The reading of the letter also gave George and Gertrude much happiness, for it furnished them abundant means for the execution of their beneficent plans, which had been thoroughly considered by the Harris family.  This important letter was returned to the blue envelope and given to Gertrude for safe keeping, and it was agreed to leave for Harrisville next day at 1 o’clock on the Chicago Special.

Among the personals in the Harrisville Sunday paper appeared the following: 

Arrived from Europe Saturday morning, Mr. and Mrs. George Ingram.  It is needless to say that their many friends will give them cordial welcome.  Colonel and Mrs. Reuben Harris, their son and daughter, Alfonso and Lucille, will remain in Europe for several weeks.

This notice, though brief, was of much interest to rich and poor in Harrisville.  Society, of course, was interested in the marriage of Gertrude, business men in the return of so skilled a manufacturer as George Ingram, and many workmen, still unemployed, hoped that their old superintendent whom they loved would find or make positions for them.

The continued absence of Colonel Harris the financier aided George Ingram in certain important negotiations which he proceeded quietly to make, viz., the purchase in the suburbs of Harrisville, in fifty parcels, of 4,000 acres of contiguous land, that had both a river and a lake front.  While these purchases were being made, agents were dispatched into several Ohio counties, and more than 20,000 acres of well tested coal lands were secured.  When it was learned that all these lands were bought in the name of George Ingram, and paid for in cash, the wisacres of the city began to say, “I told you so; these monopolists having visited England have adopted foreign ideas, and now they have returned to buy and hold our valuable lands.”  George Ingram was reticent, as most successful business men are, for he gave attention to business.  “Talkers are no great doers,” wrote Shakespeare.

The offices of the old Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. had been rented to other parties, so a suite of rooms near by was occupied by George Ingram and his five assistants.  It had leaked out, however, that Ingram had given orders for twenty millions of brick and a large quantity of structural iron and copper tubes, all to be delivered within four months.  The order for copper tubes puzzled even the wisest in Harrisville.  Later, when a thousand laborers were set at work on the river front of his purchase, building extensive foundations, it dawned upon the expectant that a gigantic plant for some purpose was to be erected near Harrisville.  Newspaper reporters found it difficult to reach George Ingram, even with a card, which would be returned with the reply “Busy to-day.  Please excuse me.”

In the meantime Harrisville agreed to create a more available harbor, and to establish dock lines, not less than 500 feet apart, and in three years to dredge the river to a depth of 25 feet for five miles back from the lake.