Laura Riley Quotes in Guns of the Timberland (1960)

Jim Hadley: [at her ranch, hoping to buy horses for his logging operation; she despises loggers] Look, I'm a logger, I'm not a thief.

Laura Riley: To us, it's all the same thing.

Jim Hadley: I don't know what you mean?

Laura Riley: [Laura turns and gazes over in the distance] Look, there she is. Piety Mountain.

Jim Hadley: [Jim looks, seeing only the trees] A lot of wood on her.

Laura Riley: We'd like her to stay that way. Do you know what'll happen if you log the timber off that mountain? There won't be a blade of grass left in this whole valley. The first rain'll wash away all the topsoil. No topsoil, no grass. No grass, no cattle.

Jim Hadley: It's not our problem. We've got a grant.

Laura Riley: Well, you'll ruin every rancher in this valley. Or does that make any difference to you?

Jim Hadley: Sorry, if you won't give me the horses, I'll get 'em someplace else. But those trees come down.

Laura Riley: I wouldn't be too sure. People can get mighty stubborn when you push 'em into a corner.

Jim Hadley: That goes both ways.

Laura Riley: Well, we know where we stand, anyway. Goodbye, Mr. Hadley.

[turns and walks away]

Laura Riley: [showing Jim Hadley a deserted ghost town] Look around you, Hadley. This was once a thriving town, just like Deep Well. It was called "Green Meadows." That's funny, isn't it?

Jim Hadley: [soberly] I don't think so.

Laura Riley: Clay, my foreman, was born and raised in this town. He wanted to be a rancher, like his father before him. But he never got the chance. The loggers came and stripped all the trees from every mountain around here. They destroyed the watershed, but of course, that didn't matter to them. The first rains buried this town under an avalanche of mud and water. And every time it rains, the same thing happens. We don't want that to happen to our town, Mr. Hadley. And we'll do everything we can to stop you.