"Yeah, they're out there alright. Probably not as many as you would think, like in the big cities, where we were certainly lucky to have avolided them. Especially in Virginia City, where there were any number of confidence men and women, pickpockets, and theives of every variety." he explained, but smiling at their good fortune,

"And yes, we need to be careful about what we support. The hospital will be a good one. Anything that will benefit the town will be worth looking at, that's for sure, but handouts? Those would require a much closer look, I would think. I don't mean to sound callous or stingy, that's not my way of living, but there are individuals that we should look out for. That's for sure."

"I'd be all for helping with an addition to the school house, or a firehouse with a fire engine, which we need because the town is growing, like it or not. Even help with expanding the church, or at least its repairs, things of that sort."

"With the new hospital, and talk of an orphanage, I think you have a good idea with a fire pump," Emeline commented.  "It doesn't necessarily have to b brand new..." she frowned.  "I don't know how you'd go about buying one new, much the less seeing if we could find a used one.  I suppose Mr. McVey could help us figure out how to put out ads?"

She had no idea how much a fire engine would cost, nor if they needed a hand pumper or one of the newer steam pumpers.  And they'd need a place to house it, and horses...

"Addy could help with horses," she suggested, "should we...I wonder if the Morgans would be large enough for that?"  She'd only heard of horse-drawn pumpers, but hadn't actually seen one, so she wasn't sure what all was needed to go along with it.  "It would be interesting to look into, anyway."

"Well now, that's true having the pumper new or used is what would be important. I think there was some talk that ol' Dutton Peabody was workin' on something to do with a pumper back a ways, but that would be important for the town, which is a tinderbox waitin' ion a match!" He began, "But yeah, Addy could help with the horses, and then building a fire house would be something needed for it."

That was all possible, and necessary in the event of a fire, of which he had heard of devastating small towns and cities alike. He would rather it didn't happen to Kalispell.

"I can talk with McVay when I'm in town and send a wire to Peabody an' see what he knows, or might have done already about a pumper."

"And maybe there's a building that could be converted, so we don't have to start from the ground up," Emeline suggested.  "There's the old brewery building, it's near the center of town, two stories...I imagine there would be a deal of remodeling, but at least the main frame is there, right?"

If it was feasible, it would save time and money, at least that was what she was thinking.  "And there aren't many empty lots in town, so even if we had to tear it down and start over."

She laughed and shook her head.  "Look at us, with so many irons in the fire, yet still we want more.  I like it!"

"The old brewery building! I hadn't even thought of it, but you're right, it just might be what the doctor ordered. Big enough to expand when necessary. Easily convertible to what we will need for the pumper, or pumpers as the town grows." Pike agreed. "I might stop in the bank and see what's what with it, and the price of course, though it's been empty for quite a while."

"I would have thought Franklin Fortner and his partner Priest would have snapped it up some time ago, but nope, they haven't." He continued, "The lack of lots, prime lots is a problem for something like a firehouse. So when I go in I'll ask about it. Makes perfect sense."

"Maybe we should consider buying it anyway," Emeline suggested, "if the price is reasonable.  I'm sure we could find a use for it, and if not, we can sell it again."

Real estate speculation, another iron in the fire!  But, why not?  It wouldn't take much of their time, at least initially, until they had a use for the building, and if a sudden need arose, well, they would have it!

"But maybe that's too much...I don't know, all these ideas sound so good, but we can't do it all...can we?"

The girl who always wanted to save the world now had the means...

"Buy it and see what happens? Best idea I've heard all day, and the best part? Your right. If we need it for anything, we have it, and if not, we can sell it." He agreed. And to his knowledge, that was how real estate worked.

Of course, then there was that second thought, which could throw a wrench in the works, and Em voiced it.

"But maybe that's too much...I don't know, all these ideas sound so good, but we can't do it all...can we?"

Barnabas chuckled as he often did before saying, "Yep! We surely can! Remember girl, we got over a quarter of a million dollars, with more coming in every month. What is it you'd like to do?"

With that kind of money, had they stayed in Virginia City, that might have had them somewhere close to the Silver Kings, James G. Fair, James C. Flood, John W. Mackay, and William S. O'Brien, in so far as personal was concerned. Not at their level of total wealth, but certainly as prominent citizens of the Comstock. The cost of living between Kalispell and Virginia City was like night and day.

"What would I like to do?"  Emeline smiled wistfully, gently rocking Wheeler.  "I'd like to be able to guarantee that all babies have a chance to grow up into amazing adults!"

Of course, there wasn't all the money in the world that could do that, but it was nice to believe.  "In lieu of that, let's go ahead and look into buying the building, and start looking into a proper fire department.  If we find it's too much, we'll just have to cut back somewhere, or hire someone to help us.  We're blessed to have the means, something I never thought would be in my grasp."

"Now there's a lofty ambition. But Love, I'm afraid that is nigh onto impossible. but I love your ambition. One thing we can do along those lines is support the hospital, and as far as this building is concerned, consider it ours. And you know, it wouldn't hurt to look around and see what else might be for sale." He replied seriously.

"Some land might be available in town or close to it as well, and that would certainly be worth looking into. I've got my eye on a thousand acres north of us too. Just need to claim it might need to dicker with the Indians, but the Kootenai are peaceful and I think I can work some sort of an agreement with them." He added. "Could get real busy this summer."

"I'll make sure to pay off the building the Lickskillet is in," Emeline suggested, "there's money in the account for that, I just haven't had a chance to get to it yet."  That building was still solely in her name, and there hadn't been any discussion about changing that, not that Emeline didn't consider it joint property.

"I can check with Clara, maybe see if there's any improvements she thinks would be good.  And I agree, there's no harm in buying up properties, but maybe not under our names?"  She wasn't sure why, there was no reason to hide what they were thinking about, "But aren't corporations how it's done?"

There was a big step!