A town hall meeting was arranged so Owen could explain what had been found before rumors did any more damage. The meeting room filled early with farmers, teachers, county employees, and people who had not attended a public lecture since leaving school. Warren sat near the front with his site plans, and Constance carried an archival copy of Josiah's receipt in a protective sleeve. Adele chose a chair in the second row rather than the dais because the idea of being introduced as the owner of a mineral deposit embarrassed her in a way that owning cattle never had. She was still trying to understand the ground herself.
Owen began with photographs of the stone chamber and the pipe. He described the engineering in practical language: a spring diverted through a buried system, a sequence of gravel filtering zones, and an outlet arrangement that had quietly served the farm for more than a century. He then explained the natural geology, the old weathered rock, and the kaolinite that laboratory testing had identified. He made the audience laugh by saying that the word pure was popular in advertising and dangerous in science, because it invited people to stop asking what else remained in a material. By the time he reached the commercial possibilities, everyone understood that significant value was possible but not yet guaranteed.
A man near the back asked whether the county could profit by taxing the deposit immediately. The assessor's representative explained that property valuation required established information, not an excited rumor. A woman whose family used wells below the ridge asked whether mining the clay could alter the water table. Owen said it might if done carelessly, which was exactly why any assessment would need hydrological studies and environmental conditions before commercial activity began. Adele felt proud of the questioner for asking about water rather than money.
Then Frank stood. He cleared his throat and looked straight ahead instead of toward Adele. "I want the record to show I was one of the people telling her she ought to leave the pond alone," he said. A few people chuckled because Frank's opinions had never been difficult to locate.
"I didn't know there was a system under it. I didn't know the cows avoiding that water meant anything. She did the sensible thing and asked why. I reckon we could all stand to do a little more of that."