops in town and as she waved good-bye, I waved back, hoping for a happy ending for her as well as a safe return for us.
We'll back to the journey. After traveling up the mountain for a while, we came upon a gully. We knew full well that we would not be able to drive the hearse across it. So, we unloaded the nitro and that's when Nick found that one of the boxes had a leak in it. Carefully, he found the one bottle that was leaking and removed it. Then we came across more problems. The nitro had leaked onto the brake shoes of the hearse, so we knew that we had to remove the brakes. Believe me, that was a scary task in itself! One wrong move with removing them and Nick and I would
be blown apart. While Nick and I were doing this, Heath was carrying the nitro across. After we finally got the nitro across, then the horses, we started putting the nitro back in when we heard it.
An explosion. Yes, the one bottle of nitro that Nick had taken out of the box exploded. Then came the next scary part, how to get the wagon down the mountain. By this point we thought the Barkley luck had run its course, but we knew we still had a job to do. So, the next thing to try was to rough-lock the rear wheels, with Nick in front of the horses, Heath driving and me trying to keep the nitro from exploding, we headed downward with no breaks. Finally getting in the middle of the fire, we set the nitro in place. After Igniting them, we waited until the nitro did its job.
Everything seemed to go well, except Heath became trapped under one of the trees. We got him to safety and thanks to Bridget Wells being there, she got him back on her horse and got him out of danger. And at the little birthday party for our mother
Heath was the only one that brought a girl to the house. Telling Mother and Audra about Gail I jokingly told mother and Audra that I so reformed the lady that she moved to San Francisco and opened a dress shop, and I then added, I guess you could say I talked my case right out of court.
Well, that is all I know to write about the experience except to say that I have heard lots of people talk about how they don't believe in miracles, but I, for one, really do. It is a miracle that the three of us got out of there alive and well.