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Show there was no illusion about one thing: we had abundant clay, a broad belt of it winding down the low center of the valley for 75 miles. Mr. Lait, however, saw peculiar properties in the particular claybed that lay alongside Latimer sidetrack four miles west of Nada. But no one could dispute two facts. Lait had lots of clay where he could load and ship bricks by rail, if he could make bricks and sell them. Paralleling Latimer sidetrack, Lait constructed a long rambling shed of old railroad ties and used lumber. Soon he and a pair of helpers started molding bricks. They tried firing them. Some men predicted failure. Intermittent streams of many centuries had leached minerals out of the mountains and carried them down to all the clay flats of the desert. But if someone said the minerals-we lumped them together under the term "alkali"-might make the clay unsuitable for bricks or the finer products planned, Latimer people accused the doubters of jealousy. In any event, the venture collapsed. Did impurities spoil the clay? Did Lait know less about brick-making than he boasted? Or did he merely lack sufficient capital? He fired enough bricks to build a large house on his homestead before he ran out of money. Then he left for California to seek resources for further development of his project. Intended to advertise his brick, his house was by all odds the showiest dwelling at Latimer-outside. Inside, it was merely a shell meagerly furnished, The brick appeared to be of low quality. It seemed to erode almost as much as sun-baked adobes do. It was a dreary place for his wife and children to wait for him. He sent some monthly checks, then these and his letters ceased. The rumor floated back that he had |