Chapter 3 - Continuing County Development
As stated when I started this, updates won't be frequent. Real life does indeed limit my time. I am hoping that the infrequency doesn't kill the CJ. Comments have been few and far between. What makes the delay between updates even worse is that there is so much preparation for the County Journal to begin. For those joining us late, I am trying to get the entire county developed prior to really beginning the journal. So all of what has been done to date is toward that goal. Enough banter, let's get to the update.
Three new areas have been developed in Lacey County. They are the unincorporated villages of Rolling Acres and Valleydale, and the small farming town of Julesburg.
Julesburg is a small town of a little over 1,000 residents, most of whom live on or near the farms they work on. The downtown does actually have one traffic light...
Valleydale is a small mining community centered around the Valleydale Ore Refining Company complex. Train operators affectionately call the mining complex "The Lionel Loop", cue to it's over-sized resemblance to a toy train set. Farms also provide income to some of the residents...
Author's Note - I HATE those big gray grain elevators that are popping up EVERYWHERE!
The last new area is Rolling Acres. Just a collection of small farms northwest of Westridge where the land is starting to get more rugged. This little hamlet doesn't even rate a traffic signal...
Since the last update, I have been growing Laceyville because it will be one of the Tri-City metropolitan areas of Lacey County. Here is an wide aerial view of development in Laceyville so far...
As you can see, much of the west bank of Bennett Sound has been developed. Some of the farms have failed on the west side and are now just vacant fields, ripe for residential development...
However, local developers seem to want to build up instead of out...
Toward the north, the industrial area has expanded, along with new commercial and residential areas...
...And there has been expansion to the east, just across the twin bridges...
...Including the home port for the city's commercial fishing fleet...
To continue development on the east side of the sound, engineers from the firm of Dewey, Cheatam, & Howe were hired to design and construct the necessary bridges. First, road and rail to cross the east fork of the Bennett River...
And then the daunting task of spanning Bennett Sound itself...
This required several processes in order to make the grade acceptable to rail and give the bridge enough height to allow for shipping. First, millions of cubic yards of material were hauled in for the roadbed. In a rare display of foresight, the bed was constructed to allow for future roadway in addition to the rails, and actually already has a service road that was demanded by the rail companies...
Next, massive bridgeheads had to be constructed to anchor the ends of the bridge at a height that would allow ships to pass beneath it...
I'll end with some pics of the downtown and the new marina that the wealthy residents demanded...
Odd that the wealthy demanded the marina, and then low wealth apartment buildings spring up across the street.
Well, that concludes this update. Hope y'all liked it. Remember, I want suggestions and critiques. Let's hear 'em!!
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