Once there was a cowboy named, Leland. He was a farmhand and ranchman in rural Montana.
During winter he would leave his family of four and travel down south to Carson City, Nevada. There he would work in paper mill and sawmill. Thanks to the newly established logging laws, which pretty much guaranteed unlimited access to the lower Sierra Nevada forestlands deep into Indian Country, the seasonal work was always plenty. Leland worked hard but resented the life he led.
One day, Leland went looking for a prospective mining area that his employer recently bought from the Indian Chief. After long negotiations, several boxes of faulty rifles and whiskies were exchanged for this lucrative land southeast of Carson City. The employer almost fell off his chair when the Indian Chief showed him how much land he had and how much he was willing to give away. The Chief told him that the land that he is giving away has absolutely no value to him and his tribe and that it is ‘poisoned’. The employer did not understand the Indian expression and negotiated further to acquire even more of the ‘poisoned’ land. Leland patiently watched the negotiations taking place way into the night. His employer respected Leland’s opinion, as he was calmer and more mature than the young kids who just wasted their hard earned money on prostitutes and alcohol. Finally, the two parties agreed and they smoked sacred pipe as they shook hands with each other. The Indian Chief looked at Leland and winked as he helped him carry the boxes of whiskey and rifles out.
“Well, I will be damned. Leland, today is our lucky day”, the employer, a rotund bug eyed middle-aged man, said. “We got our selves so much land that me and my great grand children will live happily ever after”.
“How do you know if that darn Indian didn’t sell you a damn piece of coal instead of gold? ”Leland asked.
“That’s where you come in! And hold that thought about gold because I got a big assignment for you! How would you like to move all your family and kin down here and be a caretaker of this land? I mean, you work for me, but you get to keep few hundred acres yourself. I only have one condition. You oughta find me some gold! Nuggets, dust, gold look-alike, I don’t care! Just get me some gold. And you get to keep any piece of land you want. Besides the one with gold in it, of course… Har, har, har, har…”
“I suppose I can do it. How much you gonna pay? Do I get to keep the horses? And what about help? I am gonna need me one more body to help out. Hell, I don’t even know where to start…”
“Don’t you worry. I got just the man for the job. Take my nephew, Clifton. He is good with horses and gold. He can get carried away with his tongue but he is a good kid. I oughta run these mills myself or I would go along with you two. And listen, don’t take any of these rifles, them ones over there are the Winchesters that I bought for you from a Britishman in Calgary. Take as many as you want, take two horses each. Don’t worry about your family. I will send them a cheque that will take care of ‘em boys and pretty wife of yours for a year.”
“Okay then.” Leland replied.
And so Leland was out in the country looking for gold with Clifton. Clifton was young and ran his mouth when he wasn’t running his horse. Clifton was a good tracker and often spotted deer and raccoon tracks more than he spotted gold. Leland traversed from North to South and from East to West. There were few creeks, hills, and sparse forest patches in the land. Most of the land though, was very dry and parched for miles and miles.
He spent two years charting the area and making note of major spots that can potentially have gold. He knew he was wasting his time but his family was being taken care of and he was not sniffing sawdust. And so, he got used to that life.
Three more years passed. Every time Leland asked his employer to reconsider the possibility of gold, he would balk at the idea and tell him to look harder. The employer always quoted latest news about gold being found in California and Nevada not too far from there. Leland stopped asking questions and kept looking for gold with Clifton.
One day, they ran into a local Indian tribe. The tribe was on the move. The guards who were assigned the duty to defend the weak, women and children spotted Leland with red shirt and Clifton with this ten gallon hat more than two miles away. They decided to attack the white men to send message to the rest of the white men who never seemed to stop multiplying. The Indians managed to damage the horses and lead an all out attack on them. In order to defend them, Leland put his hand in between only to have it pierced. The Indians took away most of their food and supplies. They dragged Clifton upside down and tied him to a tree.
When Leland finally came to his senses, he found his friend’s body charred and torn to pieces. The Indians had burned the body. Leland approached the black body and brought it down on the ground. He was about to bury the body and the eye slightly moved. Clifton waived at him and asked for water and fell unconscious. Leland sat there waiting. Just when he was finally about to give him water, he noticed that Clifton wore a gold tooth inside his lower left jaw. Surprised, angry, and dispassionate towards Clifton’s dying condition, Leland sat there looking at the tooth. Clifton opened his eyes and asked for more water. Leland felt cheated and hurt. He felt he had wasted last five years of his life away from family and home and gotten a very sour deal. He was left with nothing and Clifton having found the gold had packed most of the profits.
‘I don’t believe this’... Leland thought.
He got angry and walked away from the half conscious/charred body and climbed a small hill away from the one where Clifton laid half dead. He finally sat up and looked at Clifton with an immense sense of being duped and swindled.
Clifton asked for water again and this time he grasped his last breath; he died with his eyes transfixed on Leland’s eyes. Leland came back to the body. He thought for a moment and then put his hand in the Clifton’s mouth. The body was still warm. He used an old knife and a stone and started digging deeper into the mouth. He finally got the tooth out which he kept in his pocket.
Leland finally moved back to Montana sold the gold tooth and acquired large piece land. He started a farm and watermill. He built the watermill himself.
He spent rest of his years raising children and finally his grandchildren. Often he would sit next to the watermill in summer afternoons and would watch it in action while contemplating upon the last few moments/days he spent in Nevada. Pretty soon he forgot about the fateful day… and finally passed away on a warm summer afternoon next to the watermill while watching his grandchildren play.
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