Closing the Gap
August 16th - September 22nd 1876
Weather Varies fog, cloudy, rain (3 days), sun.

Leah had stood at the door watching Jonah work on the Marshal on that fateful day. Fateful because first of all, Speed Guyer had been shot, and nearly killed. Secondly, the wagons from ‘Aldridge Building and Construction’ rolled up the main street and stopped to ask for directions to where the hospital site was located. She rushed to greet them and direct them to the lot where work could finally begin on the hospital, Kalispell Regional Hospital, it would be called.

The excitement of those first few days carried over for Miss Steelgrave for on August Twentieth, 1876 the cornerstone of the foundation was laid, and it began to take shape with native rock and mortar, which would receive the initial two by twelve beams that would support the first floor. Her dream was becoming reality with each passing day. Few weather delays were experienced, and the men were busy from sunrise to sunset constructing the building according to the plans that had been drawn up almost a year earlier.

There was nothing heard from Elias Steelgrave, he had not come to town to see what was being built, and that was probably just as well, as he was probably the least-liked human being in the area, not counting his son.

Day by day that first floor came together. The work showed progress, yet it was slow as each wall was painstakingly erected and took its place as a part of what would be the finished product.

By the beginning of September doors and windows that had been ordered from Helena arrived, and were carefully installed where they would complete a wall that awaited them.

TBC

Eric Krieger was spending his lunch touring the town he was now a resident of.  

There were a surprising number of amenities for a town of this size, suggesting that the place was on its way up in the world.  There was a fine hotel, a good eatery, a saloon, and even a surprising recent construction:

There was a hospital.

A town like this would usually be expected to have a doctor, or at least a barber to handle various ailments.   But a Hospital was a scheme of a grander design.

It seemed plain to Eric that the hospital was designed to draw patients from the entire county.  It was even in the name: ‘Regional.’  Patients in the hospital would likely have families who stayed at the hotel or boarding house.  Ate at the restaurant.  Purchased odds and ends from the grocer or dry goods store.  

And with the train rails currently reaching only as far as Oakdale, a regional hospital would provide extra incentive for the service to extend to Kalispell.

It was an ingenious ploy.  An altruistic gesture that would multiply the prosperity of the town, even if it wasn’t operated for profit.

He wished he’d thought of it. 

Stepping inside the building, he decided to have a look around.

Carney Fuller, Aldridge Builders Forman saw the man and stopped. "Howdy. Fuller's the name, comp'ny Forman. Don't mind you lookin' around, jest be aware we're workin'. Gotta beat the winter. Won't be done, not even the first floor, but we got us a good start!" He was proud of his crew and what they were getting done. But then that was how they worked.

"Nice town this, havin' the hospital will surely be a big plus for here and the whole of the county. Least ways, that's how I see it." He added.

Eric extended a hand to the foreman.

“Eric Krieger.  Special Services.”  

He glanced about, “I’m sorry to intrude.  My curiosity got the better of me.  Interesting to see what this town is shaping up to, and what’s shaping up in this town.”  He smiled.

“I bet it will be a nice hospital once it’s all put together.”

Taking one last look around, he tipped his hat, “Well, I won’t keep you.  Have a good day, Sir.”

As he had meandered in, he now meandered out.   Time to get some food and bandages from the grocer and dry goods store.  Then, off to buy a horse.

There was one very important Special Service that had to be executed this evening, and it would be a doozy.

Carney Fuller nodded to the man, just one of many that popped in to look at what was going on, and it was easy to do as the front walls were not up as yet, and as much as it seemed that they had accomplished, there was far more to accomplish on this first phase. "And you as well!" He called after the man and then moved to where he could see up on what was to be the second floor. "Nickerson, get that cleat nailed down. Then drop the rope down for this lumber!"

Progress was just fast enough to not be as fast as Fuller would like. They need to get this first floor finished and buttoned up because October could well be unpredictable weather-wise, and an early snow on an open building was not something any of them wanted to deal with come the spring thaw.

If there was one thing that Leah was aware of, well aware of, she was no hand at the building of anything, so she maintained her distance from the construction site. Oh, she would go over close by several times a day to watch, to see how far along they were, and in that first month much had been accomplished, more than she had envisioned, but the men worked hard, and they were now working faster. But October was closing in, and she was afraid that for all that had been accomplished, it would not be ready for the first snow which could come at any time, or not at all. October could be that way.

She worried about these things, and for good reason, a freak snow could damage the work already done. There was never the 'oh, if only we could have started in the spring' talk, though it had been said once, it had not happened. Besides the fact that there were other problems, and for that, she had arranged a meeting with Christoph Alders, the man that owned and operated the lumber mill. Lumber for the spring construction of the second and final story would be needed. She had already discussed the needs of the building with Superintendent Darius Wellman, who would be at this meeting to arrange for more of the local lumber, which she was very happy that they were using, though certain things had been brought with Wellman and his crew to get them started. Trusses had been brought as there was a company manufacturing trusses for all manner of buildings and roof lines.

Leah was both happy and very concerned. Happy with the way the construction was going, and concerned about what October would bring weatherwise. That piece was out of her control, and that alone would have most women beyond nervous, not Leah, she accepted what could happen and wanted to make whatever plans they could to protect the investment.

Time was marching on.

  Darius Welman

 "And here's what I think, Miss Steelgrave, we get all that we can done, which might just be enough, and we came with specially coated tarpaulins, waterproofed they are, we can cover everything we've got done so far." Wellman smiled as he looked across the table at her."Now understand, that's not the finish work, just getting the walls up, maybe all the doors and windows hung, maybe."

"What is of some concern, is lumber. We can ship it in from Helena come spring, which is going to be quite expensive, now, this mill you have here if he can provide what we'll be needing for all of the second story, and whatever is left of the first, well then, you save yourself some money."

Leah looked quite pleased, "Mister Alders could do that I'm sure. In fact, I can send for him, that is if he is in town, and have him meet us here." If Christoph was willing he could make some money. The hospital was the only big construction job in town that she knew of, so she excused herself, went to the front desk where she wrote a note, then asked Walter Simpson to have one of the boys that were always hanging around, to deliver it.

She was feeling really good about the prospects going forward.

(Written before the actual meeting with Alders,)

Alders would do it, he would make himself  some good money