There it was, that spontaneous, unrestrained laugh, and Jonah couldn't help but laugh with her. "I thought it would be rather fashionable, and certainly distinct!" He took another sip of the champagne, letting the bubbles tickle the inside of his mouth for a second, then asked, "If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?"
Of course, it could be argued that she could go anywhere if she chose...she had the money, and there wasn't anything to tie her here, besides the hospital project, but before that...
"I'd go to Paris," he mused, "or maybe Constantinople."
"Oh. Paris, yes. And Rome perhaps, oh I don't know, Jonah, I'd never really thought of leaving the country. Kalispell, even Montana, yes, I have thought of San Francisco, or New York, even St. Louis or New Orleans. But now? I couldn't think of leaving here now, I mean, even if somehow the hospital situation forced a relocation to Columbia Falls, I couldn't dream of leaving until it's complete." She went from laughing to an earnest woman determined to see her project through.
But then she had invested so much of herself in the dreaming and planning for it, leaving, or just the thought of it, was out of the question. But when it was done, then she could do whatever she wanted, go wherever she wanted. That was till a ways off.
"Of course you wouldn't leave," Jonah commented with a smile. The question had been rhetorical, an attempt to get her talking about something else, but of course, she was passionate and excited about the hospital project. Hopefully, it would be all she was imagining, and wouldn't be a let-down once there was no active project to do. But then, he imagined that Miss Leah Steelgrave would find another passion, if she didn't already have one waiting for its time.
"If things go as planned, Kalispell will rival some of those towns, at least as far as it can be, considering that we're quite remote." But maybe one day they'd have a proper opera house, a library, a school that was more than a small, single-room...
"It will grow, no doubt, because of the hospital. Given a choice, people will want to live close to a hospital." He chuckled and shrugged. "You'd think the town council would be drooling over the potential taxes."
"Oh lord!" She exclaimed, "I hadn't thought of the tax money that would be available and maybe that is the plan, although who builds the thing is not who'll be tax liable. Hmm, food for thought as I'm sure Robertson has thought of the tax revenue that would be possible, not that there's a lot of taxation in Kalispell.
"Land tax is almost non-existent. The big ranches don't pay anything that I'm aware of, and businesses, not all that much, some kind of sliding scale based on annual profits." She smiled. "You know, no matter how they will assess taxation on the hospital, it won't be a great deal, but to the town, it will be a boon!"
"There will still be new businesses to support the hospital, new residents." Grinning, Jonah shrugged. "Politicians will find all manner of ways to raise revenue, and they are quite creative in that."
The food arrived and he thanked the waitress, then smiled. "It smells good!" Better than most of his daily fare, but then, his 'daily fare' was no different from most people, and it made a treat like this all the better!
"Regardless, the more 'civilized' institutions we have in the territory, the better the chances at statehood, so projects like this can only be beneficial."
"Exactly what Governor Houser said when I was in Helena last winter working towards this. And you are correct, the hospital will bring in new businesses and new homes. It will bring people, doctors, nurses, dare I say a higher class of citizens without sounding uppity about it. But Jonah, it is true." she replied as she looked over her supper appreciatively the smells of the food wafting up to tantalize her senses.
"You know, they say we eat with our eyes first, I'm thinking the noses come in a close second." She explained, "This is such a treat. I cannot wait for tomorrow and the end of this bickering over progress, and who gets to make it. The town can't afford to build it, and it it's not the Steelgrave's or the Thornton's to do it, then all of the work withers on the vine and Kalispell get nothing. Maybe that's how the Orr's and the Robertson's want it." Then she smiled. "But, that's not going to happen this time."
"They have taken on a formidable opponent," Jonah observed, "and, because of your fair sex, I believe they have underestimated you, but that is their downfall."
So often, men tended to judge someone 'beneath' them, be it because of gender, race, social status, and think that they are incapable of doing anything well. And that was a huge advantage for Leah, and even better, she knew that and embraced it.
He took a bite of the steak and smiled. "For a back-water town, they surely know how to make a good steak!" At least the evening was well-worth it, the food was an amazing treat, and the company even moreso!
"I think there are good things ahead for Kalispell, so long as it is managed properly." Not that he was interested in managing anything!
Leah smiled at the idea of Kalispell being managed properly, not that with the right men was that not possible, but so far, at least in her estimation, the wrong people were at the helm, and heading for the rocks. "Perhaps, Jonah. perhaps. We'll have to wait and see. So far I'm not sure we'll get the right people in a position of authority to make good things possible for Kalispell, as much as I would like to see that happen. But things change, people change. All things are actually possible."
Yet to her all things meant good and bad, and even though the pendulum needed to swing in a different direction, she worried that it would be more of the same. "And yes, good things are on Kalispell's horizon, if only it could be let through. Perhaps that is in the future, even the immediate future, what with the railroad coming. That will be a great day for this town."
Railroad, civilization, prim ladies forming society...as much as Leah was excited for Kalispell to grow, eventually it would be too big for Jonah and he'd have to move on. Fortunately, that was a few years off, and maybe he'd feel differently by then...maybe circumstances will have changed by then.
"The railroad would certainly make getting equipment here more efficient," he commented, "as much as Miss Chappel is reliable, it takes much longer to have things shipped to Helena, then hauled in here. Some of the equipment is rather delicate, and bouncing over these roads doesn't do it any good!"
Not to mention, if he ever had to go anywhere, he'd much rather take a train than a stage!
"I'm surprised those heathens on the town council aren't opposing the train, unless they happen to own some coincidentally placed land."
The railroad would certainly make getting equipment here more efficient," he commented, "as much as Miss Chappel is reliable, it takes much longer to have things shipped to Helena, then hauled in here. Some of the equipment is rather delicate, and bouncing over these roads doesn't do it any good!"
Not to mention, if he ever had to go anywhere, he'd much rather take a train than a stage!
"Yes, that's true, and I'm afraid that for the foreseeable future that is how everything will arrive, jostled and bounced in the back of wagons. I'm afraid that the railroad is a ways off yet." Leah explained, suddenly realizing that it may be some time before the actual rails would be laid, but it would be coming through Kalispell in the near future, and the town had the right of ways, which she had mistakenly give to Judge Robertson
"I'm surprised those heathens on the town council aren't opposing the train, unless they happen to own some coincidentally placed land."
"I can imagine, Jonah, that they are frothing to get there hands on the prime locations, and then, perhaps not. A station will be constructed which I'm told will house a warehouse for goods coming and going aside from the ticket office and waiting room." She said. "I want the hospital a ways from it and the noise it will bring." It was clear to her that the arrival of the rails would expand the town.