Abandoned - Westward Ho - part 6 - Ghost Town - Story 30

[Abandoned]

Intro


This is the 30th story in the Smallville series and is a continuation of the Westward Ho journey that began in story 25 in the Outskirts of Smallville.  The wagons left Outskirts and headed west in year 45 SVT.  The wagon train carried 6 families plus the wagon master and his family (Domington and Doree and their 3 boys, Linwoodrow, Lion, and Greggie).  They traveled through forested valleys and over steep hills and spent over a year at the Rest Stop of story 26.  They traveled on, crossing the vast prairie, when 2 families left the train and headed north instead.  They established the town of Prairie Homestead #27 in year 48 SVT.  The remainder of the wagon train continued west and built Fort Rapids #28 in exchange for help crossing the river rapids.  They entered Bison Pass in year 52.  A year later they made it through the mountain pass and came across an abandoned town.


The map seed is  # 972467949       Mountain,  Medium,  Mild,  Disasters Off,   Ghost Town Start

Note:  This start condition will not be in the release version of the Ghost Town mod - Edit- correction - this start will be available.


Mods activated for this map and load order are:


Map Changing and Starting Mods:  Call of Nature Soundtrack, Banished UI Maps & UI Town Names, Labor Window, RK Minimized Status, cc Light Rain, DS Roads, New Flora with Gatherer

Tweak Mods:  Better Fields, Fishing Dock +25%, Hunting and Gathering v3, Hunting Season,  Increased CC, 1:1 alternative, Rocks Respawn , Woodcutter +3

Major or Must Have Mods:  Kid Ghost Flowers, Kid Ghost Town, Kid Gothic Deco, Kid Tiny v2, Kid Westward Ho The Wagons, Kid Wild West

Supporting Mods:     DS Tunnels, Kid Abandoned Places, Kid Bakery Garden, NMT30 Deco Crop, Kid Deco Plants, Kid Old Fence, RK Carts, Storage Crates



I know, weary traveler, we were all weary and tired after roaming around in these mountains so many months.  We finally made it out of that dangerous Bison Pass in early summer but we were not out of the woods yet.  We found only more dense forests and steep mountains.  We lost the school wagon.  Luckily my son, Lion who was driving it, managed to save himself and the ox before the wagon went over the cliff.  What a relief to find that old sign nailed to the tree, even though it was too weathered to read, at least we knew there was a town up ahead somewhere.

[kid1293]

Oh, sorry for misunderstanding. The start condition will be available.
It is the only way to get some of the buildings and it offers a small challenge...

[Abandoned]

Oh yes, that's right, my fault, I will edit info.    Thanks

[Abandoned]

The attached screenshot shows the starting buildings of the Ghost Town start condition in early spring.  My Ghost Town story will start several months later and more buildings have been added by then.

[Goblin Girl]

Oh, wow!  This looks like an interesting starting condition.   I can't wait!

[Abandoned]

@Goblin Girl , it is a very interesting start condition and as @kid1293 said it is the only way to get some of the buildings.  He has included some special surprises and I will not spoil those surprises in my story but will let others discover them for themselves. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 1


  We had been following what we thought was an animal trail through the mountain forest alongside a small stream.  When we came to a fork in the trail and saw that sign on the tree, we thought the trail may once have been a cleared path to a town.  We took the path to the north but found it to be steep and overgrown.  It was near the end of early autumn when we came out of the forest into a partially cleared area that must have at one time been farmland.  The fields were now barren and overgrown.  The farmhouse was rundown and deserted.  The old small barn was in worse shape than the house, the roof was broken in several spots.   There was an old tunnel through the mountain by the barn no doubt leading to the town itself.  The entrance was boarded up with a sign saying "Keep Out Danger".  Even if it had not been boarded up, the wagons would not have been able to pass through the narrow tunnel, we would have to travel around the mountain to reach the town.

  We had no idea how far that might be or what we would find.  It was getting dark when we decided to circle for the night and make camp.  Every day seemed colder than the day before and the nights more so.  We only had 6 wagons now, our wagon master wagon, the storage wagon, and a wagon for each of the four families.  None of the wagons were in very good shape, and like the school wagon, not likely to hold up to more rough mountain travel.  The families were not holding up much better.  The 4 families consisted of 8 adults and 7 children, 1 was a newborn. Our oldest boy, Linwoodrow, just turned 10 and was now an adult.  His job would be to take care of the wagons and the animals.  He learned a lot from the couple who first brought the oxen and donkeys to Outskirts from the Animal Refuge.

  The next day, bright and early, Dom and a couple of the men went out to scout around while the rest of us hunted and gathered wild foods.  It was good to get out of the wagons.  It was almost dark when the men returned through the tunnel.  It did indeed lead to and from the town but, though it was passible, it had many cracked beams that made it unsafe.  It could be used but with caution and the signs should remain up.  Not far to the west of the wagon circle they found what appeared to be a rundown boarded up mine.  It too had a Keep Out warning sign.  The town itself was rundown and deserted, it was a Ghost Town.  Dom thought it best we stay where we were in the wagons until each building could be inspected for safety, afterall, winter was coming.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 2


  Winter came with a vengeance.  The icy wind came straight out of the north and howled around the wagons making it next to impossible to even keep a campfire going.  In late autumn it snowed for days on end.  It was colder here than it had been in the pass.  On clear days the men did some inspecting.  The small barn contained little of anything useful.  It was in bad shape but could be used for storage even before the roof was fixed.  The farmhouse was in a little better shape, the floors and roof were solid.  The boarded up windows keep out some of cold and the fireplace was safe to use.  We all agreed, the couple with the newborn should move to the farmhouse.

  Both of the rooming houses had large rooms that were very cold and drafty, not much better than the wagons.  It would take a lot of firewood to keep them warm.  The single family houses needed repairs but were safe to live in.  Another family moved into the house next to one of the rooming houses.  We all help the family move and made sure they had enough firewood and supplies.  Still we worried about them there alone when the next big snowstorm hit.  Further exploration of the town would have to wait until early spring.

  That family did a good job on nice days collecting debris from long-gone buildings, and placed the wood and stone on the stockpiles.  Larger ruined buildings remained but the grounds around town looked much better in spring.  The main street was wide and lined by wooden sidewalks which have weathered well over the years.  The large barn was in fairly good condition, at least the roof did not leak.  The 2nd rooming house was across the road and next to it was a smaller building with iron bars on the windows, perhaps it had been a jail.  The building next to it was a total ruin and would need to be removed.  Behind those buildings was the closed mine.  We saw now that there were graves beside it with ghost flowers blooming.  Were these the final resting places of miners who died in the mine?  Was the mine closed because of a cave in or because it was no longer productive.  There had long been talk back in Smallville that these Majestic Mountains had gold in them.  Had this been a mining town that was abandoned when the claim gave out?

  Next to the other rooming house there was another building that was beyond repair.  Across from them were 3 buildings that would take more time to determine what they might have been.  Behind them  were 2 single family houses and the ruin of what looked like another house and small shed.  The 2 houses needed repairs but were habitable with some cleanup.  Our 3rd family moved into one and you, weary traveler, moved into the other with your family.  It would appeared that here in Ghost Town is where the wagon train families wanted to stay.  There was a lot of work to be done.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 3


  That spring of year 2, it was decided that building repairs would have to wait and Dom decided we would not repair any of the wagon.  We would dismantle them saving what parts we could.  We would remain here to help the families get settled, then Dom and I would build a new wagon master wagon and storage wagon before moving on.  When we emptied the contents of the storage wagon into the large barn we realized that we would soon need coats and tools.  The town needed a tailor, a toolsmith, and a school.  We lost the school wagon and had 3 children about to reach school age. 

  We just finished laying the foundation for those 3 buildings when to our surprise, a group of 27 land surveyors and displaced families arrived in town.  The map making surveyors were on their way north and the families with them all had been displaced, some by floods, and some by the draught down south.  They became lost in the mountains but were found by the surveyors.  They would be happy to stay with us at least for a time.  They moved into the rooming houses but some were still left homeless.  Their arrival left us critically short of tools.

  Building the toolsmith took top priority thus 2 of the 3 children became adults and laborers before the school building was finished.  By the time the first crop field was cleared it was too late to plant the squash.  There was no hope the 2nd field would be cleared anytime soon.  A pasture was built for the oxen and donkeys and dismantling the wagons had begun.  By autumn we were short of food.  We took to the woods to gather wild foods.  Winter was coming.  We still had homeless people.  It was cold.  In late autumn it snowed.

[brads3]

you do have lots of interesting buildings and pieces to these sets.

[Abandoned]

hey @brads3 not only that but they match so well with Kid's Wild West and we tried to include some that Wild West needed.  Wait until you see them all restored.    I picked out this cool cracked paint and Ghost Town was born.    We kept saying how good the old rundown buildings looked 

[kid1293]

I am maybe blunt but the buildings needed @Abandoned 's touch to look good.

I am surprised. I tested them but never together with Wild West.

[Abandoned]

  Thanks @kid1293 but I just picked the old paint and colors, you did all the hard part, the building styles and the boarded up doors and windows, old run down houses never looked so good. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 4


  We had been very busy that 2nd year and had little time to investigate those remaining town buildings or explore the surrounding areas.  The newcomers told us there was a main river to the west of town, they weren't sure but they thought it was a riverboat route.  We would explore there next but first in the spring of year 3 we built a tiny forester where the wagon train used to be.  A tiny chopper by the stockpile would provide firewood for the old farmhouse and the 2 new houses we had planned for that area.  The rooming houses were still full.  The 2 crop fields were being planted.

  First chance we got we headed west of town to investigate.  There was a huge herd of deer which helped our food supply tremendously.  We immediately began building a fishing pier.  After clearing away some debris, we found the foundation and remaining framework of what must have been a church.  There was a small graveyard beside it, and a smaller abandoned site further back in the trees.  The foundation and framework of the church were sturdy enough for rebuilding.  But first we needed more housing.  By early autumn the cemetery was enclosed with a stone wall and more houses were being built.

  We still had not found time to investigate the other town buildings and there was much speculation of what they might be but of more interest was the closed mine.  In early summer, we decided to reopen it and see what was inside.  The mine tunnel was small, 2 men at the most could work inside, but only 1 man went in to check it out.  In autumn the 1st gold nugget was found.  We would not strike it rich in this old reopened mine but there was lightly to be more gold inside.  We might want to consider digging a new mine in one of the bigger mountains.

  What we wanted to dig was more crop fields, we had a 3rd field cleared and the 4th one started.  Our food supply was a constant concern.  We were hoping for a good harvest.  Our hopes were dashed when it began to snow in autumn.  We lost a good portion of our crops, harvesting only 431 pumpkins and 310 squash. Next year, we would have to add more farmers to the fields or start  harvesting early.   We may want to consider building a trading post next year for some hardier seeds, and maybe some sheep.  Warm coats would be nice to have for these cold mountain winters.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 5 


  By early spring of year 4, we had a General Store built on Old Tunnel Road.  We had no storekeeper as yet to stock it but laborers could drop thing off there.  The tiny hunter lodge on Old Mine Road also had storage space.

  We started building a trading post by the fishing pier, we would need trade goods.  There was plenty of logs and iron stockpiled at the other end of the tunnel so we chose that location to build a tiny workshop to make more iron tools.  The small barn could use a few tool for the workers there.  The toolsmith in town was often short of wood or iron so the blacksmith there was very happy when a worker first took a cart to get logs and then took another cart to get iron before going back to his regular labors.  These were very nice carts indeed.

 The tiny trading post was completed and the trader began stocking it with iron tools, leather, and hide coats.  Another workshop was built to make more hide coats for trade, we had a large surplus of leather.  There was a nice supply of flax also that could be made into linen clothes.  We could trade those for wool to make warm clothes for ourselves. In early autumn the temperature began to drop.  We assigned an extra farmer to each of the 2 pumpkin fields to help with the harvest. 

  Dom finished building our new Wagon Master wagon back in summer and he and I had been staying there, but as the temperatures dropped below freezing and the snow began to fall, we moved back into the boarding house where our 3 boys had rooms.  They were all adults now but none of them have said that they wanted to remain here in Ghost Town.  The town's people wanted us to build a house but we had not planned on staying as long as we already had.  They still looked to Dom and I for decision making but it was their town now and we tried more and more to involve them in making plans for the town.  Some decisions would have to be made next year.