Vance was deeply interested in Homer Winthrop’s appearance, and later found himself charmed with his new acquaintance more than he cared to admit, even to himself. On taking his leave, he promised to call again the next day. As Vance stepped into the reception room, he found it almost filled with miners and tradesmen who were waiting for an interview’ with Mr. Winthrop, and he rightly guessed that a profitable business was being done. In thinking over his interview with the town boomer of Waterville, Vance was compelled to admit that he was one of the most attractive individuals with whom he had ever come in contact. That afternoon he finished a letter to the Banner, but it contained no reference to Waterville. The result of his second interview was that he accepted an invitation to visit the new town, which was some two [52] hundred miles distant. Agreeable to this arrangement, they left Butte City early one morning, and that evening reached Waterville. Vance was not particularly attracted by the general appearance and “lay” of the new town site. It appeared crude and unfinished, and abounded with sage brush and sand. The waters of the rapids, however, in their mad rushing as they went foaming down the narrows like race horses, impressed him with a belief that nothing had been overdrawn in regard to this great natural power, which had been idling its time away for centuries. 9060 Homer stood by his side on the rocky bank, but said nothing. Presently Vance looked up and said: “What a wonderful power is going to waste in these rapids!” “It will soon be harnessed,” replied Winthrop, “and this vast power utilized in many manufacturing enterprises. I do not feel,” he continued, “that I am over-estimating facts, Mr. Gilder, when I say there is power enough here to turn every spindle in every woolen mill and factory in the United States.” “My only surprise,” replied Vance, “is that these waters have not been put to use long before this.” That night at the hotel Vance felt he was indeed “roughing it.” He rose in the morning feeling but little refreshed, and sat down to a very unpalatable breakfast, and immediately afterwards started with Homer Winthrop on a drive through the valley. The farmers were busy harvesting their grain, and on [53] inquiry they learned the yield of wheat was from forty to seventy bushels to the acre, and that oats yielded from sixty to one hundred bushels to the acre. Vance was greatly astonished, and became almost enthusiastic over the agricultural possibilities of the valley. “Why,” said he, “Mr. Winthrop, there is no question but this is destined to be one of the richest agricultural valleys in the world. In my work on the Banner I have had occasion to look up statistics on grain products, and if these farmers are telling the truth in regard to the yield of their crops, there is no other place like it in the United States.”