its beginning; from the day when he wrote his first "boost" story; from
the hundred-dollar bill that Conward had placed in his hands. It was a
simple course to trace; so simple now that he was amazed that only
Conward and a few shrewd others had seen it at that time. It had begun
with the prosperity of incoming money; the money of a little group of
speculators and adventurers and the others who hung on their train.
They had filled the few hotels and office buildings. Presently some
one began to build a new hotel. Labour was scarce and dear;
carpenters, masons, bricklayers, plumbers, plasterers, labourers, had
to be brought in from the outside. There was no place for them to
sleep; there was no place for them to eat; there were insufficient
stores to supply their wants. More hotels and shops and stores and
houses had to be built, and to build them more carpenters and masons
and bricklayers and plumbers and plasterers and painters had to be
brought from the outside. The thing grew upon itself. It was like a
fire starting slowly in the still prairie grass, which by its own heat
creates a breeze that in turn gives birth to a gale that whips it forth
in uncontrollable fury. Houses went up, blocks of them, streets of
them, miles of them, but they could not keep pace with the demand, for
every builder of a house must have a roof to sleep under. And there
were streets to build; streets to grade and fill and pave; ditches to
dig and sidewalks to lay and wires to string. And more houses had to
be built for the men who paved streets and dug ditches and laid
sidewalks and strung wires. And more stores and more hotels and more
churches and more schools and more places of amusement were needed.
And the fire fed on its own fury and spread to lengths undreamed by
those who first set the match to the dry grass.

The process of speculation was as easily defined. The first buyers
were cautious; they looked over the vacant lots carefully; weighed
their advantages and disadvantages; the prospect of the city growing
this way or that. But scarcely had they bought when they sold again at
a profit, and were seized with a quick regret that they had not bought
more, or earlier. Soon the caution of the early transactions was
forgotten in the rush for more lots which, almost immediately, could be
re-sold at a profit. Judgment and discretion became handicaps in the
race; the successful man was he who threw all such qualities to the