The next morning we had
breakfast with Grandpa. Just as we
were almost finished, I asked him, "So what are the plans for today? I
was
figuring on working on the two new wagons to get them ready to use for
my next
rounds of all the nearby towns. Staying in hotels and eating in
restaurants is
getting too expensive."
Grandpa became grim as he
spoke, "I thought I would work
with you most of this morning. Then this afternoon I'm going to ride
into Hill
City for a little talk with Miller – he’ll think twice about renting
out our
cabins after I’m finished with him. He maybe didn’t understand last
time, but
it will be crystal clear to him after today, that when I say ‘no’, it
means
‘HELL, NO!’!”
I had been thinking on my
own actions, and reaching into my
pocket, I drew out the cash I had collected from Miller. I handed it to
a
surprised Grandpa.
"Uncle Henry, I want you
to give Judge Mitchell this
money that I got from Miller. I think it would be best used if it was
put into
a fund for civic projects. If I kept it I would feel corrupt and
there's enough
of that going around already. I know Miller deserved what he got, but
somehow,
knowing the underhanded way he made the money makes me feel just as
underhanded
taking and keeping it.”
Grandpa accepted the money
hesitantly and asked, "I
suppose we could do that. Are you sure you don’t want to keep part of
it at
least, seeing as it was our cabins he was renting?"
Even just handing the
money to Grandpa had made me feel
‘cleaner’. I declared, "I'm sure! With the gold we found yesterday, and
our normal sources of income, between us we don't need this
money.
However, I am sure that there are, and will always be, things the town
needs
extra money for. This can be used to set up a fund to help the people
of the
town – like when someone gets hurt or sick and unable to work. These
funds
could help get them by until they’re on their feet again."
Grandpa looked thoughtful,
then
smiled as he warmed to the idea. His enthusiasm grew as he expanded on
the
idea. It was always a treat to see Grandpa do
that –
I, or someone else, would start with an idea or notion, then Grandpa
would
flesh it out into something even bigger and more worthwhile.
He did it with my original
idea to change this timeline. He
did it with my idea on how the Sioux could capitalize on being
landlords. He
did it with my idea of the gold, and now he was doing it with
my idea of
a – for lack of a better term – ‘Community Chest’.
"I think you're right. I
may just add a little of my own
to go with it, and I’m sure once word gets around, everyone else will,
too.”
Grandpa actually rubbed
his hands together in glee as he
contemplated being able to help his fellow citizens. “The more I think
about
it, Clay, the better I like your idea! We’ve always helped our
neighbors in
time of trouble, but this lets the whole community get involved, and
will keep
us prepared to deal with people’s emergencies without the delay of
waiting
while we pass the hat. We can help our friends without straining
anyone’s
pocket, especially if it’s at a time when the whole community is
stressed.
We’ll be able help more than one family or person at a time, too!
People can
and will still help the old way, like they always have, but this will
give us a
head start."
Like I said, give Grandpa
an idea or an outline, and he’d run
with it. He’d give it form and substance as he made it bigger, better,
smoother. Then he’d turn to the person with the original vague notion,
and
give them all the credit for a complete concept that he
did
all the actual brain and often the leg work for! I might have brought
my 21st
Century idealism and my romantic notions of what I’d like to see here
in the 19th
Century back with me, but he – Great Grandpa Henry Thomas – he
made them
real and, more importantly, workable!
Grandpa and I talked a bit
more about what we would be doing
that day. The conversation gradually wound down into plain ol’
small talk as we finished our breakfast and morning coffees. When we
were done,
we headed out to the new wagons with my notes and sketches from the
other day
to decide what part of the job to get started on first.
All the boys were already
outside waiting for us. They wanted
to help. We didn’t want to hurt their feelings or wreck their genuine
enthusiasm to help, but at this point, we didn’t need four rambunctious
youngsters under foot, either. We solved that dilemma temporarily by
telling
them that the best way for them to help right now was for them to do
their
chores. We would work out more for them to do when they were done that.
They were a little
disappointed at first, but with the
assurance that we would have lots for them to do later,
they ran off to get started on their regular morning chores. As the
boys ran
off to do our bidding, Grandpa and I entered the shed where we had
hidden my
truck. It was time to decide which parts we could use to make the new
wagons
better.
I told Grandpa about my
ideas of possibly using the windows
and skylights, tarred around the edges to seal them. Then I showed him
some of
the other features, in particular the electric lights. I told him I
would like
to be able to use them in the vans, especially the medical one because
of the
better quality light. He grasped that concept immediately, and was
especially
impressed with the brightness of the headlights. Grandpa instinctively
understood the importance of good lighting and visibility for a doctor,
especially when treating injuries.
When he asked how they
worked, I explained how they ran off
the two batteries. However, I also explained there was a major problem
in that
the batteries would eventually go dead because we had no way to
recharge them.
"How do you charge them
now?" Grandpa enquired.
I raised the hood of the
truck and showed him the alternator.
Then I explained how it worked with show-and-tell.
“When the engine’s
running, it spins the alternator – this
machine right here – through these belts. They connect this pulley here
on the
alternator to the big one down there on the crankshaft. Turning that
alternator
produces the electricity that charges the batteries.”
Grandpa seemed to think
for a minute then he did it again –
took my half-baked idea and turned it into something real. "Why can't
we
use the windmill crank to turn a large pulley wheel to spin that
alternator to
recharge the batteries? That wouldn't be too hard, I don’t think. These
batteries need to charge all the time or just when they're getting low?"
I was beginning to wonder
what was wrong with me – I was a
fair hand as a jackleg mechanic, but it seemed I couldn’t quite think
out of
the box like Grandpa. Hell, I’d always done my own vehicle repairs, and
could
rewire a vehicle quite handily, but for some reason, I hadn’t made the
intuitive leap he just did to utilize the alternator any other way than
where
it sat. Now, with his latest stunner still rattling around in my head I
remembered all the home-grown wind generators I had read about that did
just
exactly what he was describing.
Why couldn’t I think of
it? After all, I thought of electric
lights using the batteries – why then couldn’t I follow the next
logical step
to power the alternator using sources of mechanical energy available to
me now?
I gave myself a mental kick and decided that with everything else going
on, I probably just had too much on my mind
to think of
everything. Glad that at least someone had made the connection, I
replied to
Grandpa’s query enthusiastically.
"That's a great idea,
Uncle Henry! No, the batteries
don't have to charge all the time. Normally, when the engine is
running,
there’s a little gizmo called a ‘regulator’ that keeps them charged
just right
without letting them overcharge and wear out. Properly maintained
batteries
should last for many years.
“Without any load on them,
the batteries will hold a charge
for quite some time. A little of their charge leaks out over time and
they have
to be recharged, but in normal use, they should last almost
indefinitely except
they will run down the more they’re used.
“We can mount one battery
in each wagon with a couple lights
and a switch to turn them on an off. By putting a battery in each wagon
we will
have light to use quickly if we need it. We'll still use the kerosene
lamps
normally, but the electric lights will be handy if we need light
quickly or for
just a few minutes where lighting the oil lamp would be just too much
bother.
“The electric lights will
be really useful when we need extra
light for a patient. We’ll have to be careful, though, because those
headlights
use a lot more electricity and will run their battery down much sooner.
Mind
you, in an emergency, we can always switch batteries if one gets down."
Grandpa indicated he
understood. Now he just needed me to
point him in the direction I wanted to go right now.
"OK! So where do we start?"
"Let's start by taking the
cabinets out of the camper.
Then we’ll remove the windows from both the truck and camper. Before we
do
though, let’s remove the camper from the back of the truck. That will
make them
both a lot easier to work on.” I decided.
“That big thing looks too
heavy for us to lift. How are we
going to get it off the back of your truck without busting it and us?”
Grandpa
wanted to know.
“First, we undo these
turnbuckles… yeah, like that. Then we
swing down these leveling jacks and crank them up so the camper lifts
off the
truck… like so… Then all we have to do is pull the truck out from under
it.
When the truck is clear, we just crank the jacks down and lower the
camper onto
some blocks. Simple!” I explained with more show-and-tell.
Grandpa was his usual
quick study, and soon we had the truck
out from under the camper. Just as we finished setting the camper on
blocks,
Don and Ed showed up to see what we were doing. They wanted to know if
they
could help. When they saw the truck they stopped dead in their tracks,
their
mouths hanging open in surprise.
Don was the first to
recover. "What the hell is that
thing and where did you get it?" he gasped in wonder.
Ed recovered his wits
almost as soon as Don. "It looks
like some sort of strange wagon! Is it yours, Clay?" he observed.
I look at Grandpa, he
looked back at me and we seemed to
reach silent agreement. Then with a straight face, Grandpa wove a tale
that was
part fiction and part fact. It was a masterpiece of disinformation.
"Yup, Clay brought it from
back East. It’s one of those
newfangled inventions. He was bringing it home when the horses spooked
and took
off. In the runaway, he lost control and it rolled into a gorge. In the
wreck
it got halfway smashed to pieces. It’s too hard to fix it up so we’re
going to
use parts of it on the new wagons. Go on, check it out."
While Ed and Don looked
over the camper and the Power Wagon,
Grandpa took me off to the side. While I still had my head up my butt
wondering
how to cover it, Grandpa had already sized up the situation and come up
with a
game plan. Man! I wished I was as quick on my feet! Quietly, so as not
to draw
the men’s attention, he explained how we would handle this new
development.
"They’re family, Son. We
can’t keep everything a
secret from them. You knew sooner or later someone of them was going to
stumble
across your machine. How well can we hide something that big in a shed
that
everyone uses? So, we have to let them in on some of it. You know damn
well
they’re going to tell the rest of the family, and don’t you for a
minute think
you wives won’t be curious about all the fancy gadgets you want to put
in the
wagons!
“So, rather than tell the
whole truth, we only tell enough of
it to just spin it in such a way as to make it believable. We’re all
the time
hearing about the wonders from back East. I sometimes think it’s
somebody’s
imagination or right out of a penny dreadful. Whatever, for these boys,
to hear
you brought all this from back East is plausible, and that’s ALL we
need to
tell them – just enough to satisfy them.
“They're both good men –
they are my own sons after all – so
if we ask them to keep it a secret, they will. The women folk, both at
the main
house, and your own, will find out soon enough on
their own,
but we don’t have to broadcast it either.”
Ed and Don had satisfied
their curiosity for the moment and
came back over to us. Their faces showed their wonderment.
"Clay, these things are
amazing! Too
bad that they were damaged so badly." Don marveled.
"Yeah! That's a pretty amazing
wagon you
have there! Are you sure that the damage can’t be fixed?" Ed exclaimed.
Despite my original
thoughts of resurrecting the truck and
camper as a horse-drawn conveyance, I was glad now I hadn’t. I didn’t
need to
draw any more attention than I already had. From my uncles’ reaction, I
realized I had dodged that bullet and lucked out when Charlie sold me
those
gypsy caravans. Thus, it was in my own best interests to make sure Ed
and Don
believed they were wrecked beyond repair.
"Naw,
I'm sure it's too badly
damaged to use. However, I do think many of the things on the camper
and the
power wagon could be used on the new wagons to make them much better
for use.
“First thing we need to do
is to remove the cabinets,
counters, tables and benches from here.”
I showed them the camper
interior, pointing out the items I
named.
“I want to use most of
this stuff in the living-quarters
wagon. With them, it will be a lot easier to live comfortably in the
wagon and
cook our own meals. Right now we have to live in hotels when they are
available
and eat in restaurants. That’s becoming a major expense, especially
with the
gold rush causing prices to go up. I'm hoping that the wagons will help
us
remedy that." I explained.
"You're right about things
being expensive! Ever since
Custer discovered gold, all the prices around here have tripled several
times
over. Now you pay at least a dollar for a meal you could've got for a
nickel
before!" Grandpa opined.
Ed and Don nodded their
agreement.
"That's what I thought! I
can’t remember what it cost
for a meal before I left for school, but I was sure it was helluva
lot cheaper than now! Anyway, not only will it be cheaper to do it like
this,
it should make it a lot more convenient, too. We’ll have everything set
up just
the way we want it, ready to use, all the time.
“We can stock the doctor’s
wagon with supplies and have it on
hand, no matter what towns we come to. That way I won't have to worry
about
supplies being more available in one town than another. I’ll even be
able to
treat people out on the road or go to them, when they can’t come to me.
And,
like I said, we can set up the other wagon to be comfortable enough to
be a
home away from home. However, it's going to take a lot of work to get
things
done just the way we want them."
As I told them what I
wanted to do, I could see that Ed and
Don liked what they were hearing.
"Sounds like a helluva plan to
me! So where do you want us to start?" Don asked, his eyes gleaming
with
enthusiasm.
I went over to my toolbox
and got out my tools. As I assigned
them their tasks, I showed each of them what I wanted.
"Don, can you start
removing the windows? I don’t think
it’ll be all that hard – just be gentle and try not to break them. Ed,
will you
start removing the interior cabinets and counters, please? While you
fellers
are busy at those jobs, Uncle Henry and I will start on the power
wagon,
unbolting the parts we need from it."
Both men were glad to help
and like everyone else in the
family, were quick studies. Once I got them equipped with tools and
started on
their individual tasks, Grandpa and I started on the truck. I explained
to him
that I wanted to take the back window and the four side windows.
I wanted to try mounting
them on the roofs of the wagons to
let sunlight in during the daylight hours. Normally we would have had
to use
the kerosene lamps in both wagons even during the day and in the
medical van,
use the electric lights for examining patients.
With good light from
above, we would only have to rig up the
headlights in the medical wagon for emergencies or in low light. This
would
allow us to save the demand on our batteries whenever possible. As
there was
only the pair of them, we had to ensure they lasted as long as possible
between
chargings.
We all worked at our
various jobs for several hours until
around lunchtime, when the women showed up bearing food. Naturally,
when we
took a break to eat, we had to show them around and explain what we
were doing.
I was expecting my wives
to ask embarrassing questions about
the truck and camper, but they didn’t, even though they were obviously
awed by
the almost magical equipment I showed them. They just seemed to take it
all in
stride – almost as if they expected no less from me. It seemed all it
really
did was get them planning among themselves how they wanted everything
to be in
the wagon we would use as our living quarters.
In the camper I showed
them how the main bed was built. I
also showed them how the table would lay across the benches of the
booth and
how the cushions would then be laid on it to form another bed. They
thought
this was great, and started to tell me about a few of their ideas.
“Ok, My Loves, you have
some wonderful ideas, and we’ll try
to use as many of them as we can as we go along. However, first we need
to
finish dismantling the power wagon and the camper. When we get
everything we
want out of them, then we’ll start working on the wagons. That’s when
I’ll want
to hear your ideas. Now, let us get back to work. The sooner we’re done
here,
the sooner we’ll get at the wagons.”
After we ate, the girls
left us to our labors and Grandpa
headed into town to confront Miller and set up the community fund with
Judge
Mitchell. Ed, Don and I, and the boys finished out the day stripping
everything
useful from the truck and camper.
The next day, Grandpa and
I hunted in the morning with the
boys. I hadn’t seen Grandpa since he went to town yesterday. He didn’t
tell me
how his meetings had gone, but he did look mighty pleased with himself.
Ed and
Don looked after the ranch chores the boys would normally have done so
they
could go hunting with Grandpa and me. Then in the afternoon we all
worked on
the wagons while the women tended to the meat and tanned the hides.
When the
ladies needed a break, they would come
check on us and
give us the benefit of their wisdom.
And, that’s the way it
went for the rest of the week – hunt
in the morning and work on the wagons in the afternoon and evening,
just like
we had originally planned. By Friday, I was pretty happy with the
results of
our joint efforts. The wagons were done, we had built up our larder,
and the
boys were becoming proficient hunters and decent marksmen. And I was
content
that Standing Bear and I had completed our bonding – he was my
son now.
We had extended the front
decks of both wagons three feet and
installed the seats from the power wagon. We had to be careful when we
built
them not to extend too far or we would interfere with the team when
they were
hitched to the wagon. Our intent was to use the extension as a porch on
the
living wagon and a waiting room on the medical wagon. We also extended
the
existing roof overhang with a small canvas awning for shade and rain
protection.
In the medical van, the
rear side and the back windows made
excellent skylights, just as I had hoped. We also used two of the four
skylight/vents rescued from the camper to let in more light and improve
the
ventilation, although with the top half of both Dutch doors open, the
air flow
was already excellent. We rigged the cot we bought in Deadwood as an
examining/operating table, with the headlights from the truck suspended
over
it. I also mounted the dome and cargo lights above each door to provide
auxiliary or emergency lighting.
In the living wagon, we
mounted the kitchen counter with the
water tank under it and plumbed it so that the sink would drain into a
bucket
underneath the wagon. The built-in stove, oven, and icebox looked and
worked
just like they had in the camper they came out of. We also were able to
install
the camper table that converted to a bed, although slightly modified to
make
the table bigger so we could seat our whole family for a meal. This was
Bear’s
bed, and he was very pleased with it.
I also installed all the
interior lighting from the camper in
the living wagon. Fortunately I was able to salvage the entire wiring
harness
that went with it, which included area switches. I had to extend the
length of
a few wires because the wagon was longer than the camper, but I always
kept a
couple rolls of automotive wire and some electrical tape in my toolbox,
so it
was no hardship.
I used the two remaining
side windows and skylight/vents in
the living wagon to improve daylight lighting and ventilation. Like in
the med
van, with the top halves of the two Dutch doors open, there was plenty
of air
movement.
We installed all the
corner jacks from the camper onto the
living wagon. When the horses were unhitched, it became very easy to
level,
making choosing a campsite less critical. It was also very stable when
we were
inside, moving around. The benefit of this added stability became
particularly
apparent when we were in bed.
I had followed my original
plan and built a full king-size
bed across the back end. The ladies even sewed the foam mattresses into
a
single large cover so it resembled but was more comfortable than a
conventional
feather tick. Being able to sleep with my ladies without the wagon
being rocked
into rolling away was a major relief…
We replaced all the side
windows in both vans with the side
windows from the camper. Oddly enough, they were almost the same size,
so it
was a very easy conversion. The camper windows were a major improvement
over
the originals for a couple reasons – they were lexan
and therefore almost unbreakable (valuable because of rough roads) and
their
louver design allowed them to be cranked open. With the addition of the
vents
and the skylights on the roof, both wagons became very bright and airy.
In addition to the windows
in both vans, we also improved the
area around the original wood stoves. We cut large sections of sheet
aluminum
out of the camper walls which we mounted behind each stove. Each shield
reached
from the top of the brick firewall already in place to the roof. Each
was
fastened to the wall using large nuts as standoffs so air could move
behind the
metal shields. It was a simple and effective safety measure that also
incidentally
brightened the interiors because of their high gloss white baked finish.
To put the ribbon on our
project, the ladies took paint brush
in hand and painted both in the colors I had bought in Deadwood. Rose
even
contributed, revealing an artistic side, when she hand lettered the med
van
with my name.
That Friday afternoon as I
gazed upon the finished product, I
was filled with a sense of accomplishment and was proud of my family
for their
contributions to the project. The side of the medical van proudly
displayed
this lovely hand lettered logo:
Clay
Thomas, esq.
Visiting
Physician &
Deputy
U.S. Marshal
No
Appointment Required
I thought we were about as
ready to hit the road as we would
ever be. My camper was now pretty well stripped, just a bare skeleton,
with
nothing more to contribute to the project. I had moved my gun safe to
the
doctor's wagon so we could secure the medicine and any money that we
would need
while on the road.
Grandpa and I had secretly
divided a small portion of the
gold we found into small amounts so we wouldn’t raise people's
curiosity as to
where it came from when I used it as cash. It went into the safe too,
in a
small compartment we built especially for the purpose. Grandpa still
held the
rest of the gold, the larger share. Red Cloud would take it into the
assay
office like we planned and claim he and his braves found it over in the
Badlands. Hopefully when that story broke, it would draw the bulk of
the gold
seekers away on another mad rush for riches.
I spent the rest of the
day teaching my wives more about
driving the wagons and getting things ready to go to town the next day.
By dark
everyone was ready for a good rest. We knew that we would be leaving
early so
planned on an equally early night.
The plan was for Grandpa
and the rest of the family to ride
into Hill City with us, but they would be returning to the ranch like
always.
My family and I would start making a circuit of all the towns and camps
around
the area. We would be gone for most of the next week. I had left my
planned
schedule with Grandpa and Red Cloud. In case anything happened that
they needed
me for, they would know where to find me and would be able to send a
messenger
to get me.