r visions Emerson was
already enjoying to the full the prosperity which accompanied the
inrush of settlers. Although the immigrants were not wealthy as the
term is now understood even in an agricultural community, most of
them had enough money to pay for their outfitting and place them on
their homesteads for operations. Accommodation in Emerson was at a
premium; hotel space was out of the question, and even the barest
rooms commanded mining-camp prices. Those commodities which the
settler must needs have had taken their cue from hotel prices, and
were quoted at figures that provoked much thoughtful head-scratching
on the part of the thrifty and somewhat close-fisted new arrivals
from the East.

Harris left his wife with a company of other women in the Government
immigration building while he set out to find, if possible, lodgings
where she might live until he was ready to take her to the homestead
country. He must first make a trip of exploration himself, and as
this might require several weeks his present consideration was to
place her in proper surroundings before he left. He soon found that
all the hotels were full, and had they not been full the prices
demanded were so exorbitant as to be beyond his reach; and even had
it been otherwise he would have asked her to share the hardships of
the exploration trip rather than leave her amid associations which
were all too apparent in the hotel section of the town. The parasites
and camp-followers of society, attracted by the easy money that might
be wrung in devious ways from the inflowing tide of farmers, were
already represented in force, and flaunted brazenly the seamy side of
the civilization which was advancing into the New West.

Turning to parts of the town which were less openly engaged in
business, legitimate, questionable, or beyond question, Harris
inquired at many doors for lodgings for himself and wife, or for his
wife alone. The response ranged from curt announcements that the
inmates "ain't takin' boarders" to sympathetic assurances that if it
were possible to find room for another it would be done, but the
house was already crowded to suffocation. Great lines of washing in
the back yards, and groups dirty children splashing in the spring
mud, bore testimony to the congestion. The March sun was beating down
with astonishing fierceness and the unside-walked streets were a
welter of slush. In two hours Harris, notwithstanding his stout frame
and his young e