Introduction - The City of Reyesville c. 1961
EDIT: Please disregard the 2009 shown on the pictures. These are actually 2010--*sigh* only three days into the year and I'm already making mistakes.
The nation of Pacific Columbia lies between Alaska and Canada on the Northern Pacific Coast. It's boarders resulted from the unsettled boarders between Russia's claim to Alaska and the UK's claim to Canada. It is a commonwealth nation with a republican form of government. As an ally of the British and Americans during World War II, the nation quickly industrialized to meet the needs of the war. This effort was aided by increasing mineral & fossil fuel discoveries in the nation's North.
The nation's current capital, New Dover, is located deep within the mountains for defense--a relic of 19th century diplomacy. As a result, the capital has proven ineffective, with government seeking warmer quarters in their home districts during winter. The capital is occupied by government only during the summer months. During winter the organs of government disperse with the various cabinet ministers to what became satirically called "home offices"--an ineffective web of poorly marked offices and frequently misdirected correspondence. The citizens thought it normal for their business to be lost at least one time at take 2-3 years to resolve. While May 1st was an official state holiday of May Day, the 2nd was a defacto holiday when the citizens left work to submit (or resubmit) government business (while New Dover was easily accessible during most of April most years, May was considered the first month when the government was reliably "in session").
During the Summer of 1955 the government met in New Dover to address the growing calls from the public (and elected an appointed government officials) to move the capital to a more effective location. Three cities were nominated to candidacy, one was Kearney, the northern boom city who's population had expanded to over 100,000 after the discovery of it's rich resources. The other two cities were located in the only other truly urban center of the nation--the rest of the nation being far too mountainous for any large contiguous urban area. Lydian, with a population of about 40,000, is located at the mouth of the Lydian River and is already the defacto transportation hub of the nation. Finally, Reyesville (with about 80,000 people), just 20 miles from Lydian, was the larger of the two southern urban areas. The debate continued, and on October 1, 1955 the government passed the act to establish a new capital within 10 years. The act additionally created the first permanent offices outside of New Dover--the Office of the New Capitol (ONC) was established in Lydian, charged with organizing, facilitating, and overseeing the transfer of the capital.
Little was accomplished in the immediate years following act mandating the move of government. The delegates with the large population of Kearney were digging in, and no 50% could decide on the new capital location. The boom population of Kearney was relatively unfamiliar with the locale when compared to the residents of the longer established southern cities, and many had in fact moved from the south. After two of the worst winters on record consecutively that blanketed Kearney and shut down access for nearly a month each year, the government held an "emergency meeting" in Lydian and after establishing quorum by just 1 member of parliament, voted to dissolve itself. During the new elections, the population of Kearney voted out most of their members of parliament who had been blocking the move to the south, in what became known as the February Revolt (of 1960). Finally, on May 1, 1960, the government eliminated Kearney from candidacy. Within weeks it became clear that the larger city of Reyesville would win the vote. In the last act of Parliament in the 1960 session, the government was to move to Reyesville. The final hurdle to moving the government would be accepting the annex of a federal district by the local populations of Reyesville and the surrounding cities who would be affected by the move.
A brief overview of the capital inherited by the government of Pacific Columbia (circa 1961):
Overview - Reyesville in 1961
Transit View - Reyesville in 1961
Pictures overview - a guide showing where the pictures below are located:
01 - Downtown Reyesville - Central Reyesville - the Columbia State Bank building can bee seen to the right:
02 - Reyesville Waterfron - The city of Reyesville has since grown up from its beginings as a fishing village, but Fishermans Village is still a busy neighborhood
03 - The "Old" Waterfront - The "Old" Waterfront has some of the city's oldest mid-rise buildings. Though riverboats never served Reyesville, an old riverboat now serves as a restaurant and club on the oldest stretch.
04 - Fishermans Warf - a small stretch of waterfront that offers some housing and the last remaining fisherman's slips
05 - The Upper Waterfront - The original settlers in Reyesville just moved up the Reyes River as the peninsula filled with people. The riverfront is was always a thoroughfare and provides prime land for both residents and businesses
06 - The Upper Waterfront - Another view--slightly downriver-- showing the most commercial stretch of the upper water front. East Reyes can be seen where the grid turns 45 degrees
07 - East Reyes & "The Commons" - "The commons", as they are referred to, is an area of land in the center of town owned by two philanthropists who allowed for common use of the land. The city has expressed interest in purchasing this land to turn into a permanent park.East Reyes is the neighborhood that sprung up between "The commons" and the Riverfront after both Downtown & Uptown were built in. 
08 - Station - Station is the newest neighborhood in Reyesville. It is built up around the terminus station that was built on the edge of town. While the track continues on into Uptown and even Downtown on Broadway, it was deemed to costly to demolish an area to build a station in the center of town. Station is one of the primary industrial districts in town
09 - North Broadway and The Commons - A small neighborhood is found nestled between "The Commons", Downtown, Uptown, and the Pacific. Broadway is a very busy street
10 - North Broadway - A Closeup
11 - Gateshead Heights - Gateshead is a small fort that protected the two passes between Reyesville and Lydian. Gateshead Heights is a small weigh-station that was built between them. The rail junction connects to Reyesville Station to the West, the port of So'Eado to the south, and Lydian to the East. No passenger service goes south, and all traffic shares a single rail between Lydian and Gateshead Heights
12 - Gateshead Ranches - As the terrain becomes too dry and rocky to be farmed, sheep ranchers take over. A number of paths traverse Gateshead Ridge eventually leading to the historic fort
13 - The Gateshead - The Gateshead is the small fort overlooking both passes in and out of Reyesville. It is still manned daily by the military, but the soldiers on guard do more guide work than look-out. Flocks of sheep can be seen in the foreground
14 - Corlottine River - The Corlottine River flows to the Southeast of town
15 - So'Eado Overview - The area of So'Eado (a contraction of South Eastern Docks) is seen below. Reyesville-So'Eado International Aiport uses most of the land currently, though part of the historic port is still present on the southern side. The Port is divided into 4 doc areas (From right to left): Navy Docs, Old So'Eado, Point Docs, and Victory Docs. The Victory Docs are the newest having just been completed during WWII
16 - Reyesville-So'Eado International Terminal - The terminal serves mostly prop aircraft to Montreal, Chicago, New York, LA, San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle. The brand new jetbridge can be seen hosing a 707
17 - Navy Docs - The Navy Docs are the "flagship" docs for the nation's Navy. It is where the formal offices of the Admiral are located--Cruisers are the largest vessels in the fleet. The Navy's pride and joy, a fleet of brand new submarines can often be seen in port
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By 1961, the ONC had a new mandate to begin overseeing the planning of the capital. They were charged with representing the federal government to the cities and towns and creating an omnibus resolution to bring on the nation, as well as the cities of Reyesville and its neighbors.
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