NationStates Jolt Archive


A Lusty Past, a Dusty Present; The Story of New Paha [Intro]

New Paha
21-03-2009, 08:40
----------[ Paha, Pioneered Boomtown ]----------

Located in a very narrow valley between steep mountain slopes 1900 feet above sea level, pioneers in 1872 settled along a large creek that stretched several miles southeast to a river. Involved in the gold and silver rush of the late 1800's, this pioneer town was one of the gems of the entire region, a marque location especially for silver mining.

The plot was a heavily forested location, so it took many weeks to clear the flat land and begin to build, but it was only a few months before the city grew from the original 15 settlers to nearly one hundred strong.

This boomtown was not only known for its huge deposit of silver, which led to a peak of nearly 500 miners, but also of its lusty, boisterous attitude. Known well for its openness to recklessness and outlawry, the rebel attitude was barely kept in check even by its own lawmen.

However, by 1900, the silver and gold rush was over, and the population had dwindled down from over 900 to little over 50 residents, with much of its buildings abandoned. Once an economy - and rebel - center for the region was now proving to be little more then most boomtowns that were dying off rapidly. It was officially taken off records as a town by 1910, not served by anything more than an overgrown dirt path and the large creek.

----------[ New Paha, Repioneered Future Town ]----------

In 2009, three residents remained in this town. Little was left of what was once a booming hub for the region and a key player in the silver and gold rush. The three residents were the last remaining souls of the few families that remained in the town as it otherwise folded.

Terry Silverman, the child of the group at 89 years of age, enjoyed the laziness of sitting on her porch just off the creek, or going down to the town hall to meet with the other two to enjoy a dance and a chat during the evening.

Foster Silverman, the 92 year old husband of Terry, still enjoyed going out and tending to the town farm, his personal garden, and fishing the creek in his old rowboat. He rather disliked doing anything at the town hall unless it was dancing with his wife. However, he did plan to do some work on the building, which was one of the few buildings that was even remotely safe to enter but was still severely in need of work to keep it standing.

Then there was the feisty old Todd Miller, the 98 year old self-proclaimed mayor. There really was nothing to run, as there were only three of them and they had never seen an outsider in well over twenty years that he could remember, however it was likely much longer than that. He loved meeting up with the Silverman's in the early evening to dance and talk. He loved going on hikes, however his body only let him do so much anymore.

The lusty-turned-dusty town was, in essence, unexplored and undiscovered to the 'outside' world. The country it was once a part of had long crumbled, however the three residence had no knowledge of this or anything else happening beyond the so-called town. As such, no nation claimed this area. It was, in every sense, its own three-person country, hidden and snuggled into the rugged mountain terrain along a creek.

That was, until modern-day pioneers of sorts came across the town. Six families were on a trip through the mountains when they had come across the creek. Deciding to follow it northwest along the creek bed, they stumbled upon the ruined boomtown of Paha. An old wooden sign leaned heavily to its right with faint lettering only slightly readable.

Welcome to Paha
The Silver City of the Western Territory

The group looked toward the town in awe. Heavily ravaged by time and the elements, but still standing, they were drawn to its wilderness setting that overgrew much of the town, not yet showing the life it once possessed over a century again that was all but quaint and calm.

The sun was slowly making its way west, dusk to set in in under an hour. Chris McLemore, 49 years of age and father of two sons - Tommy, 12, and Christopher, 15 - walked into the town hall, the left door missing and the door on the right opened and connected only by the bottom hinge, and screams echoed through the town. Chris quickly jumped and ran out of the building, startled, while the three elderly residents yelled in shock and fear and quickly shuffled to the back of the building where there was another doorway and another missing door.

The group quickly ran over to Chris, "What's wrong?!" yelled Julia to her husband. "There were three old people in there!" he said. Tommy, always outgoing and never seeming to be fearful of anything quickly ran into the building to catch a glimpse of something exiting the back door. "Something went out the back door!" he hollered out the front door.

-------------------[ Part I & II Over ]-------------------

Part II will be coming later.

[[OOC: Since none of this is being reported to the outside world, no one ICly knows of this little town, which will become it's own one-town country... no one knows, yet, that is.]]
Yanitaria
21-03-2009, 09:04
OOC: Interesting post. I sort of want to do my own absolutely microsized-nation.