Chapter 112 – Talking to Andy (long)
Wynn looked around the room.
"Now that that is settled." Wynn said. "Bill, Jacobs, and Dee I need the reports from this morning. I also want one from McGinty. I also want all the reports from yesterday including a statement from Beth. I also want statements from Ann Grady and Clara Stanton over at the cafe. Bill, have you talked to the settlers from Silverton?"
"McGinty was going to type up the notes." Bill said.
"I want that in my hand today." Wynn said. "Also the jail needs to get cleaned. I also want first hand accounts of what happened at Silverton and Rock Creek from as many of the people that were there as possible. I want those by Monday."
"Anything else?" Bill asked.
"Not at the moment." Wynn said.
"I will go find McGinty." Bill said. "We will get on those reports."
"I will write up mine." Abigail said. "Then I have paperwork and orders that need to be done for the cafe. I will be back and forth if you need anything."
"Very well." Wynn said. "We have plenty to keep us busy here. In case I forget, can someone come and get me before the stagecoach comes."
"I will make sure that you are there." Abigail said.
Bill got up and left. Abigail, Dee, Wynn and Jacobs all started working on the paperwork that they needed to do. No one spoke unless there was a question that needed to be answered. As soon as Jacobs had the examples for the paperwork ready, he gave them to Dee to type. He then wrote out his report from what had happened that morning. About that time, Abigail headed out. Dee went into the back room and was typing when there was a knock at the door. Jacobs got up and answered it.
"I have reports." McGinty said.
Jacobs stepped back and let McGinty into the office.
"Here are the reports from the settlers." McGinty said. "I have also sent the description to a few of my contacts. All I said was looking to identify for information. I haven't heard anything back. Also here is my report of what happened this morning."
"What else do you have there?" Wynn asked.
"Here is a list of people still in the tents." McGinty said. "I have also included which women are looking for work. I took all the Mountie horses out for a quick ride this morning. I am having the smitty look at the shoes of yours, Sir and Jacobs. I have also talked to Jed and Kevin at the livery. Both know that I will deal with the Mountie horses unless otherwise noted. I know that Jed was looking for more help with the livery. A few of the men that are working here, have expressed an interest in staying. I have directed them to speak with Lee Coulter and/or the railroad at this time. One man who came with the last load of wagons asked about one of the cabins. He has already talked to Lee and it sounds like he might be hired on. The man would like to stay in this town if possible, something about a nice quiet place to work without the hassles of the city. I told him that he needed to speak with Mayor Stanton about the cabin."
"Good work, McGinty." Wynn said. "Bill doing paperwork?"
"Slowly, but surely." McGinty said. "I have already stripped the beds and taken the linens to Mrs Miller to get washed."
"Do me a favor." Wynn said. "I want you to walk through the town and make note of any empty buildings. Where they are, any signs or indication of what they had been used for. Please also make a note of empty lots in town that could be built upon. I also want to know if the buildings have apartments above them. If they do, are they being rented and by who? If not, why? Who owns the buildings and empty lots. Whatever you do, do not bother Abigail with this. Also please be discreet about this. So in other words, don't ask Florence Blakely or Molly Sullivan. I also need to speak to Mr Yeager before he leaves on the stage this afternoon."
"I will go find him and then I will do as you have asked." McGinty said. "Anything else."
"Not at the moment." Wynn said. "There may be more later."
"Yes, Sir." McGinty said.
Without saying anything else, McGinty left to do as he had been asked.
"What are you thinking about with the buildings?" Jacobs asked.
"I am wondering why they are empty and if Pacific Northwest had anything to do with it." Wynn said. "Before I start speaking to townspeople, I wanted to try and get an idea. I am also thinking about growth. With Lee expanding the sawmill and the mine reopening, I have a feeling there might be some new businesses that come in. I would like to see what space is available and what used to be there as well as what would be useful to this town. I have many contacts and I know people that are more than willing to invest in a growing town.
I was also thinking of an office for the Mounties. With both Jack and Bill, and maybe someone in the future. Well, I know that we would need more room. I was thinking since Bill is staying in the back room, he could use that office and the Mounties use the other. Both would use the jail cells. Granted, I wouldn't mind adding one or two more. It would come in handy at times. On top of that, I had a hard time identifying the buildings that we are using the apartments in. Thank God for Dee and all the leg work that he did for that. I don't think that we would have gotten as far as we did without him. That boy can find information or get it out of people like no one that I know."
"Good thinking, Sir." Jacobs said.
"I am also still trying to fill in the maps of who owns what." Wynn said. "We might even find that we have additional apartments to use or that could be made to use. I know that I could ask Abigail, but she is too busy."
"Maybe I could talk to some of the older residents later." Jacobs said.
"Any help will be welcome, see what McGinty comes up with." Wynn said. "I just don't want to put more on Abigail's plate with Becky coming home. I know that she is struggling to hand things off as it is, so the last thing I want to do is add more, when I can easily assign it to someone else. I am also thinking that learning more about the ownership of things will answer some questions. Granted it also might lead to more, but it is what it is."
"Understood." Jacobs said. "I think I am going to like working with McGinty."
"He is a good kid." Wynn said. "Him and Jack were in the same class. They finished in December 1907. Jack first went to Fort Garry and McGinty came to Hamilton until he was assigned to Benson Hills. For as well as Jack did at the academy, McGinty did just as well. They pushed each other to be better. Jack narrowly beat McGinty for top academic cadet. I think I told you before and you heard this morning that Jack and McGinty are best of friends. McGinty has been the one that covered for Jack when needed."
"Good to know." Jacobs said.
Both Wynn and Jacobs went back to their work. Dee came out a little while later with his typed report and the documents that were needed for the children. He picked up McGinty's reports and started looking through them. As he sat down, he pulled his sketchbook out his messenger bag and started drawing a sketch of the man that the settlers described. Jacobs looked up and wondered what he was doing, but figured that he would ask later. Just as Dee finished his sketch, there was another knock at the door. Dee was quickly on his feet and went to get it. He saw Andy and Ned standing there.
"Come in." Dee said.
"I have a few wires for you." Ned said.
Wynn looked over and Ned handed him three envelopes. Ned still had one in his hand.
"That one." Wynn asked.
"It is addressed to Constable Thornton." Ned said.
"I will take it." Wynn said. "I will deal with it if it is business otherwise I will give it to him later."
"Okay." Ned said. "I wasn't sure."
Ned handed over the envelope, then quickly left. Wynn looked at Andy.
"You wanted to speak to me." Andy said.
"Yes." Wynn said. "Dee, will you go get Abigail. She should be at the cafe."
Dee nodded and was out the door.
"We have things worked out with the children." Wynn said.
"I just need to talk to each of the parties." Jacobs said. "Then we will sign the paperwork and I will send it to the judge. Sheriff Avery and hopefully Pastor Frank will be in charge of the fund for the children. We will get that set up later today."
"In that case." Andy said.
Andy sat down and pulled out his checkbook. He wrote a check and handed it to Wynn. It was made out to Bill Avery, with the notation for the children's fund. It was for two thousand dollars.
"Please let me know if there is anything else that they need." Andy said.
"This is very generous." Wynn said. "Once the fund is set up, I am going to get it out to some of my contacts and maybe we can get some other donations."
"We had questions about one of the men." Jacobs said. "An Adolph St Germain and his daughter, Rose. I know that he hasn't been released back to work, but he also hasn't said anything about his daughter staying."
"Mr St Germain will be heading back with me as well." Andy said. "I have talked to Nurse Carter. She is okay releasing him as long as he sees a doctor where he is going. She is sending a letter along with him. She also let him know that she will be following up with him."
"Where is he going?" Wynn asked.
"Because of his daughter." Andy said. "He feels it is best that he takes her back to his family in Saskatoon. I told him I would provide him and his daughter a train ticket back."
"His daughter is the one that doesn't talk." Wynn said.
"Yes." Andy said. "I talked to him and he said it has been getting worse over the last few months and now with her losing her mother, the child has completely withdrawn. He feels that being with her and his family is what is needed."
"Good for him." Jacobs said. "At least he is willing to try and make things as well as possible for the little girl."
"He was a good worker and I will miss him." Andy said. "I told him if he changes his mind, he will have a place on one of my crews. I just hope that he is able to move forward."
"We all hope that." Wynn said. "That answers our questions about him. So we have potential families for all the other children."
"Good." Andy said.
Abigail and Dee walked back in. Both sat down at the table where everyone was working.
"You had a few questions for me." Abigail said.
"Yes." Andy said. "I had a couple questions. First, I noticed that the town didn't have a library."
"True." Abigail said. "We don't technically have a library."
"What do you mean?" Andy asked.
"Mrs Thornton." Dee said. "She has a small library in the store room of the schoolhouse. The books are mostly from her personal collection or ones that have been donated for the children."
"You need to understand a few things." Abigail said. "The men who ran this town before I became mayor didn't put a lot of stock in educating the children that lived here. All they worried about was if the boys and men could swing a pickaxe. After the mine disaster and the other teacher left, the widows and mothers felt that we needed to take control back, so we started our own school and got Mrs Thornton here. As I told you before, her salary is being paid for by the meager death benefits that we received. I have plans to have the town supplement and eventually take over her salary, but it is a work in progress. We are an independent school and even though we have to report to the department of education, we are not part of the county system that they are forming and I don't know that we will be. I am going to leave that up to Mrs Thornton and what she feels is best.
Much of the things that are in her classroom were bought with her own money. She comes from a well to do family back East. Even the building was donated by someone. Well, the money for the supplies to build it. The community then came together and built the schoolhouse. The men worked long and hard on it, so the children would have a proper place to learn. When Mrs Thornton first came here, she was teaching in the saloon as it was the only building big enough to hold the children that wasn't owned by Pacific at the time. The mothers of this town were grateful that she came – she has been a bright spot for the children and they love her. Children that couldn't read a year ago are almost caught up to their peers. That is due to Mrs Thornton and her getting the things that the children needed to learn."
"Okay." Andy said. "So a library is a must then. As I said before, I have no problem paying what is needed for the children of my employees to attend school at least through the end of the school year. Beyond that we will have to see what happens."
"What else did you have a question about?" Abigail asked.
"I was wondering about the non-compete clause in the contract." Andy said. "What exactly does that mean?"
Abigail looked at Wynn.
"It basically means." Wynn said. "You can't start a business and require your employees to use that business and undercut an existing business."
"It means you can't start a cafe and require your employees to eat there." Jacobs said, seeing the confusion on Andy's face. "It also means that if you start a cafe, you can't sell things at less just because you want to, taking a hit in the process."
"So what were you thinking?" Abigail asked.
"I was wondering about a boarding house." Andy said. "I know that there is the saloon hotel, but I also know that some of my people that come in don't like to stay in a saloon. I was just wondering if I could build it to give people another option."
"As long as you don't require your employees or guests to stay or eat there." Abigail said. "You will have to submit a proposal to the town council for both a library and a boarding house. You will also need to apply for the needed permits and pay the appropriate fees and taxes."
"What size of a boarding house?" Jacobs asked.
Andy looked at him and then around the room. He realized why he was asking.
"I don't know." Andy said. "I have five others plus two hotels. The smallest is a four bedroom and the largest is a nine bedroom. Both hotels have over forty rooms. What do you think?"
"There are twelve rooms at the saloon." Dee said.
"Maybe something along the lines of six." Jacobs said. "If you do it right, you can always add on. I have seen that in some of the other communities that I have traveled to that are about this size. Then you can add on if needed at a later date."
"I guess I will have paperwork for you when I get back then." Andy said. "My mother wouldn't be happy if I didn't put a library in the town. I have done it in almost every town that I have businesses in. I am working on getting the others, but I think a school in those communities are more important. I will talk to a few of my people and see what they think, but six is more than doable."
"As long as you understand that the town doesn't have the money to maintain a library at this time." Abigail said.
"Oh, I think that you misunderstood." Andy said. "My mother has a foundation for the libraries that I build. She has worked a deal with the government, that she will buy the building or build the building and then donate the building to the town as long as they agree to keep it a library for at least twenty years. There will be no taxes on that building as long as it is a library. We also start a fund for the upkeep of the library for those twenty years. She will also donate books to get the library going. In exchange, she gets a tax write off for each library she maintains."
"Okay." Abigail said. "Be sure that it is all spelled out in the proposal that you bring to the town council. I am sure that if you build it, it will get a lot of use."
"I am sure that you will also have one very happy school teacher." Dee said with a grin.
"Thank you." Andy said. "I understand better what you mean now about the non-compete. At this time, the first two things that I want to do here are the library and the boarding house. I mean there may be other things, like an office later, but at this time I just want to get going."
"Who will run the library?" Jacobs asked.
"In other small towns." Andy said. "I have set it up that it is open certain hours and people can check out books on the honor system. Other places, we have had people that volunteer to run it. In some of the bigger towns, we have hired someone to run it. But in those cases, the person is also available for tutoring and other things like that. The people that use the tutoring pay a small fee that goes toward the salary. There is also usually a room that people can rent out for meetings and such. I will write the proposal in a way to show both options – honor system/volunteer and a paid position and what would be expected of that.
I am going to talk to the Land Management Office in Buxton and look at what is available to purchase for the boarding house. I was thinking of putting the boarding house just outside of the town proper so there is room to expand. Please let me know if you think that there is a building that would work for the library or a lot that would be available to build on."
"Very well then." Abigail said. "I will think about where would be best for both. But checking with Buxton is also a great idea. Was there anything else at this time?"
"No." Andy said. "I am hoping to be back here in the first part of May. I am going to be heading to Union City and then depending on what happens, I may need to head to Crownsnest before I head back here."
"Remember what we talked about." Wynn said. "I will also see what I can do about posting a Mountie down there. I will have to look at the personnel available, I know that I can make some changes as I will have a new class of Mounties at the end of May."
"Thank you." Andy said. "I will be in touch, otherwise, you can try me at the Union City office. If I am not there, they will know how to get a hold of me."
"Safe travels." Abigail said. "We will see you when you get back."
"I look forward to getting things moving here." Andy said. "I have had the opportunity to speak to and meet a number of people. I am thinking that I am really going to love this community."
"As long as you don't plan on trying to take it over." Jacobs said.
"I won't." Andy said.
"My mother taught me never to cross a woman in power or the Mounties." Andy said. "She also said something about women who can shoot you, but I don't remember what that was about exactly. This town seems to have all that in spades."
Dee and Wynn just smiled. Abigail shook her head and Jacobs laughed.
"Good man." Jacobs said.
