Hard-Headed Woman

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THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE S administration building in Mis
soula， Montana was an austere structure， appearing utili
tarian both inside and out with its bland， emotionless greet
paint. It was a place Charlotte \"Charlie\" McAllister hac
become very familiar with over the past eight years. As
sawmill owner， Charlie attended every federal timber auc-
tion， although for the past two years she d been one of th(
unsuccessful bidders.
Not only her， though， Charlie acknowledged with a pang
as she stepped into the designated auction room and saw
only two people waiting for today s proceedings. Only a
scant two years ago every timber sale had been attended by
six to eight potential buyers. Now， other than Pete Dirk-
sen， one of the two men who had preceded her arrival， every
one of the small sawmillers in the area had gone out of
business.
The other man in the room was Rick Slaughter， and the
hair on the back of Charlie s neck prickled as she regarded
Canfield Lumber Company s timber supervisor. All the
small sawmill owners in the area blamed Canfield for their
troubles， but there was certainly nothing illegal about the
huge company winning all the recent timber contracts. The
problem had to do with volume and cost efficiency; Can-
field was simply in a position to pay more for timber than
a small company could.
Chaflie felt both men s eyes on her， Pete s lighting up in
friendly recognition， Rick s doing a slow study that galled