Abandoned - Rocky Mountain Mines - Story 88

[Abandoned]

Chapter 15


The first miner went to work in the far mine in early summer.  The next mine opened as new was the one to the left of the tunnel.  When both those mines proved to have gold veins in them, the old mine on the right of the tunnel was redug too.  The old mine closest to the trader jetty would continue to produce stone as long as it was needed for trade.  We had 35 nuggets of gold so far that year.  In late autumn, the 5th mine, the one by the house that needed paint, was also newly dug to mine for gold. 




  When the temperature began to drop and the snow began to fall, we wished that we had potatoes and carrots to make hot hardy stew for the miners and outside workers.  We could have made rabbit stew with potatoes, rabbit meat, and herbs, or vegetable stew with potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms.  Both would have been equally good on a cold winter day.  The workers worked hard.  By the end of that year, we had plenty of food, wood, and firewood, and there were 51 gold nuggets in the bank. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 16


  In spring of year 10, the temperature rose to above freezing but quickly dropped again and it snowed some more.  Hot stew would have been so good but the food merchant had not returned, but in summer both the resource merchant and the seed merchant stopped at our trading jetty.   And much to our surprise, in early autumn, Eman, the general goods merchant, finally returned with part of our order.



  There was no reason given and no apology for the 8-year delay in returning with our order.  And then he got a bit huffy that we didn't take all of the oats or wild oats that he brought.  We did take all the 500 potatoes that he had and then reordered the same as before.  We added paint to the order, but his "he'd see what he could do" had us wondering if he would have the paint when and if he returned.  After he left, the old stew pot was thoroughly scrubbed out and by the first heavy snowfall in late autumn, a hearty rabbit stew was bubbly away in the pot.  Shortly after, the hunters got an elk and Damarco had the campfire lit and was roasting meat. 




  At the end of the year we had 150 gold nuggets in the Bank.  We weren't quite sure what to do with them.  The merchants took stone in trade and we had plenty of surplus stone, we were in the Rocky Mountains after all. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 17


  Despite the variety in our diet which now included grain, our overall health had only improved a little by year 11.  It stood to reason that the cause may be that some folks weren't getting enough of the variety.  We built a gatherer's workplace in the north valley next to the forester and hunter. The laborers would continue to keep an eye out for wild honey for the mead barrel, and for herbs for the stew pot. The gatherer in the south valley did a good job collecting everything but wild oats; there just were none to be had in this cold mountain climate.




  One of the families down by the far south mine got a few baby chicks from the other hen houses.  They would now have fresh eggs down there too.



  In early spring of year 12, Weaverick, the food merchant, brought potatoes, carrots, and wild oats.  Like Hobbits, we just couldn't seem to get enough potatoes. We took all he had. We picked more spring-fresh mushrooms and had hearty hot vegetable stew.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 18


  In early summer of year 12, we had an unexpected visitor, a rather unusual unexpected visitor.  He appeared to be a gypsy and he arrived with a donkey and a colorful wagon.  He said he heard we wanted paint.  If we tell him what colors we wanted he would mix them right up.  He'd give us 2 or 3 barrels for a gold piece.  We should hurry and make up our minds because he and his little donkey had to get the wagon out of these mountains before it snowed in autumn.  We accepted his offer and showed him the buildings we wanted to upgrade and paint so he could match the colors.





  We had a plan.  We would upgrade the Rooms for Rent first so the families had a warm place to stay while their houses were being worked on.  We would do the two houses across from the Bank first and then the one in the main valley.  The Claims Office would be done last.  We began work on the Rooms as soon as the first batch of paint was mixed.  The work was completed by the time the gypsy had finished mixing the paint and was packing up to go.  By late summer, he had mixed a total of 72 barrels.  He said if it wasn't enough, don't worry, he'd be back next year in early summer, and then he was gone.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 19


  It snowed in early autumn.  We still had a lot of work to do but we had a lot more builders now and the building supplies were close by so the work went fast.  One by one the families in the two houses moved to the Rooms and then back again.  The adult son of one family wanted a place of his own so a new house was built for him next to his parents.  We used the paint that was left from doing the Rooms.




  The family of four from the house in the main valley also moved into the Rooms instead of the guest house right up the road.  Maybe they wanted to be away from the building noise.  The parents moved back to the house when work was completed but the two adult children remained in the Rooms.  They wanted places of their own. 



  We did not have enough paint for two houses, only enough for the Claims Office. The two siblings both wanted painted houses.  We did not need a claims office nowadays but we wanted to restore it to the way it was in gold rush days.  We would use it to keep town records in.  We would restore the Claims Office and the two siblings would have to stay in the Rooms until we got more paint the following year.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 20


  We trusted that the strange gyspy would return as he said he would.  He gave us such a good deal on the paint that we no longer needed all the gold the mines were producing.  The food merchant was glad to take our stone and extra logs.  We decided to mine for coal in the mine to the left of the tunnel, and mine for iron in the mine to the right of the tunnel.  The toolsmith at the anvil there would make quality dwarven hardened tools.




  By spring of year 13, the Claims Office was restored and in early summer, the gypsy returned.  The two siblings told him the colors they wanted for their new houses and he promptly began mixing the paints.  He would mix an assortments of colors for us before he left again in late summer.

  Sibling Sela wanted a blue house build not far from the Rooms.  She wanted to be a gatherer and hoped to take over the job at the gatherer's workplace there.  She got her wish.  Sibling Paul wanted to be a forester and wanted a yellow house built in the north valley forest.  He too got his wish.  Both houses were built and occupied by late autumn.  They were the last houses we planned to build for a while.




  General goods merchant, Eman, returned again.  He had our potatoes and carrots but no paint.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 21




  So, weary traveler, Al and I came to a rundown abandoned mining town to care for a cow, 2 sheep, and a few chickens and we decided to stay.  We have 3 children who will soon be wanting to have homes and families of their own.  There are many young adults like them still living at home in the 24 homes, all of which have been restored, updated, or built new. All have full pantries and woodpiles.   The barn, animal sheds, and other building too have been restored, and all 5 mines have been reopened.  There are 322 gold nuggets sitting in the Bank. 





Rocky Mountain Mines now has a population of 68, 53 adults and 15 young children.  We are proud to say that after 13 years everyone is 100% happy and healthy.  So, that is the history of this abandoned town, but now, weary traveler, I must abandon you, I have other things to do.  It was nice visiting with you.


The End