Abandoned - Riverboat Depot - Story 6 NWT

[Abandoned]

Intro


  This is the 6th story in the New World Series.  With some misgivings, Jenser and Shie left Newburg and headed downriver to a location they spotted on the way back to Newburg from Fisherman's Cove.  It is conveniently close to the end of the new eastern trade route.  With them are their 2 youngest children, 8-year-old daughter, Arte, and 5-year-old son, Elber, and 2 kittens from the last litter.  The last group of nomads that arrived in Newburg agreed to follow with the depot barge and will stay to help establish Riverboat Depot. A few young Newburg families would go along as well.  It was late summer of year 27 NWT when the houseboat, the new riverboat, and the barge left Newburg.  It was some years later that you, eager explorer, have arrived and are being told how Riverboat Depot was settled.



Map seed  # 59334948   Valley,     Small,     fair,     Disasters Off,      Easy Seed (8 Families)

 
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, Lush & Green, override Map, New Flora Edit, Family Start.

Tweak Mods:  Better Fields, Bigger Wheelbarrows, Fishing Dock +25%, Hunting Season, Increased CC, 1:1 Alternative (Voeille), Rock Respawn, Tiny Smoke.

Major or Must Have Mods:    An Empty Square, Nomads (Kid), override Uneducated, Storage Crates, Kid Workshop, Kid Abandoned Places SE, Kid Old Town, Kid Tiny, Kid Workplace

Supporting Mods:   Deco Sunflowers, DS Tunnels, Kid Deco People, Kid Farmyard, Kid Hedgerow, Kid Houseboat, Kid Patchwork (new, testing), Kid Washing Mod, Kid Yard Cover, Mega Mod Deco Animals, Specialized Stockpiles


Story Note: Jenser and Shie and their 2 children are not physically on this map, only their 2 cats are.

Mod Note:  The new Kid Patchwork mod has 18 patches: barely, beans, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, corn, mushrooms, oats, onions, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, strawberries, sunseeds,  sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and wheat.  Not all are shown in this story, all were tested.  The mod also includes a deco of each vegetable for winter use in patch.  Worker works year-round.



Welcome to Riverboat Depot, eager explorer.  It is nice to see you again.  We are eager to hear about your travels but first let's get you settled and I'll show you around town and tell you how it got settled.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 1 


   You know, eager explorer, it was late summer when we left Newburg, you were there to see us off.  It was a short trip down-river which was a good thing because our boats were very crowded.  Jenser and I had our 2 children and 2 cats plus a few of the mothers with young children on our houseboat.  The mothers with older children plus the 2 young couples were on the new riverboat.  The rest of the men were on the barge with the supply carts and the sheep and the crate of baby chicks.





  It took some coaxing to get the 3 sheep off the barge and into a small roped off area.  The fishing pier and hunting stand were both built and producing food before that feat was accomplished.  There were 3 herds of deer in the wooden area north of where we would begin building the town.  We were concerned for are food supply with winter not far away.  Our thoughts were constantly with those we left behind in Newburg.  The Nords insisted we take a good supply of potatoes, enough to eat over the winter and to plant next spring along with the seeds you gave us.  We gathered wild foods and branches.  We thought we were off to a good start.
 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 2




  We had plenty of laborers to gather building materials.  The foundation was laid for a large storage barn next to the stockpile.  A woodcutter would be on the other side.  A boarding house and workplace cabins were being built nearby.  Across from the boarding house we found a hedgerow among the trees.  There was an apple tree, some wild strawberries, oats, and honey, plus a bush of rosehips.  Further back in the trees was another hedgerow; it had a walnut tree, sunseeds, berries, flax, and branches we could use as firewood.  There was another hedgerow just like it in the forest behind the storage barn.

  Building was a bit slower than we would have liked, it rained quite a bit since we arrived.  In early autumn, coverings were built over the wash lines.  Despite the rain, the land was cleared and a 9'x12' crop field was prepared and waiting to be planted with potatoes next spring.





  By late autumn, we were glad it rained instead of snowed; it felt cold enough.  We had our warm clothes on already.  More of the houses were completed and a shed was built for the sheep across from the yet unfinished storage shed; the sheep would be a bit more protected from the weather there.  A tiny single-family house was being built across from the sheep shed behind the boarding house.  We wanted the families to have a choice of houses or cabins.  We would not allow our town to become overcrowded and run-down like Riverboat Junction was before the major renovations.  Another single-family tiny house was being built between the 2 hedgerows and the family already built a chicken coop for the baby chicks. 

  The hunting and fishing were good that autumn and we collected wild foods and branches.  The woodcutter was now hard at work making sure there was enough firewood for the new houses.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 3 


  We were busy, so the winter passed quickly.  The potatoes were being planted in early spring when there was a light snowfall.  It did no damage to the plants that were already coming up but it again had us worrying about friends and family back in Newburg.





  Back in autumn, when the temperature started to fall, we built a lighthouse down-river a short distance from town.  A 2nd fishing pier was built next to it and we moved our houseboat to moor it there.  We moved into the lighthouse with our children and our 2 cats.  Jenser would be the port overseer and already started to take inventory of available food supplies and products.

  Another couple with a newborn built a tiny house there by the fishing pier.  They planned a farmyard with some of the assorted seeds you brought to Newburg.  They planted corn, cabbage, potatoes, and berries.  They also took a few of the baby chicks that were now grown to act as bug controllers.  We now had chicken eggs to eat; we had not had eggs since we arrived on this side of the world, they were delicious.  We hoped the cabbage would produce enough seeds that we could plant a field of them in a year or two. 



  Our new inventory records showed the number of coats was dropping so a tiny tailor was built near the sheep shed and main storage barn.  The last family from the boarding house built a tiny house back behind the storage barn by the hedgerow that was growing there.  It was doing a lot better now that some of the trees were cleared away and it was getting more sun.  Riverboat Depot was doing well.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 4


  In late summer Jenser and I decided to make a riverboat run back to Newburg to see our daughters and check how everything was going.  We planned to leave Arte and Elber under the care of our neighbors but Arte especially wanted to go and see her sisters.  She wanted to tell them about the lighthouse and new kittens.  So, we loaded the riverboat with our 2 children and as much food as we could fit into it.

  It was a wonderful visit seeing our daughters and grandchild.  The new fields had indeed eased the food shortages and things were going well.  We did not stay long, we wanted to get the younger children back home to Riverboat Depot before the weather got any colder; snow could be expected at any time in Newburg.



  Back home in Riverboat Depot, by autumn, an old town blacksmith was built by the stockpile.  Our tool supply was holding steady but we would be ready to replace tools when the supply began to fall.  Our food supply was also good; the potato harvest had not been damaged by the snowfall at planting time.  We would need more workers before we could plant another field.  The Nords back in Newburg said they would be sure to send any nomads that showed up there our way.  They would also build a few more riverboats as requested, we would send food as payment.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 5




  Shortly after we returned home, our neighbor had their 2nd child bringing Riverboat Depot's population to 35, 18 adults and 17 young children.  The birth prompted us to build a proper Town Hall that winter to keep birth records and other town statistics.  The town hall was built next to the main storage barn and was completed by spring of year 3.  The population increased by 15 adults and 5 children, when 20 nomads came from Newburg; they crossed the bridge built by the dwarves and came downriver to join us.  The Nords said we would welcome them.  We were glad to have more families and more workers.



  Around that same time, one of our 2 river boatboys arrived.  Well, we shouldn't call them boatboys anymore; they were now hard-working young boatmen.  The first to arrive in Riverboat Depot had an assortment of items he took in trade plus 4 goats.  We did say take anything the new customers had to trade except for perishable foods; Green Pastures now had more goats than they could take care of.  Lucky for us, some of the newcomers had experience tending goats.  One family built a house next to the woodcutter and in their yard, they planted potatoes, cabbage, and wheat from the seed assortment.  They fenced in the yard and would keep the goats there.  Before winter they planned to build a shed or covering for them.   



  Before the boatman left, he said all the customers were asking for grain.  We told him to stop first at Newburg to see if they could spare any from their greenhouses; we only had a small amount of wild oats and a little corn from the new farmyard.  He also said the dwarves had stone now; they would make deliveries if they had a boat.  He took some stone from there to Rainbow Falls but his riverboat could not carry very much, there was not much room for anything else, it was very heavy, and his riverboat sat very low in the water.  We had the barge; if the dwarves had someone who wanted to make deliveries, our boatman could pick him up, show him the route, and he could take the barge and food back with him. Extra stone could then be stockpiled here until needed.

  What we needed was a trading post and some stockpiles and storage units.  First, we need more housing.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 6




  Two old town houses were built, one by our lighthouse and one by the potato field hedgerow.  A 10-year-old male moved into the one by us, and a young couple with a newborn moved into the one by the potato field.   The first of another set of worker cabins was built kiddy-corner from that one.  Leanden and Leandria, both 42, with their 7-year-old son and 4-year-old-daughter moved into that first cabin.  An 11-year-old girl moved in next to them, her parents with 2 younger children moved in upstairs.  A middle-aged couple with a 6-year-old and a newborn moved into the end cabin.  A second crop field was cleared across from the cabins.  Cabbage would be planted there in spring.





  The last of the 20 new arrivals decided he would like to be a hunter; it seemed like the right profession for him.  A cabin was built for him next to the tiny hunting stand.  His name was Archery.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 7


  It wasn't long after the crops had been harvested that our young boatman returned and had one of the dwarves with him; he would be a resource merchant.  We loaded some of the newly harvested potatoes and cabbages plus some other fruits and vegetable and venison onto the barge before the two headed back to the dwarves' settlement.  Where the barge had been moored, we built a general trading post and one that had an animal pen attached.  We built 3 stockpiles close to the trading posts, one for stone, one for logs, and another for firewood.  There was room for another if there was any iron trade.





  We stocked the general trading post with apples, potatoes, and rose hips for the boatmen to pick up.  They were keeping an eye open for other settlements to add to the trade route and hopefully they would find one that could provide us with grain seeds.



  While the trading posts were being built, we dug a tunnel through the hills north of town.  Our house and dock building had used a lot of logs as did winter woodcutter.  The north valley would provide logs close to the woodcutter without interfering with the hunting grounds.   The forested areas south and east of town would be needed for more housing, crop fields, and perhaps a pasture or two.  We hoped we would get more seeds and more workers.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 8




  By the time the crops were being planted, we had built a fish smoker and a warehouse for trade good near the docks.  A market was built not far from our lighthouse to store food and goods that Riverboat Depot's citizens could use. 



  By then, the forester's workstation was completed and 1 forester got to work.  There were plenty of full-grown trees in the area around the station.  It was then that we realized we were out of tools.  We immediately assigned 2 workers to be blacksmith.  A few other workers needed new tools before our supply began to recover.  Only 1 worker still needed a tool at harvest time.





  At the end of that 4th year, our supplies of logs, firewood, tools, clothes, and food were all good.  We prepared another crop field next to the cabbage field to plant more potatoes in order to have a larger surplus at the trading post for the river boatmen to pick up.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 9




  In Spring, Warrence, the young man that lived alone in the house by our lighthouse, said that the walnuts and sunseeds from the nearby hedgerow would be another good food item for the river boatmen to take on their routes.  He immediately got to work clearing away branches and picking the flax and early spring berries from the hedgerow.



  It wasn't long before we had 2 more river boatmen; they brought the 2 new riverboats from Newburg, and 12 new workers with 2 children.  Riverboat Depot's population rose to 72, 51 adults and 21 young children.  One of the new couples asked if there was going to be a school, their only child so far missed going to school.  We built one on the road by the woodcutter; a tiny farmhouse was built across from it for that couple and the mother became our schoolteacher.  Another tiny house was built a little farther down that road behind a wooden house that was built by the new potato field.  Next to it, another worker's cabin was built by the 3 that were already in a row there.
 






  A wooden house was built close to the tunnel for a couple who just had a baby boy shortly after they arrived.  Both parents went to work as foresters; Riverboat Depot now had 2 foresters.  An 8-year-old girl was the only one left in the boarding house;  Aramintie said she would be quite happy to stay there for a while.

[angainor88]

Eight years old, and getting the whole boarding house to herself!

[Abandoned]

   Ya, she'll soon move out when she finds out she has to clean the place all by herself 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 10


  One of the new river boatmen brought barley seeds with him from Newburg; the Nords had a really good harvest last year and knew we needed grain.  There were not enough seeds to plant a whole farm field but there were enough for a small patch or two.  We had plenty of workers now.

  The river boatman said that these new migrants told him they know of a few small family settlements in the nearby hills that grew a variety of vegetables, they kept the seeds from year to year.  Many of the vegetables kept well from one harvest to the next and even longer.   We replied that we would be most interested in having these settlements located and added to our trade route.  He set off immediately.

  The family living next to us with the farmyard thought they could dry most of the ears of corn that fall and plant a patch of corn in spring.  Warrence said that the sunseeds from the sunflowers in the hedgerow often dropped to the ground and sprouted the next spring.  He would save a few of the flower head, the sunseeds could be planted in a patch too. 
 




  In early spring of year 6, three patches were ready to plant, one for barley, one for sunflowers, and one for corn.  The seeds sprouted and the plants grew rapidly when the weather warmed.  The potato field just got planted.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 11


  The river boatman returned after finding 2 of the small family settlements the migrants told him of.  He brought seeds for onions and Brussel Sprouts from one family farm and squash and pumpkin seeds from another.  The families would save more seeds for us for when he returned later in the year.





  It was early enough in the year to plant those seed he brought; three patches next to the first three were soon ready to plant with the onion, pumpkin, and Brussel seeds.  Across the road from the Brussels, a patch was prepared and planted with the squash seeds.  Next to the squash, across from the corn, we transplanted strawberry plants from one of our hedgerows.  The plants soon sent out runners that formed new plants and all were doing well. 



  The seeds from the small settlements would indeed produce foods that would keep well and would be good for the river boatmen to take on the trade route along with our sunseeds, barley, potatoes, walnuts, and apples.  The squash and pumpkins would keep a long time, when eaten the pumpkins had seeds that could be roasted and eaten also.  The onions would last a long time when properly dried; they could be braided together and hung from the rafters in the storage barn or trading post.  The whole Brussel Sprout plants could also be hung from the rafters; the Brussels would be picked off the stems as needed.  They were good crops for winter use or for trade.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 12


  In autumn when the potato fields were being harvested, the patches were still producing well.  The patches were planted late but sill produced an acceptable size harvest.  The barley count was 308, the sunseeds 228, the corn 336, and the strawberries 196.  The onion count was 242, the pumpkins 156, Brussels 304, and the squash 196.  Next year's totals were sure to be much higher. 





  The weather turned cooler and it rained often as the workers tried to harvest the last of the crops from the patches but some plants got left in the patches when the snow began to fall in late autumn. 



  The river boatman returned with more seeds as promised; he would be happy to stay in the boarding house until the weather improved.  He, like the other boatmen, had been working hard, coming and going dropping off and picking up needed items; even the dwarves' boatman had been here a few times dropping off stone and picking up food.  Our boatman who brought the seeds had requests for many of the items we had in stock plus flour and chickens.  There were a few more stops on the routes now.  The seeds he brought were beans and carrots.