Chapter1: Lake Maureen Gets Official
Lake Maureen Gets Official
Region Map
(Author’s note: It has been a while since the last update because I wrote an update about Mariston, but then decided that switching so frequently between storylines is too confusing. When I started out, the cities all interacted with each other, but now each region is big enough to grow independently from the others. So I have decided to stick with one city until I feel enough has passed that I might focus on another one for a while. Currently I am really interested in Solace Bay, and so for now I will focus on that region.)
Lake Maureen began as a group of farms south the logging town of Solace Bay, Its name comes from the freshwater lake that sits south of the bay. As time passed it became its own separate community of people making a living by growing food for themselves and primarily for the workers of Solace Bay. As Solace Bay grew, so did lake Maureen. While Solace Bay and Lake Maureen are very close in proximity, there is a huge difference between the two and it has to do with ownership. In Solace Bay, Every piece of property was owned by the Solace Bay co., but in Lake Maureen each piece of property was owned by whomever was occupying or using it. This is the central point of this entire post today.
Here is a picture of Lake Maureen in 1908 (about 6 Months after the last update)
As you can see the area is almost entirely farmland with two larger residential areas. The residential corridor of Lake Maureen houses some farmers, shop owners, and some of the luckier Solace Bay workers who were able to save enough money to build their own house and commute to work by ferry. This kind of lifestyle is getting harder and harder to accomplish as the working conditions get worse and worse in Solace Bay.
The only Non-agricultural establishment in the South Shore community is Evanson’s Distillery. Every Factory Town needs a good supply of liquor to take the edge off the crappy life one leads in a factory town. Olaf Evanson has been making fine whiskey for over 30 years and his distillery has been supplying the region for the past ten.
His son Knute wishes to expand the business when his father retires and make beer as well, since this is the beverage he is most fond of. He has already started growing hops and barley and has made one mediocre batch of beer. Hopefully he’ll get it right next time.
In “downtown” Lake Maureen There are two old barns that have been converted into markets and warehouses. This area is known as the Town Square.
Here, every week, farmers from the area bring their goods to sell to buyers from the Solace Bay co. often times the Solace Bay men do their best to cheat the farmers, but this is the way the relationship between the two towns has always been. The farmers grow what they can and then get what they can for it, and in this wilderness a little goes a long way, so the relationship continues.
Yet recently things have been getting worse . . .
As you can see from this larger overview, the distance between lake Maureen and the sprawling Solace Bay Slums has shrunk to only four farms between them. These farms have recently been experiencing pollution and midnight looting of their crops from residents of the Solace Bay slums and are looking to sell their land because it is no longer profitable. (Sorry about the bad splice, I am using a free program called image J and it is really difficult to get it perfect, this was the best I could do for now.)
Furthermore, with the ongoing building of the rail link between Solace bay and the Iron Hills Mine, the Wyant Brothers have been eager to buy up land in anticipation of the new factories (and subsequent workers homes) they will build once the train starts bringing iron ore into the town. Thus they are eager to get their hands on these farms. It has now been a week since the Solace Bay co. offered the two farms on the very border of the slums, the Effie farm and the Gorbach farm, a decent sum of money for the land.
When word of this reached the ears of Lake Maureen residents there was a nervous shockwave that went through the town. All of the sudden, the Solace Bay Co. was too close for comfort. The townspeople cleared some space in one of the barns in the town square and held an emergency town meeting to figure out what to do. The first thing they did was designate the barn they were in as the official meeting hall of the Lake Maureen area.
Up until now there was no official government in the area. The federal Inakaye government collected property taxes and sold deeds for unsettled or unowned land, but other than that, the sims had to work things out for themselves. Thus, it was decided at this first town meeting that it was time to acquire an official town charter from the government. This would mean an unfortunate additional tax, but would also mean that the Solace Bay Co. couldn’t buy any land within the Town limits without dealing with the town government first, and thus allowed for the prevention of Solace Bay slums from spreading any further south.
Messengers were sent to the Effie and Gorbach farms pleading with them to sign the town charter and include their land within the town limits. Vague promises were made that the future town of Lake Maureen would buy the property from them and give them new land further away from Solace Bay. Since these two families identified much more with the town of Lake Maureen than with Solace Bay, they agreed to join the cause.
A man by the name of McKinley Morganfield (pictured below) left for Auen by boat the next morning with the signed charter (really just a bunch of Xs, none of these sims have ever been near a school). McKinley was designated as the impromptu leader of the town as his family was one of the oldest in the town, and he had been the most influential in decision making during the town meeting. He was also one of the few residents of the town who could write.
Mckinley Morganfield
McKinley himself owned a general store in town, but the family farm had grown from one single plot to the three surrounding it over the years. McKinley’s brother Jacob was still in charge of the main farmstead.
With the Steamships getting faster every year, it was only a week before McKinley returned with the official charter from the Inakaye Government denoting the Lake Maureen area as an incorporated town.
The Town limits included the properties of everyone who signed the charter, which, being mostly farmers caused the area to be quite large. The town of Lake Maureen was now technically much larger in size than Solace Bay even though the population was less than half of Solace Bay’s.
There were apparently no issues with the charter at all since the Government is extremely eager to encourage growth in the east and Lake Maureen is now one of the easternmost towns after Wales. This also gives the federal government a local government to work through if need be. Thus, the town of lake Maureen came into being . . . Officially.
When news of this reached the Wyant Brothers at the Solace Bay Co. they became furious that this settlement went behind their backs and stole land right out from their noses. This did not bode well for the relationship between the two towns . . .
Lastly, Mckinley Morganfield was elected the first mayor of Lake Maureen. He was honored by the office and swore not only to keep the town from becoming slums, but also to improve the current conditions in the town. When he made the trip west, he saw the civilization and culture of Mariston and Auen and was amazed. The sheer number of conveniences (like flushing toilets, cars, and hot water) made him desirous of bringing these things to his town. He decided that the most important thing was education. Thus his first order of business as mayor was to cunstruct the Lake Maureen School in the middle of the town square. It was quite small and quick to build, but would allow many of the children in the “downtown” area to be educated.
He also plans on creating a city treasury with which to buy up more land that surrounds the town.
That is all for now, Until Next Time!
1 Comment
Recommended Comments
Sign In or register to comment...
To comment in reply, you must be a community member
Sign In
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In NowCreate an Account
Sign up to join our friendly community. It's easy!
Register a New Account