Chapter 18
The following year, my father with some help from Grandpa, completed the project he was working on; they built a stagecoach. My father had an idea; first he would take the stagecoach to East Port and hopefully trade it for 2 younger horses. He promised Grandpa that he would stop to rest the 2 old horses often and would bring them back home. My father would then build a 2nd stagecoach. The first would bring migrants from East Port to Mapleton and the second would take them from Mapleton to Plimoth. The railroad train would be ready to make its first trip west by then.

Abandoned - Mapleton - Story 89
Everything went according to plan. My father returned from East Port with 2 horses and news. We often got news from East Port migrants of storms and flood and food shortages. The news was passed on to Plimoth. This news was of a landslide north of Smallville that blocked the main river; because of the blockage, some rivers were drying up and others were changing course. Trade and travel were very difficult; there may be more migrants.

Abandoned - Mapleton - Story 89
My father brought something else back from East Port; he got coffee beans from one of the trading ships. A greenhouse was built to grow the beans, and a Breakfast Nook was built to serve toast with jam and coffee, or bacon and eggs with coffee. Settlement families and migrants were happy with either, those that weren't had pancakes. The next group of migrants were taken by stagecoach to Plimoth.

Abandoned - Mapleton - Story 89