Intro
This is the 88th story in the Smallville Series. This mining town is in the northwest corner of the world map, in a small section of the Majestic Mountain range known as the Rocky Mountains. The location is northwest of Wildwood story 78. The town was abandoned by all but one family and never appeared on any map until now. The year is approximately year 88 SVT.
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Map seed #978114326 Mountain One River, Small, Cold Mountain, Disasters Off, AE Elk,Geese,Bear
Mods activated for this map and load order are:
Map Changing and Starting Mods: Banished UI Maps, Labor Window, RK Minimized Status, CC Light Rain, Climate Cold Mountain, override Map, override Fewer Trees, DS Roads, Kid Tree Replacer Only Pines, Kid New Flora Edit, Wildlife Starts
Tweak Mods: Better Stock Piles, Better Stock Pile Storage, Fishing Dock +25%, Hunting, Increased CC, 1:1 Alternative (Voeille), override Winter Clothes, Rock Respawn, Tiny Smoke
Major or Must Have Mods: An Empty Square, Nomads (Kid), override Uneducated, Storage Crates, Kid Abandoned Places SE (update, testing), Kid Ghost Town, Kid WorkPlace, Mini Buildings (BL)
Supporting Mods: Campfire, DS Tunnels, Kid Deco People, Kid Hedgerow, Kid Market Food, Kid Washing Mod, Kid Work Shop, Tiny Chopper
Mod Note: Abandoned Places is being updated again. The abandoned houses now each have a deco and a restored version. There is now an animal shed, a chicken coop, a fishing jetty, and a trader jetty. The abandoned gold mine from Kid Ghost Town has been added, the new mine has iron, coal, or gold. A cart that produces branches and a firewood storage bin has also been added.
Welcome to Rocky Mountain Mines, weary traveler. I'm sure you are interested in the town's history; we were too when we arrived. Come sit by the fire and I'll tell you all about it.
Chapter 1
My name is Etheryn, I'm a wood elf from the Winter Woodlands. My husband is Allard, a dwarf from the north. We met when he was passing through the Woodlands on his way to work for the railroad. Yes, a dwarf and an elf, a combination still a bit frowned on by dwarves and elves but more accepted by others. I went west with him. Anyways, the railroad tracks and tunnel going west to Wildwood had just been completed. Al and I were debating where to go from there when a family with an adult child came to town seeking medical care for the mother. The family was forced to abandon their farm animals because there was no one left in town to look after them and they thought their daughter was too young to stay there alone. They were looking for someone to go and care for the animals until they could return. The town was up in the mountains to the northwest. It was one of many mining towns that sprang up during the gold rush years and was then abandoned. A few families stayed on but they too left one by one. The last family to leave left their sheep. There was a milk cow and some chickens as well as the sheep to take care of. The house with the sheep shed was now vacant, we could stay there.
I, being a wood elf, could not turn my back on abandoned animals and Al, being a dwarf, was interested in the mines. We agreed to care for the animals until the family returned. They saw to it that we had a cart and supplies. They would be there as soon as they could. We left immediately. We were surprised at what we found when we arrived. Through the blowing and drifting snow, we could see that the town was badly rundown and neglected.
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Chapter 2
We had found an old bridge to cross the river some ways back. After a while we could see the town in the distance. The going was slow pulling the cart through the snow but eventually we made it to the edge of town. We passed an abandoned house and fishing jetty. The going was a bit easier when we made it to the road by the trading jetty. We followed the road past a rundown cottage and a closed mine. We passed the farmhouse with the shed, a cow, and the hen house, before making our way to the nearby barn. The roof was damaged in two places and there was snow and a chicken inside. We left our cart next to the barn out of the wind.
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The farmhouse with the shed and sheep was across the road from the barn. We checked on the cow and chickens first and found that Tuckery and Maken did indeed leave plenty of food for the animals to eat. The cow needed milking and a hen was sitting on the eggs. The roof of the shed was completely gone. The shed with the sheep was in the same state of disrepair. The two sheep also had plenty of food and were huddled together when we got to them. It was cold. They would not need sheering for some time, hopefully when it was warmer, much warmer. I was eager to see what our new home was like.
Chapter 3
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The front yard of our farmhouse was a bit overgrown, and parts of the porch roof were broken away, probably from the weight of heavy snow. The rest of the roof seemed undamaged and sound enough. The inside of the house was fairly clean having recently been inhabited. There were a few useful things left behind and there was enough firewood for Al to get a fire going immediately. There was no food. We would need to gather more branches to burn, there was a cart outside and a few pieces of wood in the storage box. I was not to drag a cart of branches through the snow. I said I saw branches, winterberry bushes, and rabbits in the hedgerow across from our house. He said he would go and get some of our things and food from the cart while I sat by the fire to warm up. He was being overprotective because we were expecting our first child. I gladly went to sit by the fire.
Al checked out the well and brought back water to boil some potatoes for supper. I sat wrapped in a blanket and dozed in front of the fire. I thought we could be comfortable living here.
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As soon as he could, Al made the animals a bit more comfortable by building some make-shift awnings in the animal sheds. He cut some trees and did some hunting; he got an elk and a bear. Al found a woodcutter's stump not far from our house and spent some time cutting firewood. I gathered winterberries, wild foods and herbs, and branches. Our daughter, Renice was born in early summer.
Chapter 4
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The summer was short; the snow came early. Tuckery and Maken did not return and we were concerned. We had enough hay gathered to keep the animals fed during the coming winter. I could not find any wild oats, only mushrooms and onions. We had milk and eggs though. I gathered as many branches as I could and Al cut more firewood. It would be a long winter.
In spring of our 2nd year, Tuckery, Maken, and their daughter, Ladonnie, returned home. With them was newborn Zollison. Maken almost died 10 years ago when she had Ladonnie. She was told she would not have any more children. It did not occur to her that the sickness she was experiencing last year was due to an expected child. The herbalist healer in Wildwood advised no travel until the baby was born and mother and child doing well. Tuckery was happy to have a healthy wife and newborn son. Daughter, Ladonnie, moved out and into one of the small houses by the woodcutter stump. She would chop firewood while Al or her father made tool at the anvil that was next to it.
Maken went back to tending the cow and the chickens. She also made a few warm fur coats at the tailor workplace next door. She suggested the sheep be sheered for some wool. I did that job and then gathered berries from the hedgerow and wild foods nearby. I again stayed close to home. Al and I also had a son that year, we named him Lymani. We were asked to stay on in Rocky Mountain Mines.
Chapter 5
Al wanted to know more about the town and the mines before we decided to stay or go. There was a lot of work to be done and not a lot of resources to do it with. Limited space and the cold mountain climate did not make the work any easier.
We learned from Tuckery and Maken that the mine closest to the woodcutting stump and anvil once had a cave- in. A few men were lost and a few were trapped. The tunnel was dug straight into the mountain and then crossed over to the mine to rescue those that were trapped. The cemetery became the resting place for those that did not make it out alive. A mini chapel was built next to the cemetery. All 5 closed mines had Keep Out signs on the entrances. So did the tunnel but there is no danger there except from the bears in the valley beyond.
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During the gold rush, the two small abandoned houses and the ones down the road by the other mine were mostly occupied by young single men who came to strike it rich. The large guest house was preferred by families. Its kitchen and the stew kettle kept everyone fed. When the town was booming another guest house was built along with a Claims Office and a Bank closer to the river and trading jetty. The boom was short-lived.
We did not finish our tour by early autumn when Eman, the general goods merchant came to the trading jetty. Eman said that if our mines produced any gold, the jeweler in Wildwood would surely want it. Others in the area who didn't want to do a lot of heavy work in the cold would want our stone and iron and logs. Dwarf-made tools are always in demand. He said he would bring a good supply of food to trade. We ordered potatoes, carrots, barley, oats, and wild oats for us and the animals.
Chapter 6
In spring of year 3, 10 adults with 3 children came from Wildwood after talking with Tuckery and Maken there. Wildwood was getting a little too big and crowded for their liking. Three of the families lived here before and decided to return. Two young men were interested in the mines. One of them moved into the boarded-up house near the mines in the main valley.
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Damarco and Arri moved back into their small house next to Tuckery and Maken. Damarco was a hunter; he would usually hunt close to home and roast the elk over the campfire. Sometimes he went and spent the night at the mini hunting camp not far from the river by the far mine in the south valley. What hides or furs he brought home, Arri would make into coats at her tailor workplace.
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Burrel and Brigett moved back into their small house by the river. Burrel was right back out on the fishing jetty. Their 2 children were both adults now but still living at home. Geoffer and Hele with their daughter and newborn moved back into their house by the Bank and Claims Office and the other single young man moved into the house next to them, he hoped to strike it rich. They would help with whatever work needed to be done and there was a lot of that to do.
Chapter 7
So many new arrivals caused all of our supplies to get extremely low, especially the tools, coats, and firewood. The women all headed to the hedgerows for berries and branches. Hunting was not good, the herds were few and far from town, but we had rabbit meat from the hedgerow, and fish from the jetty. We needed logs for tools, minor home repairs, and firewood.
We knew firewood would be a problem here not only because of the poor condition of the houses, but because there were only pine trees here. The softwood burned hot and fast, and more wood soon had to be added to the fire. Hardwood trees make for better firewood with a slower burn and steadier heat, but the deciduous trees do not thrive in this cold mountain climate and soon die. When warmer days finally arrived, the leaf buds began to open but were soon damaged or killed by more frost, or by cold and snow.
We could not risk cutting too many trees in town, we needed them to serve as windbreaks. The northwest winter wind was fierce. Some of the laborers went through the tunnel looking for branches. There were trees there that could be cut. There were also bears and elks. Al checked out the tunnel to be sure it was safe to use. He thought the tunnel may need a beam or two added if the mine next to it was reopened but as of now we did not have the manpower or resource to do that.
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Al did a bit of digging in the mines but could not determine if the mines had been played out. During the gold rush, inexperienced miners staked a claim, mined a vein of gold, took their small fortune, and abandoned the mine. Many of those mines still had pockets of gold left to be had. These mines had veins of iron and coal in them too. There was no time to check further, by late autumn the temperature was 24F and dropping, and it was snowing. The hunt helped our food supply but our log and firewood supplies were extremely low again.
Chapter 8
It was still snowing in spring of year 4 when 9 more adults with 1 child came to town. They all moved into the rooming house by the Bank. Our supplies again took a hit but it was good to have more workers.
Through the tunnel in the north valley we built a mini forester and a hunter's workplace. The mini forester tree stump could only support one forester, the hunter's workplace could support 2 workers but only one was assigned.
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Only one hunter could work at the mini hunting camp in the south valley, but 2 foresters could work at the workplace that was set up for them next to the hunting camp. The bears stayed just outside the hunter's reach but did come closer later on. A herd of elk came and went. Our food supply increased and warm coats were being made.
Chapter 9
The wood supply would take some time to improve. We continued to selectively cut trees and collected branches for firewood. Our branch carts were always full. We realized that there were a lot of usable logs in the ruined house in town along with stone and iron. We used the first logs we scavenged from the ruin to restore the abandoned house across from it. We were hoping one of the families in a house with a damaged roof would move into it but a family from the rooms by the Bank made the move. We felt especially bad for the families with the bad roofs during the summer when the temperatures got up to 36F and we had day after day of cold rain. It was early autumn before the temperature dropped to freezing and we had the first frost.
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The laborers cutting trees discovered another ruin hidden in a group of trees down in the south valley. They also saw our first flock of geese. The newly planted pine trees were doing good there. With more logs from the ruins we hoped that next year we could get the damaged homes restored for the families living in them.
Not only were we unhappy with our slow progress at home restoration but we were also disappointed that Eman, the general goods merchant, had not returned with our order. Our overall health was falling, we need the grain and vegetables we ordered. A resource merchant and a seed merchant came but not Eman with our order. Maybe next year.
Chapter 10
In spring of year 5, 7 more migrants came from Wildwood. We told them we did not have enough food for 7 more residents. They asked me why we didn't have greenhouses like they did in Wildwood. It never dawned on me; I was a wood elf. We live off the land hunting and gathering. Tuckery, Maken, and Al were dwarves who are miners and tool makers. They work for or trade for food. The newcomers turned to go back to Wildwood when we told them of our struggle to rebuild and repair the abandoned houses. We still had families living in the cold rooming house.
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As soon as we had enough wood, we wanted to restore Damarco and Ari's house with the bad roof but they both insisted we do the animal sheds first. The children needed the cow's milk and Ari relied on the wool to make warm coats. We restored the cow shed, then the sheep shed, and then their house. They moved to the rooms by the Bank while the house was being restored but when they moved back home, their now adult daughter, Inellen, remained at the rooms until one of the small houses could be restored for her.
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One of the families from the rooming house moved into the abandoned cottage that was restored by the mine and Claims Office. The other family wanted to move to the abandoned house by the far mine west of the forester and hunter; he was a forester. That would leave Inellen alone in the rooming house. The old rooming house used a lot of firewood, we did not want families in it any longer than necessary.
Chapter 11
By early spring of year 6, Inellen had a new house built for her by the river next to Burrel and Brigett's fishing cabin that was being restored at the same time. Burrel was right back out there fishing from the fishing jetty.
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Burrel was the first to see the riverboat approaching but it was not Eman with our order, it was Weaverick, the food merchant. We were not in need of food at the time but we needed grain, our overall health was a bit low. We traded stone for the flour that he had. We place an order for most of the same foods we had ordered from Eman: apples, carrots, potatoes, oats, and wild oats. We also ordered more flour.
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Shortly after the river boatman left, the last family moved out of the rooming house and into the restored house they wanted by the far mine. Two occupied houses with damaged roofs were left to be restored, the two behind our house by the tunnel. By the time Ladonnie's house was restored, she had a husband and a newborn. When the neighboring house was restored in late autumn, the couple that moved in were Darol and Essica's son and daughter, or so we thought. They were the family that arrived in year 4 and moved into the restored house across from the ruin. As it turned out, Mavery was their son who had feelings for Lotte back in Wildwood but they were too young to marry at that time, they were not brother and sister. Lotte's parents gave permission for her to come here with them. When the nearby house was restored, the couple moved in. The two neighboring couples were both newlyweds.
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In early winter, Weaverick returned already with potatoes and carrots.
Chapter 12
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By spring of year 7, Tuckery and Maken's cottage and then ours were restored. They, like the other restored houses, would be much warmer now. The barn by our houses was next to be restored. Everything was taken out and stored in barrels, crates, and our old cart. It was not long before the barn had a sturdy roof and a door on each end and supplies were being moved back in.
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By then, we had more new families, 10 adults with 4 children, raising Rocky Mountain Mine's population to 60. We recognized a few of them that we turned away 2 years ago. Our food supply was better but we still needed houses. The two remaining abandoned houses by the ruins in town were quickly restored along with the quest house there. One of the adult daughters said if we had some wild honey she could make honey mead in the old brewer barrel behind her house. We all kept an eye out for bees and wild honey all summer. By early autumn we had our first mugs of honey mead. By that first snowfall, Al and I had another daughter, baby Yoshi. There was a new chicken coop next to the barn and part of the cemetery fence had already been replace.
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Chapter 13
With the extra workers we decided it was time to reopen 2 of the mines, the one by the tunnel and the one closest to the trader jetty. Each was assigned only one miner.
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By spring of year 8, 2 houses were built by the trader mine, and another was built by the far mine with hopes that that mine would be reopened also. There was now a gatherer and an herbalist workplace in the nearby forest. Both our forests were doing well and our log and firewood supplies were good. The gatherer should help increase our food supply. By late winter both Burrel and Brigett were fishing from the fishing jetty. A new barn was built behind their house. We were still waiting for our food order. The resource merchant and the seed merchant had both been here again but not the general goods merchant we were waiting for.
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Chapter 14
By the time the bank was restored in early spring of year 9, it was pretty obvious that we would not strike it rich from our mines the way they were. Both mines yielded stone and 3 very small nuggets of gold. Al was certain that the other 3 mines would prove to produce the same results. We could dig deeper in a couple of the other mines, open then like new, and see if there are any gold veins left to be found. The mine closest to the trader jetty could stay as it was, producing stone for trade. If the new mines failed to yield enough gold, we could always mine for iron and coal to make quality dwarven tools to trade for food like the dwarves have always done.
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We had no building projects being worked on at the time. There were only the Claims Office, the rooming house, and the two houses by the Bank, plus the house down the road from the Guest House on the north side of town that needed to be upgraded. All those buildings need paint. All three houses were occupied. We offered to build new warmer houses for the families but none of them wanted to move. We needed paint. With no other projects being worked on, we began upgrading the old mines to new ones.
Weaverick, the food merchant came in late spring with apples, oats, and wild oats. He had no idea where Eman, the general goods merchant, was. He was the only merchant that might have paint to trade. Merto, the resource merchant, said much the same thing. As far as he knew, the only place that made paint was the Ghost Town south of this mountain range. Eman would have to go there to get it.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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General goods merchant, Eman, returned again. He had our potatoes and carrots but no paint.
Chapter 21
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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.
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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