Fiction:
Clay Walker was a decent man, dependable and without pretention. He was born and raised in hard times crossing the prairie as a youngster with his parents in the late 1880's. They made it to Montana and settled on the edge of the plains in Billings where he grew up. At the age of eighteen, toughened by lean years and hard work, he left home for Missoula.
"Want to work the timber," he said. "I like trees, Ma. I want to go work the timber." She was a woman of fiber and told him he'd be alright. "You'll go far, Clay. You just look up, you here me? You trust God and he'll bless you."
Clay worked the timber out of the little town of Border near Missoula where he learned how to dance on logs. But the money wasn't good there and the men were a bit raw for Clay's liking so he moved on to Thompson Falls where he became a River Pig, one of a rare set of men who rode cut logs to mills down river. River Pigs kept the logs moving, pried the jambs loose or blew them apart if they couldn't pry them. It was a dangerous game; but Clay figured it was "no worse than 'tother."
In the spring of 1907, he and four others worked their way down to Sandpoint on logs and boat through the rapids of Cabinet Gorge into the windy waters of Pend d'Oreille Lake where they boomed the logs to wait for a tug. A few days later they brought them to bay at the Humbird Mill. Hanging around there for a few months he was promoted to Bay Captain. by Mr. John Humbird, owner of one of the most prosperous mills "west side of Minnesota." It was his first job of recognition and importance and he accepted with sincerity.
Humbird said Clay had "leadership quality," which he thought meant he'd be good at leading men in war. So he took his job with serious intent and managed the men beneath him with gentle, but firm command. He'd seen a general of the U.S. Calvary once and remembered how that man was. That's how Clay Walker managed the rough and strong men in his charge: just as his mother had told him was the way to oversee men, "in simple truth and a straight forward manner."
Clay Walker wasn't a fighter, but he wasn't one to cower down either. He was a man of truth and the truth was that if a man in his charge was out to hurt someone that man was out of a job. He was quick in judgement and discerned with a sharp eye. The men who worked for him respected him for that very reason and those who stayed with him, found him loyal and true.
