The
president of a well known college inherited a large tract of very
poor land. This land had no timber of commercial value, no minerals
or other valuable appurtenances, therefore it was nothing but a
source of expense to him, for he had to pay taxes on it.
The
State built a highway through the land. An "uneducated" man
who was driving his automobile over this road observed that this poor
land was on top of a mountain which commanded a wonderful view for
many miles in all directions. He (the ignorant one)
also
observed that the land was covered with a growth of small pines and
other saplings. He bought fifty acres of the land for $10.00 an acre.
Near
the public highway he built a unique log house to which he attached a
large dining room. Near the house he put in a gasoline filling
station. He built a dozen singleroom log houses along the road, these
he rented out to tourists at $3.00 a night, each. The dining room,
gasoline filling station and log houses brought him a net income of
$15,000.00 the first year.
The
next year he extended his plan by adding fifty more log houses, of
three rooms each, which he now rents out as summer country homes to
people in a near-by city, at a rental of $150.00 each for the
season.
The
building material cost him nothing, for it grew on his land in
abundance (that same land which the college president believed to be
worthless).
Moreover,
the unique and unusual appearance of the log bungalows served as an
advertisement of the plan, whereas many would have considered it a
real calamity had they been compelled to build out of such crude
materials.
Less
than five miles from the location of these log houses this same man
purchased an old worked-out farm of 150 acres, for $25.00 an acre, a
price which the seller believed to be extremely high.
By
building a dam, one hundred feet in length, the purchaser of this old
farm turned a stream of water into a lake that covered fifteen acres
of the land, stocked the lake with fish, then sold the farm off in
building lots to people who wanted summering places around the lake.
The total profit realized from this simple transaction was more than
$25,000.00, and the time required for its consummation was one
summer.
Yet
this man of vision and imagination was not "educated" in
the orthodox meaning of that term. Let us keep in mind the fact that
it is through these simple illustrations of the use of organized
knowledge that one may become educated and powerful.
In
speaking of the transaction here related, the college president who
sold the fifty acres of worthless (?) land for $500.00 said: "Just
think of it! That man, whom most of us might call ignorant, mixed his
ignorance with fifty acres of worthless land and made the combination
yield more yearly than I earn from five years of application of
so-called education."
There
is an opportunity, if not scores of them, in every State in America,
to make use of the idea here described. From now on make it your
business to study the lay of all land you see that is similar to
that described in this lesson, and you may find a suitable place for
developing a similar money-making enterprise. The idea is
particularly adaptable in localities where bathing beaches are few,
as people naturally like such conveniences.
The
automobile has caused a great system of public highways to be built
throughout the United States. On practically every one of these
highways there is a suitable spot for a "Cabin City" for
tourists which can be turned into a regular money-making mint by the
man with the IMAGINATION and SELFCONFIDENCE to do it.
There
are opportunities to make money all around you.
