Chapter 13: Seeing gold in the ground

After the nap and a snack, Tony, Willa, Willy, and puppy were out back finding out what Ben and Steven had found. There was a big hill between the house and back part of the property. Tony turned and said, “Look! What is that?”

“What do you see?” Willa asked.

“It looks like a great big snake under the dirt,” Tony said loud enough for Ben and Steven to hear.

They both yelled, “Snake!” They grabbed Willy with the puppy chasing behind and went to get John.

A few minutes later, “What are you seeing Tony?” John had told the kids to stay in the house and he had come out to investigate.

“There is a large pipe or round thing that comes up over there and goes across and then goes back down into the ground. It’s in that hill covered with dirt,” Tony shared.

“He’s been finding things like coins just below the ground level ever since the river thingy on Monday,” Willa said.

“Something’s about to happen, come closer.” John directed.

There was a little shaker, not very high on the Richter scale. John had grown up around Mt. St. Helens and experienced many little earthquakes as a young man. The last days in Seattle, the ground was shaking almost constantly. He reached out and hugged both kids to himself. Suddenly, the slope let loose and John saw about twenty feet of dirt coming at them. He formed a shield around them and waited. John’s shield, if it could be seen, would look like a big stand-up hot water tank and it was around them.

The dirt flowed around them and over them. John pushed up with all his might, “Push up.” John directed again. The kids helped. They ended up knee-deep in the dirt. John released his shield. As they looked around, they saw everyone coming out of the house.

They were broiling two sockeyes on the outside grill. They were expecting about thirty people over for dinner. Billy had gone back after he had picked up Tony and Willa to allow Big Henry the afternoon off. He was going to show up at 3:30 PM just in time for the salmon to be done for an early dinner.

The women were working on two big pots of fish chowder made from smoked salmon: king salmon in one and silver in the other. The dinner was going to be a tasting decision as to what went into the chowder to be canned.

John was caught looking at Tony’s snake. He’d seen a metal like that before. Every Wednesday three or four pounds showed up at the bank. From what he could make of it, it appeared to be 80 feet long. Most of it was still covered so it could go on beyond that.

What was visible was at the very top of the arch had to be almost eight feet in diameter formed in a very oddly shaped circle. John went into a trance, seeing himself sitting in his Christ Port. Is this enough gold to get the world working again?” “NO.” “Part of the world working?” “YES!”

Willa was going to talk with John and Tony stopped her, “He’s asking if there is enough gold there to get the world working again.”

“Gold?” Willa looked at Tony.

“Yeah, gold and now I realize I can see it, even if it is buried five or six feet deep. There is another mountain on the way to school, I think it has silver in it.”

“This is not going to be a normal life, is it?” Willa looked into Tony’s eyes. “You wanted me to be sure?” Willa asked.

“My mom and dad talked many times about birth control that did not work, thus seven kids. I would die for you, but better, I want a life with you.” Tony almost fell from the impact of his chosen mate as she wrapped him up in a big hug.

Jenny was watching John and the kids. He was up touching the metal or yellow rock or whatever it was. John looked down at her and nodded, then smiled.

Henry Frank came up to Jenny, “What’s he looking at?”

“Part of the solution.” Jenny smiled.

Chief John also joined them, “Part of the solution to what?”

Tony was helping Willa down. When she was safe, he answered the question, “Putting part of the world back to work.”

“How?” Samuel asked.

Tony asked his intuition and got “With 2,000 tons of gold.” Tony pointed to the pretty yellow rock that his papa was touching. He repeated what he had just heard.

The call went out for another dozen or more people to come to see. The four shovels from the tool shed were in use to dig out the pretty metal. The fish were joined by another that was in the fridge. More big pans of fish chowder were added to the stove. Maiden Nation took over the kitchen. Once upon a time, she had been the Assistant Manager of the cannery and for many years, ran the place.

Her knowledge worked well in feeding forty or fifty. Jenny and Margaret were there learning everything they possibly could from her. As people settled in, they had adopted many of the Seattle area children into their homes because they’d lost their parents. Kids were everywhere having a blast. They had picked up the excitement from the adults.

Herb had his gold testing unit up against the metal. He had taken dozens of readings and Patty was recording the information. Herb would draw a 2” circle with a sharpie and gave it a date and a number. Patty with Sally’s help was recording numbers and readings under the date. All the readings were all between 90% and 95%. The two girls had a good feel for what Herb was measuring.

With Ben and Steven’s help, Herb would put tape around the massive arch about every four feet. The calculated estimate would later show at least a ton per inch. What they didn’t see was another mass of gold buried under the west end. After the find had been melted down and refined, Tony’s 2,000 metric tons would prove to be closer to fact than all the calculations made.

John realized his nieces’ family was digging out the gold and making a nice working level with the dirt. He wondered why they were so excited. The answer placed a smile on his face. His nieces’ family knew what they were doing. John would find out later they’d been making gold and silver jewelry for over 30 years.

John would soon learn that it would be his niece and her family who would keep all the coin machines supplied. He predicted half a million in the next twelve months and over four million in the year following. John played with the numbers and realized he was creating another industry. Tony told him of the mountain with a big house-sized structure in it that he believed was silver. This was not the last of the finds of precious metals.

John thought of the need for a bigger vault. During this thought process, he looked around for Perry and Molly. They were standing about fifty feet away and Perry started moving towards John when he caught Perry’s eye.

“We need a much bigger vault.” Perry answered John’s look, “Like Fort Knox.”

Tony did some research. He was beginning to realize how big a job he was going to take on for the world. He sat at the men’s table. He shared his findings, “Gentlemen, we have enough gold and silver to support an economy of the Western States. If we compare our 2,024 tons of gold and 50 tons of silver to the nations of the world before the Earth Changes, we rank 6th. Dad, I suggest Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.”

“Tony, did you say 6th?” Johnny asked.

“Yeah!” Tony shared, nodding his head.

“Dad, I think Tony has the right of it. We need to consolidate the US in the next 5 to 10 years.” Johnny shared, “The Western States would be a good start.”

“What does everyone think?” John asked.

“We have not had anybody come in and ask for help concerning food or work in the last week. I have seen six “Help Wanted” signs during the last day. The Riverside community is also working at full capacity wanting more employees. I can name off a dozen communities that are seeing lots of work because of Omak. People come into town, we find them an employer, then a place to live temporarily if possible.” John Nation shared, “What’s the next step?”

“Well God, are we ready? Thank you for all that we have received. Guide us in all that we do!” John prayed, “I see people on horses coming from all directions.”

What is their destination?” Johnny asked.

“Omak!” John Taylor answered, “They are coming here! Wasn’t it, Kevin Costner that said, ‘Build it, they will come’?”

“Yes, ‘The Field of Dreams’” Billy shared. Everyone started talking about the movie.

Willa continued serving her man and just expanded those duties to the table he sat at. Jenny and Patty moved about the party making sure everyone had enough to eat, drink and had a good time.

Monday morning Tony, Willa, John, and Margaret Nation went with John to view the property where Tony believed there was a large metal deposit.

“It’s your property, John.” Margaret was looking at John’s property list.

“What’s the address, Margaret?” John asked.

“247 Cherry Ave. West,” Margaret shared.

“What are you thinking?” John Nation asked.

“I think we need to put up another “Help Wanted” sign.” John Taylor laughed, “Excuse me for a minute.” He then made a call to his niece, “It’s ours. Tony is seeing something as big as my house. His feelings are telling him it’s silver. Okay, we will see you in a bit.” John hung up and Willa was looking at Tony, “What’s he sensing?”

“He says hundreds of thousands of years ago, a big asteroid hit the earth and broke up into a dozen or more pieces and they’re all close.” Willa said, “He says this one is ten times the mass of the gold in the backyard.”

“Twenty thousand tons of silver.” John Taylor whistled in approval.

“Is this enough to get the North American continent going?” Margaret asked while looking at her husband.

“I get a yes on that, along with South America. We are going to be busy.” John Taylor shared.

John did not know how prophetic he was in his comment about being busy. At noon on Monday, Tony and Willa went back to fishing. That afternoon a train came into town. John knew of the railroad track. He assumed that it was a normal thing. A little later he saw three men coming towards him. Chester and Cecil, he knew. The third man he had not met yet. When they entered the bank, John looked over at April and she nodded and moved in the direction of the fridge and cold water.

“John, good to see you again.” Cecil Angstrom announced, “You know Chester and I would like you to meet Percy Hansen.” John shook hands all around and motioned them to the table as April brought four bottles of water.

“You all know anything about the train in town?” John looked at the three men.

“Yeah, Cecil and I have everything we own on it.” Percy shared, “My long-time neighbor, partner, and a good friend got shot and killed last week. My crew and I have been in three firefights since the Earth Changes. We used up the last of our ammunition on the train ride to get here.” Percy took a drink of water, “My wife and kids were scared to death to even go outside. I almost had to force them to get on the train.”

“So, you have...” John started to ask.

“A trainload full of cars.” Percy smiled, “And a whole lot of equipment to make more cars. I also picked up a tanker full of high-octane gasoline.” Percy saw the blank look on a few faces, “That’s almost 32,000 gallons.”

“Show him the vault John, he doesn’t believe me.” Cecil smiled.

“Come with me.” John got up and escorted the three men to the vault, “When you run out of Smart Cars, are you willing to call them Omak’s?”

“If my wife and kids are safe, then Omak sounds like a good name.” Percy laughed with the other three men. He then entered the back room of the big vault. He looked Cecil in the eye and nodded, “How much?”

“We have here 20 tons of gold and 50 tons of silver. We just discovered a vein of 2,000 tons of gold and a big rock with 20,000 tons of silver.” John shared.

As they made their way back to the table, “Omak is just a first step?” Cecil asked.

“Yes, somewhere down the road, our cars may be sold worldwide.” John shared as he sat down, “I believe there is an area just south of the railroad that may have a couple hundred acres of little-used land available.” John looked up as he saw two smiling faces coming into the bank, “John, Margaret, please join us.”

John stood when the chief and his wife came close, “Gentlemen, this is the chief of the people and Mayor of Omak and his wife. John and Margaret Nation. Friends, you know Chester, Cecil and this is Percy Hansen. We were just talking about needing hundreds of acres to build an automotive plant to build little cars, little trucks, and an economical van.”

“We also have some good news.” Margaret gushed, she looked to her husband.

“I gave a man three gold coins for a little black horse this morning.” John Nation shared.

“YES!” Chester knew of the history of a black horse.

John Taylor just sat and enjoyed the moment. It was almost like the announcement of a birth. “Gentlemen, as a small boy, our friend had a black horse come into his life, that years later, died saving John’s life. We’ve heard it has returned to be with John and his family once again.”

“I found him this morning; I’m almost expecting him to follow us into the bank.” The chief looked back at the door.

“First thing the little fellow did was check out all of John’s pockets.” Margaret laughed.

“That’s what Blacky would do. I always had a carrot or sugar cube or something in my pocket for him.” John Nation shared, “You said something about needing hundreds of acres to build an automotive plant?”

“Yeah, only this time we do it right and make the workers part-owners,” John Taylor stunned the table. If you end up with 1,000 employees and they each pay $250 a year for 10 years that would be $2,500,000. Pre-Earth Changes that would be 25 million dollars. There’s your working capital base to be able to ultimately take the first step in expanding this to cover the earth.

Percy had gone to school with Chester and Cecil. They looked at each other and smiled. The smiles turned to laughter and the three were having trouble composing themselves, “The biggest problem with the American automotive industry was the unions. The three of us used to sit around having a beer and talk about profit sharing and employee ownership. You have the right of it, Mr. Taylor.” Percy answered.

“You’re going to have to build it yourself. All of our people are learning how to build houses and put in sidewalks.” John shared.

Percy looked to Cecil, who was nodding. “We can do that. Between me and Cecil, we have forty men and their families with me. I hear you have a standard wage of $20 per day?”

“That’s correct, although right now with the good weather, we are paying eight silver coins for a 60-hour workweek. Not bad for a week.” John smiled, “We have free healthcare for everyone at the pharmacy across the street. As people become trained, we are seeing many of the older folks have their immortality gene turned on who are happy to become useful and work again either on a full or part-time basis.”

Percy thought for a second, “That’ll work. I have about a hundred pounds in gold and about five hundred pounds of silver to deposit into your bank.”

John nodded and smiled, “3% interest?”

“That seems like a fortune compared to what we used to get.” Percy laughed, “I inherited over five million several years ago. I tried to put it all into gold and silver. Everyone disagreed with me. At least I got what I did, everything else is gone.” Percy shared.

“Percy, what you have will be worth about $700,000. Add a zero and that would make it seven million pre-Earth Changes,” John calculated.