There were murmurs of approval from around the room. Luke could see that the majority of these men were avid supporters of the canal. And for him, it sounded like the best idea for the city. Not only that, but he was certain Jay Cooke would agree and want to be in on the earliest plans.

“My personal engineers assure me that a canal will not harm the harbor. If anything, it will benefit it greatly. I’ve already made arrangements to purchase or hire a steam dredger, and I believe by summer we should be able to begin digging,” Munger announced.

There was something of a free-for-all of questions after that. The powerful men of Duluth wanted to know all of the details, and Luke found his mind again on his father and the wedding. Part of him wanted to invite his father to witness the nuptials, but he wanted the occasion to be without conflict, so that was out of the question.

When the meeting broke up, Luke went back to his office. He was surprised to find correspondence awaiting him from Mr. Cooke, but not so shocked to see that it was all about the railroad. Scanning through the pages, Luke read Mr. Cooke’s concerns for reaching the August deadline to complete the Lake Superior and Mississippi line. They must, he wrote, focus on completing that railroad, even if the Northern Pacific was delayed. Yes, Congress had demanded progress from both ends of the northern line, but Mr. Cooke was certain Luke could at least make it appear that the work was progressing.

Luke knew land was being cleared now that a warm spring was upon them. At last count, over thirty miles had been graded and looked ready for the laying of rails. The problem was, they needed more workers. Perhaps if he could hire on more people to finish up the Lake Superior line, they could then transfer all of those people to the Northern Pacific once the job was completed. Thankfully, Mr. Cooke had advertised abroad to encourage immigrant laborers to consider coming to work for the Northern Pacific. If enough of them signed on soon, Luke could use them with the Lake Superior line as well.

The real frustration was the tampering with the route. Luke and Archie had been unable to find the original maps that had been drawn. They had been lost somewhere between offices. There were numerous section copies, but that didn’t help. They needed to find the original reports and maps to see exactly what had been compromised. Until then, there was no telling what trouble might come.

Theodore came into his office, barely stopping to give a light rap. “Your father is here to see you, sir.”

“I need no introduction,” Luke’s father declared, pushing past the secretary. “Now leave us so that I might talk to my son in private.”