The Winding River Project

[mrbisonm]

Yeah, sorry about the big airplane....lol.
Of course you can PM me with a character. Here's what I need to know to start with:

1.  full name/sexe and age at the moment of entry.
2.  Beginning with what kind of line of work and ending with what profession when aged, also places where where it will be.
3.  Where he/she's from and where he/she wants to live.
4.  anything he/she is interested in and maybe some other details of character that might help me to develop an interesting story.

You can change or add things during the story by simply pm'ing me any time and I might ask you also for some things during his/her life.

As you can see, I'm finally back from my looong summervacation and believe me, I had one heck of a beautiful, fun having and enjoyable summer. It will be sometime in the beginning of next week that I will upload an interesting update of the Winding River story with many new changes to the region. See you then.

Fred

[KoV Liberty]

Hey! Glad you are back! Can't wait for another update!

[mrbisonm]

I am quite busy with a real-life job for the next two days, plus with the GRV II Challenge, so I will only update during the next weekend, but not to discourage you again, here's a teaser.

Close to Phlox County, the Rails have reached its first rivercrossing and the Construction company is about to start building the bridge. Just what the TS Sawmill was waiting for on the other side of the river.



A govermental project that started lasted year was approved today. The Winding River Valley will have a western Highway connection to Highway 15, Highway 15A-West, probably connecting in Phlox County.
Wow, Phlox county.....hm...... lotsa things going on there these days.


Fred
Have a nice week.

[CaptCity]

Good to see that you had a good vacation and glad to see you back. Looking forward to the next update... and the next... and the next... as well as those 'interesting' developments in the continuing story line. Can't wait...

CaptCity

[KoV Liberty]

Nice job can't wait for the new highways!

[danielcote]

Yay the stories back up again!! 

[mrbisonm]

I know, I have been neglecting my diary this summer, but real life has taken so much of my time lately that I couldn't find any freetime to continue it. Finally, here is the continuing story, hope you didn't forget where we left off.?



During the last wintermonths of 1962/63 in the Winding River Region, many things have changed, also some other things are cleared now and new mysteries arrose.
The rails in the north have reached the Orford river by now, close to Phlox County where T. Slye from the Slye sawmills is eagerly waiting for them. Also did the highway 15 advance and it is getting closer to the big river crossing, probably the most difficult construction on the whole highway project.
The map below reveils some of what is done and still to do. A lot of land was lately sold to Mr Sterling, a man from descendance of the Natives of this area. He is the richest and most powerful man in Frampton, owning many different Finance and Insurance companies. Some folks say that he bought the land because of possible oil resources, but he specified in the latest interview with the media that he simply wants the land back that once was occupied by his ancestors. (the land he bought is shown in green on the map below) Other parts also have been bought by him and his Company, but which are not located on this part of the map.



Both tracks of the rails newly constructed near the Orford river are busy 24 hours a day. While one side comes and picks up the lumber that is being cut for making room for the rails, the other side brings in the materials for constuction of the rails themselves. The rails have to touch the region limits in the west by the end of this summer (1963). Winter is soon over and spring is just waiting for the mild western wind to blow the landscapes and awakening nature.



No useless banana peeling here and the tracks advance by a mile a day. Thirty loggers make sure that no one from the construction company is waiting and turning thumbs.



Back in Grasslake it is different, almost contrary. Logs are waiting to get picked up since several months now and even some logs are starting to blacken on their ends, which is really not a good sign for the quality. Loggers themselves were asked to slow down and take on smaller dayshifts. Every morning hundreds of people travels these roads to get to work and they have to confront the logs on the side of the roads for miles and miles. The sawmill moved to Phlox and it will still take a couple of months to be rebuild there, before they can start picking up the logs. Slye's whole sawmill crew are working on the mill to rebuild.
John Gabber himself told Slye that it was not a good idea to have moved the sawmill at this point of the year, where the logging is the best and the busiest. TS knows about the problem and somehow regrets it, but things have started and now are pushed to finish. A lot of pressure is on his back now and he is asking himself how he will be able to pick up the lost time in the coming spring and summer.



«« " They both said that it was the crystals that control everything," an older man told the police inspector about the last conversation he had with the two missing highwayworkers of last fall, "I asked them what crystals, and then they both pointed to the other side of the river", he continued," You know, I didn't bother with this no longer because I had more important things on mind and I told them to get ready for the cement in two hours when I come back with the third load of concrete, but......I never saw them again eversince, and now I ask myself what they meant with those crystals. Did you guys go to the other side and had a look yet?"»»
As soon as the ice broke away from the river the police, fire and rescue department went back to the bridge site to continue the search for these two missing workers. Every inch of ground and every footdeep of water was thouroughly searched and turned over without any success sofar.
Of course all this is slowing down enormously the bridge construction for the highway, something that John Gabber and his Project Manager Mike Allheimer don't like at all.
««" They probably had a drink or two too much and somehow drowned in the river that day, then floating away," Mike told John in a meeting, " and they both became part of the descent. They're probably someplace on a beach in the big river by now and serving as crow and raven meal." John shook his head with understanding and replied:
"Yeah, You're probably right, Mike, but the Sherrif told us not to do anything on the northside on the river until he clears it. That's his order, but he'll better do it soon, because those days lost cost me and everyone else a lot of money and time."....
"Did you hear about those crystalthings or whatever these workers told Ronny ?" Mike asked John.
"Yeah, but I can't make anything out of it......maybe we should go back to the old camping ground and have a closer look at the rockskulls, although I can't remember having seen any crystals there. You know, that place is less than 2 kilometers from here, just east of the bridge." and John was pointing to the bigriver eastwards.
" I think we should start talking about those skulls we found, now that we bought most of the land. I don't think they can take it away from us anymore" Mike continued. John shook his head again, this time in a negative motion.
"Nah, just leave it like this for awhile, we'll go back to that beach and have a good look first."»»



While the Police keeps on searching in Valmore we will visit the new Highway Maintenance and surveillance office near the newly built bridge. Pelver Inc from Frampton got the job for the highway maitenance and they didn't loose any time to construct an office and a garage. They will take care of the highway 15 once finished, from Access Junction (now more oftenly called *Access Center*) down to the second big river bridge which is about 30 miles from here.



Bob Sweathers is back home. The lost second world war pilot was brought back to his simple log, stone and straw home in Valmore after several months of health checking and interogations with the army (Airforce) and the National Bureau of investigations (NBI). He was offered 150 Hectars (some 300 plus acres) of land surrounding his primitive retreat in Valmore, where he absolutely wanted to go back to. With an important Government Grant , he will now be able to build himself a new home and do some serious farming with larger fields and machineries.



Back in Access Center (formerly Access Junction). A mayor was elected since the first Mayor of the town was literally thrown off his chair because of missing interest to his fellow citizens. The new Mayor, Steven Bartlett, sounds more promissing and although he never asked to be a Mayor, the population gave him no other choice to become the second Mayor of Access Center.
In the first meeting  Mr Bartlett promissed to take care of the garbage, power and water problem first, which is by the way the main reason why Paul Hubert, the first Mayor, was released of his seat. Then he will take care of the other needs of his population, including to get more industries to move in.



The next week after his election, the Mayor and his team already had a plan for the water and energy crisis, which was finally accepted all within a few weeks. Lake Ruskin, just 3 kilometers north from Access Center was the ideal place to build a small hydro-electric dam and since the lake is very pure in waterquality, it will also be an excellent source of Drinking water. Construction for both facilities will start this summer and should be finished and functional within two years. The lake itself belongs to the Muller's brothers from Bluebay, along with a few hundred acres surrounding the lake. Since the owners did not want to sell the land itself, a lease for the next 25 years was signed for a fair amount of simoleons.
Mayor Bartlett also was able to receive a massive Government aid for the dam constuction, which will be build by Seathing Power Corporation (SPC) from Bluebay.



The habitational project of Mr Riichirou Takahaschi to introduce modern neighborhood engineering to Access Center, was finally accepted by the federal Government and it wasn't to long when the roads and building lots appeared on the sites as Mr Takahaschi planned. The location is just north-east of the airport, covering the small hilly landscape neighboring the Ruskinlake.



Unfortunetly some newly seeded farmland will also be transformed into residential lots. The farmers were greatly recompensated with more and better land southward. Riichirou, the civil engineer and responsable of this project has big plans for Access to offer a better life to new citizens to this new region of the Winding River.



Mayor Bartlett ordered the landfill for the new garbage site. It was built near the easternly border of Access Center, far into the woods. He said that only bears and racoons will have to live with the smell of the decaying rubbish.



Just before the ice took over in the region, the Regional Annual Amateur Soccer Tournement (RAAST) was held, and Access Junction this year was the place where the semifinals were played. The Gabberteam didn't make it for the finals though, but won the eastern cup in the semi's. Something John Gabber didn't expect and of course a party was held afterwards.



The owner of Bake 'n Sale and Clubfoods Mr Nathaniel Wellington did not waste any time in re-building the appartment building that burnt down. A brandnew shiny building was the mainattraction for a few days in Access Center. Mr Wellington is about to open a big grocerystore in town within the next 3 months and he needed these appartments to house his new workingteam.



«" What's with the Olsenpub", John Gabber asked Michael Allheimer when they were about to go to the pub for the weekly meeting, " It says that it is closed by the Minister of Justice, what the heck is that all about, do you know?" Mike with a smile looked at John and said:
"Don't tell me you didn't know, everybody talks about it since 3 days now. They say the old man Olsen is the main suspect for Lucy's murder because she didn't want to sell the land to him, but sold it to Barby White."
" Wow, you're kidding me, you mean we had lunch with a murderer for several months without Knowing it?"
Mike, "Yap, it seems so"
John, " So what 's happening now?"
Mike, "I have no idea, you better ask Les about this, he's the Sherrif around here."
"Oh Geeez, now there's only the canteen left" John added. »



The latest news is that Access Center has two big private busses now. Slye and Tom Kohler, our Taxidriver, have signed a five year contract to open a busline for the workers of the sawmill between Access Center and Phlox. Young Kohler was waiting for an occasion like this eversince he moved to Access. He immediatly took a loan at the first Bank in Bluebay and bought himself two big used busses and a permit. People started to ask him about rides for the general public and even the new Mayor was interested in his idea of public transportation. Tom started dreaming.......that could be the start of something big, he said to himself.
For the moment being he rented a small partial of the parking at Lucy's Gazbar for a busstation until he will have enough finances to build himself one of his own. Now he has to find himself two drivers and he will continue with his taxi.



Spring is almost here and the airport is now fully functional. The official opening was only a few days ago and it was the owner himself and his son, Mr Racsan and Guy, who lead the ceremony. Mr Racsan flew in with his private jet. This multi-million Simoleon project will now be ready to help the regional developpment, Mr Racsan mentioned in his speech and shall it be profitable for everyone.



A closer picture shows another airplane landing with supplies for the population of Access Center. Racsan's jet is on the terminal. The airport was ready right on time as they promissed.



And here is a final regional shot of Access Center, which gives us a clear view of everything.



Finally a member of the Gabber's family died a few months ago, which I have not mentioned yet. Charlie and most of the family were left sadly for several weeks with the departure of the family dog. It was Charlie's dog, because he was born in the same year and month as him. Father John promissed him to get another puppy later in the spring, which only soothed Charlie's sadness a little bit.


Hope you enjoyed this update again, I know it took awhile but finally I am back with some time to spend on my Winding River region. Updates should now be more regular for the coming fall and winter. I will be back in a few days with a follow-up of the rest of our character's story.

Fred

[ecoba]

That was a great update, Fred.

Sorry I don't comment before, Fred. I just have no idea why I wouldn't. You have a great MD going here, and I was ever so pleased when I saw you had posted in the topics. I've read some of Nexis of Genisis, and I think I might go back and read some more tonight.

Ethan

[tahill79]

Great update.  I always read your MD.  My first post here though.  I love the construction for the bridge.

[danielcote]

Great update!  The airport is looking sharp! Even though air canada jazz only came into play in 2003 or somthing and this is the 1960's but hey we can use our imaginations its a computer game.

[KoV Liberty]

Looks real good! So sad about the dog...

[JoeST]

welcome back, Mr Wanderer

Fantastic update, as always, I love how good you are at storytelling

Joe

[mrbisonm]

ecoba, thanks for leaving a note and welcome to the Winding River Story.
tahill79, glad you visit us, always nice to have to new "spectator".
danielcote, Yeah, I know what you mean, I wish we had better choices to plop without downloading evrything on the net. Since airport and harbour Bats are so numerous on the net, I only choose very few and the strict minimum for my regionplay, since many other custom BATs and Lots are needed and the pluginfolder volume is hereby limited. Glad that you understand though and awaken your imagination with it.
Driftmaster07, well I announced the dog's death in earlier updates without mentioning that it was the dog, and I almost totally forgot about it.
JoeST, glad you stopped by.

Fred

[Tomas Neto]

Wow, another great update!!! Fantastic again!!! 

[NASCAR_Guy]

Great Airport Fred

[mrbisonm]

This is a long update, so many things to show and to say, be prepared, it might take some time to go through this.
Sorry it took so long to make another update, I am darn busy these days.

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Almost a year and a half have past in the Valley and things have changed in many places. Access Junction is now officially called Access Center and still belonging to a big county named Lakestead. Parts of Valmore, like Valmore north and Valmore lake now belong to the Access Center municipality and therefore are taxed and taken care of by them. Grasslake has an official office also, now that they have some 400 permanent residents. Highway 15 has finally reached the Phlox County, where they already have started building the big bridge that crosses the Winding River and the rails have met the Highway 15 and are turning west into the mountains to join Lakestead's rails. A new contract to build a highway was given to some Roadconstruction company from Beecherfalls, Gabber's competition. Highway 35 it is called and it intersects with Highway 15 in the Phlox county. The intersection is about to be officially opened.
Lakestead, a bigger town west of the valley wanted a connection to highway 15 since it was the closest highway to give them easier and faster access to Beecherfalls, Frampton and Bluebay together. Since the Government sees a promissing futur in Lakestead (see Picture below) the project for highway 35 was approved.
The Winding River Valley now holds 9,900 residents, most of them living in Access Center.

Access Center still belongs to the Lakestead District, which the Mayor Steven Bartlett wants to change one day. In Lakestead, they don't like the idea to cut of a big piece of their district of eleven Counties which are in the Winding River Region. The City of Lakestead (seen below) is only about 60 kilometers west of the Winding River Region and now with the new developpings of it, the Governor of Lakestead wants to keep it.

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Some of the bigger changes can already be seen on the satelite view of the western half of the region. Such as the beginning of the Giant bridge in Phlox is quite evident on the picture, but also the new dam that is about to produce all the hydro-electricity for Access and its surroundings and the intersection of highway 15 and 35can be easily seen from this height.
Here is a picture of the western part of the Winding River Region.

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Let's go now and visit some of our areas of interest. Grasslake earned its political liberty from the Kingscroft County and is now officially achnowledged as an independant municipality. A very small townhall was constructed and a Mayor elected. Almost housing some 200 citizens on a permanent basis now, Grasslake has become the second biggest County in the Winding River Region. But because Access Center is only a short 15 minute-ride away, no commerces or industries are planned for the area yet. Houses belong mostly to the higher societies of Sims. Some retired well known people have moved here from all over the country, finding Grasslake greatly to their liking. Also other business families and Politicians have moved here or founded a cottage or weekend home.
Some of these houses cost a fortune and we will have a closer look at these in the next update. Almost a dozen of these homes were designed by the kid that designed the Gabbers Weekend home, Michael Arven.

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I had to make one picture with two images to show you the *Big Winding River Crossing Project* in one piece. Sorry for the bad quality though, not a very good photoshop. Actually there will be three bridges, interconnecting with each other to cover the large spread of the river and using the big Stoke island as a base for the middle. This bridge is the most important one on the whole highway project and it will be build with ships in mind traveling under them in the future. The bridge will connect the Phlox County with the Stoke County, which Mr A.Sterling almost owns in whole. Two big counties who lie side by side in the middle of the region. The project will last for a few years, as the Engineering architect and Project Director Alex Puto thinks. Barges are used to deliver the materials needed on the island and on the other side, but that we will see in later updates.

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A big problem arrised when they set the foundations on the westside of the river, the ground was swampy and soft. Mr Puto had decided not to take any chances on a big project like this, and drained the whole are and cast a solid piece of concrete on the bottom to hold it solidly. Of course these were unexpected expenses, but worthwhile to deliver a longlasting first class base for the long bridge.

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It was about time that the sawmill gets back into business again since logs were piling up like crazy along the highway construction sites. T.S. Slye also decided to jump deeply into new debts and have it enlarged and improved. The sawmill now hires almost 450 workers on a 3-shift day, making it possible to double-plus the production from before. Things are going well, although a lot of debts are implicated for the next 10 years or so, but Slye couldn't resist to take the chance and make it worthwhile.
«« "You know John, it is thanks to you where I am today" Slye said to John Gabber when he came to visit his new installations for the first time, " I probably would have just rebuild what I had in Access instead of looking up ahead into the future as you alwqays tell me. I can pay my debts now without worrying about how to pay my fellow workers at the end of each week. Of course I am not making a fortune at this moment, but I have an idea that this may change in time."
John smiled and replied, " And I now know and understand why you wanted to move to Phlox so much and quickly,good thinking there, You're a real fox and they don't call you Slye for nothing. The rails are just perfect for getting your lumber out of the region and I suppose you will be able to ship them through the waters of the Mighty River also, aren't these your plans?"....
"You read me right John," Slye answered, "I guess it wasn't too hard to figure that out. As soon as I heard that the rails were planned to go right by this lot and spot, I had that idea and bought the land, remember, I asked you for the loan. I am glad you accepted my offer, otherwise I would still be in Access with my 150 workers and trying to figure out how to widen my business. I will talk to the "Railmen" soon and see what can be done."»»

Laying the rails right into his sawmill will not be a big problem and Slye has it planned to do so in the next year, if the railowners agree. Also we see a lot of construction still going on the sawmill site, new buildings and storages are still to be constructed. Logging is the future in this region and this is what TS deeply believes in.

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Slye had a home for him built nearby and an office which he can go to on foot every morning. He has even built a large Cantina for his workers, where they can eat and rest during their breaks in all comfort because he believes in well treated workers delivering better quality and quantity labour.
Most of the workers come here from Access and Valmore by bus with the Kohler public transportation. A service which is co-operativley financed with the help of the sawmill, the workers, the town of Access and Valmore and the Government.

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The sawmill is divided into three sections, which Slye has organized so. The construction lumber, which is the biggest part and which transform the softwood or needle bearing trees, then the hardwood lumber used for furniture, flooring etc and finally the specialty lumber, where rare species of wood are transformed into wood for artistic and other uses, as for musical instruments, high quality furniture and many other uses. On the waterside a future dock is planned, but for right now the finances telling TS to slow down.

pic9


On the other side of the river, in the Stoke county, the construction of the highway continues without delay, not bothering with the bridge's construction at all. All the materials are shipped by barges over the river, more barges will arrive in a week or so from Beecherfalls. Once they arrive we will have a closer look at them too.

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Once every day the responsables and three most important people working on this project meet somewhere on the constructionsite to organize their day. Alex Puto, the bridges project director and engineering architect, Andy Dubold, the chief of the logging team and  Mike Allheimer, the Project Manager and right hand of John Gabber.
«« "The Government is pushing us too hard I think," Mike told them in a short daily meeting, " I will talk to John to get them slowed down a bit, because the highwaymen are right behind the loggers and impossible for the loggers to go faster."
"There's a small possibility though to help the situation," Andy, the loggers foreman added, " If I can get a few dozens or more of loggers and some more machinery, there's a chance that we can advance a little faster. Maybe talking to Slye will help, he often has some genius ideas. I'll talk to TS and John about this tomorrow morning, Where's John anyways, haven't seen him here for some weeks?"
Alex, "I heard he is so darn busy that he doesn't even see his family anymore, but I have no idea what exactly he does."
Mike, " John is trying to find more specialized workers and responsable foremen for the project, he says we need many more specialists who know what they're doing. No problem to find workers though, they move in by the dozens to Access every week. I think he's in Frampton today"»»

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Another picture of the highway construction site in Stoke county.

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Back in Phlox a new highway project was ordered by the Government. It was decided to make a highway shortcut from Lakestead intersecting with Highway 15 in the Phlox county. This will shorten the trajectory of Highway 33 to meet Beecherfalls and Frampton from Lakestead. Attaching a new highway (35) to Highway 15 leading to Lakestead will also give easy access to Bluebay while shorten the traveltime by half to Frampton. The project was given into the hands of another highway construction Company from outside the region, something that the Gabber Corporation is very frustrated about. The new Company did not start the construction of Highway 35 yet, although everthing was prepared by the Gabber Corp to continue, more than two months ago. But the rails are continuing to build right into the next region, they never stop, creeping forward like a snake seeking for cover.

pic13


Another swamp, nearby the intersection, was discovered by the surveyors intrigues the architects and they want it to be totally drained by next spring. I guess the sixties weren't the best place/time for conservatists, and places like this are seen more of a threat to them and considered as useless terrains than a natural habitat. Several swamps like this have already been drained on the way down the valley and many more to come. I wonder what they will do when they reach the immense marshlands in the eastern half of the Winding River Region??

pic14


The last time when John flew over the area a couple of weeks ago together with Mike to see the developpments of the intersection, they saw a few moose in that particular swamp and the idea to come back later this fall and do some Moosehunting came to their minds.
«« "I haven't been moosehunting since Charlie was born," John explained to Mike during the short flight, " and that was almost 14 years ago in 1950, I think. Maybe Charlie will love to come also, I haven't been going fishing with him almost in a year now."
Mike couldn't help to add, "Hunting moose was never in my plans, but now that you mention it and we just saw two nice moose down there, I will consider it and am willing to try that also."
" That's agreed then, in September we go all moose hunting" John confirmed and that place below looks promissing enough.»»

pic 15


A little further back towards Access, the bridge in Valmore North was finally finished and is opened for regular traffic. The wooden temporary bridge was torn down, which became a little dangerous to cross with heavier loads.
The two workers that were reported as missing in this area are still a mystery for everyone, including the responsables of the investigation. The federals still investigate on this.

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Some residentials have already arrived in Valmore North, creating a tiny village near the bridge and....

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....even a busstop was opened awhile ago, for the sawmill workers to have easier and quicker access to Phlox.

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We all remember the lost pilot, Mr Robert Sweaters. After his release from the hospital last year, Mr Sweathers was granted with a few hundred acres of land to use as he wishes. He absolutely wanted to come back to his place that he had completely renovated and modernized by now and that the public road is only a few yards away. He even has electricity. He also started cultivating an immense garden with his daughter he hasn't seen ever since he crashed on the side of the region and constructed a small little store to sell his own products by the road.
Just the idea to come and see this fellow that has survived so many years alone and on his own in the forests, draws a lot of tourists and curious folks to these parts and Mr Sweather's fruit and vegetable business is going quite well. Mr Wellington from Access Center and the owner of the Bake n'sale has been seen here a few times buying some of Sweather's fruits and veggies.

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Farming was and still is largely encouraged by the Government with easy grants and low interest agricultural loans and now some farms can already be seen popping up in the Valmore North area. Mostly familyfarms of smaller sizes have made it in the region sofar, but one day, bigger corperated farms will install themselves in the Winding River Region, I am sure.

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In Valmore south, now officially belonging to the administration and municipality of Access Center, we see more and slightly bigger farms and where the deforestation is still a part of the daily life of the farmers. More fields are needed and precious forest giving away their existance for the civilization.

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This below view of Valmore South gives us a good idea how things are developping in the area. Farms and residentials have been reaching without organization right into the landscape lately. It is true that Highway 15 gave life to the region. Just like Grasslake residentials will one day invade the borders of the lake. The northern part of the lake though (right corner of the picture) is a little marshy and swampy, maybe too expensive to drain for the moment being.

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Since Access Center does not really have direct access to any beach, it was welcomed that Valmore South joined the municipality, and it wasn't too long after that the counsel opened a public beach on the southend of the lake. Also a tall touristic watchtower was built to give the visitors a full view of the whole lake and wild forests surrounding it.

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Every month or so it seems that dozens or more homes are build in the Valmore part of Access. People seem to like the green farmlands and forests nearby. Some roads are still gravel roads, but the administration has already decided that several roads will be asphalted during this summer, which will be a little hard on the municipality's budget. But then Mayor Bartlett mentions in his monthly speeches that "nothing is too good" for his fellow citizens. A good attitude to make more friendly voters for the next election, I suppose.

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This is the part of the lake that is a little too swampy to build on, as I told you above, but already some roads have been constructed on drier spots. Nature is as its rawest levels and it is here, that someone saw a big animal in the waters some 4 or 5 years ago. Nothing has been heard of or seen of it lately. Some even say that a monster like this probably swallowed the two workers in Valmore North since this lake is connected with the Chimelake and then with the deep river to the bridge. But......well....these are just rumours, like so many things in this area.

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Ever wanted to watch birds, fish and reptiles? This is probably the best place. The citizens built an observation point on one of the gravel banks in the middle of the swamp to observe migrating birds, such as the geese. Only a few people have been here, most of them are too afraid to travel this far into the lake without knowing what it surrounds or even holds. Generally the lake is not very deep, but one spot has been reported to be deeper than 80 feet and the swamp could be an ideal hide-away for alligatorlike creatures, which have been reported many years ago by some fishermen who dared to travel up the Winding river for a peak of this wilderness. Hm... interesting....crocos!?

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Now let's get to the main section of the region, the one we know about most. Access Center, now so called by the citizens, has grown into a nice town holding the bigger part of the regionpopulation. Several thousands strong, it has changed its needs, which some have been fulfilled and others are still on the list to work on. I identified only the most important places, because there too many new stores and others. We will get to the details sometimes later.

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The Garbage problem that Access Center had before with the former Mayor has been solved with this Garbage Disposal site. Mayor Bartlett thinks that this will be good for many years to come and beyond his mayoringtime. A young fellow in the name of Adrian McCoy, who visits the town's meetings everytime is not of the same opinion and spreading the words that the area won't even hold out 5 years and the same problem will be back, this time attached with a packsack. Mayor Bartlett mentioned that the forest is big, much bigger than the young man thinks and told him not to worry.

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In the same townmeeting it was mentioned to enlarge the industrial park right into the farmfields. The farmers would be expropiated though , but new land will be offered to them further away with of course larger capacities. The farmers are against it , saying clearing the land was a lot of land and they didn't do it for the fun, but the counsel of the municipality decided to go ahead with the project and devided the expansion of the industrial into two parts. One third will be zoned this year and the rest in about two years. Farmers will be recompensated for their labour spent on the land, it was decided.

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Lucy's Gaz is now called "Bus n' Gaz" and it was purchased by no other than Tom Kohler who now has a total of four busses running for his Company. He also bought the small land behind the gastation to built a garage to hold his busses. It will become a bus and gazstation this summer. Tom invests a few thousand Simoleons into this project believing that Access will need more and more public transportation while it grows and especially after he was approached by the town to open a public busline through the town of Access itself and from town to Bluebay, the nearest city about 90 minutes away. In the next townmeeting he will be asked to show a plan and make an offer. Tom is still driving his Taxi though, loving his job being in contact with all the people he now knows so well. Here too he needs to expand soon.

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Mr Racsan's son, Guy Racsan, has built some manufacturing buildings (hangars) near the airport and will start to produce racecar motors and transmissions. This will give a little employment boost to the town again and creating fulltime jobs for about 50 people. The project has already started and the Manufacture will start producing in early fall. His father approved his first independence fully, although he still offers Guy to become his successor one day. All Guy wants to prove to himself right now is simply to start a fully functional independant business that will be able sustain his existance. For the rest, he will think about it, he said.

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The airport is for sale. Mr Racsan, the partial owner together with the town of Access, has asked for an offer from the town to sell his part of the airport, but he also will consider a private buyer, if the town is not interested. Mr Racsan wants to slowly retire now approaching his 60 years and some smaller parts of his business empire is being sold. Let's not forget, Mr Racsan is still one of the five richests and powerful men on the eastside of the simregion and has no need to work 10 hrs a day anymore. Besides his secret project in Grasslake is keeping him more than busy.
Since a few weeks the airport has become very busy with daily and sometimes even hourly flights, but most of them are cargo-oriented flights from the bigger cities to bring in parts for the new Hydrodam, powerlines and waterpumping station. Many mechanical and electric parts have been and still will be needed to complete the total functioning of the Hydrodam and Pumps.
The bigger planes, like the one shown below bringing in some smaller but important equipments for the dam valve systems and pressure controllers, have problems with the runway, which is a little too short to the pilot's taste. Mayor Bartlett wants to increase the landing strip length, but finances for 1963 are already over their limits. Mr Racsan does not want to invest more at the time, because he wants to sell, but recommends to wait another year or so for the municipality also, because most of the flights with bigger planes are almost finished anyways.

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A small program was started at the electiontime of Mayor Bartlett and as he promissed that he will clean up the western part of the town, it finally started to show after a year and a half. The program was to hire kids afterschool, offering them free chocolate or milk in school for cleaning up the neighborhoods. Now that most of the garbage and ruins left behind are gone, some lawn, flowergardens and maybe a small park or two will soon appear in this part of town. A baseball terrain was suggested by many citizens. Of course, the mayor already thinks about the rise of the taxes once it has become much more beautiful.

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Well, they finally are doing it, closing the waterspring for ever later this spring. The new drinking waterpumps at the newly built Hydrodam will be producing better and way beyond the needs of the municipality. All they still have to do is digging in the mainpipe from the dam to the town. After, this cabbage smelling waterhole will be drained it will be filled with gravel and build over to create useful buildinglots. No more secret peeing into the drinking waterhole by the kids at night and no more cabbage tasting water. The watertower will be torn down too.

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Here is a look of the extension of the commercial zone of the town. On the left side of the church, which we unfortunately is not shown in this update, is the Bake n' Sale store of Mr Wellington. He also just bought another store on the highway's side and opened his first Clubfoods store there, something he wants to be expanded into every neighboring town giving hard and solid competition to the bigger food outlets just like the one in the new shopping mall behind Barby's Lounge and Bar. Nethaniel is now offering a cup of hot chocolate or coffee along with a chocolate Biscotti for 15 simcents only. A great hit I must say, since his parking has become too small to hold all the vehicules of the customers. We can see his publicity in the Access Tribune near the beginning of this update.
In the picture are shown some newly arrived small businesses or offices, such as the Law and Notary office building on the topleft of the picture below, or the governmental offices of Unemployment, welfare and immigration. Then beside them was built a small swimmingpool for the public to enjoy during the summer, something that the kids surely love to explore this summer and the new funeral homes. Where life roams death will stalk, they say and Access Center is now big enough to make a living with the dead. And many more other small businesses can be found on the same street.

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Also new, but built in early fall last year is the Lounge and Bar of Ms Barby White from Frampton. She finally was able to transfer her business to Access Center and it is since 6 months that it is fully operational. Even the Gabber Corporation Gang has returned for the weekly friday afternoon meeting. But not only this, visitors to this area have been eating and drinking in this beautiful Restobar all during the winter. Ms White is planning to finish the snmall backyard into a flowering garden with bistrotables for those who like the freshair diner during summer. She also announced officially, that a big Motel will see the daylight in the next year somewhere nearby, again investing a few simoleons.
The Olsen pub is still open and doing well, although the owner was judged guilty with the murder of Ms Lucy and sentenced to life in the Frampton Highsecurity prison. The murdercase was solved during last summer and to give us a quick idea of what happened is the first version that Mr Olsen was trying to convince Lucy to sell the place to him, because he knew way before everyone else that the place was up for sale one day, but Lucy refused, because she wanted her friend Ms White to have the place and so it was sold to her. Olsen didn't like the way he was just put aside and while he tried to give her a lesson, he more or less accidently killed her, as he says, but not as the judge judged him. Being surprised by a bywalker he disappeared quickly into the dark taht night, only to come back and do as if he just found the body. He called the police. The second version of the story is that he simply revenged himself, murdered her and did not have the time or chance to get rid of the body. To make a story short, he was filed as a first degree murderer and proved and judged so and it is his daughter who runs the Olsen Pub with her husband now. One case closed.

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Where once the Sawmill stood, is today a big shopping center, a Co-Op, a Bank and a Motel. A group of several business people from Sandom, the smaller town east of this region, have put themselves together in constructing the Shopping Mall. Still others are yet to come like  Riichirou Takahaschi, the man that made the Access Center residential neighborhood possible. He and his sister want to open their own little Urban Landscape Engineering Office here in Access, a branch of the Major Transcontinental construction firm from Frampton and the office started by buying a small lot in the commercial district. Riichirou is from Frampton and now moving to Access with one of his sisters. His other sister is working in Japan, their homeland.
The 4 lots (in green) behind Barby's Lounge belong to her and will be transformed into a Garden Resto/bar of some kind, as we have talked about earlier.
With help from John Gabber and Mike Allheimer, the young architect student Michael Arven started studying again and went back to Bluebay after he designed some houses on the Grasslake. Already well known by the residents of Grasslake and Access, Michael has been asked to design several more private homes of some retired families that are coming to the lake next year. Quite challenging to him, this will also give him a headstart for his future line of work and reputation. The famous architectural and design Company "Benson Homes" have him already under careful observation through his studies and maybe be hiring him in a couple of years or so.
Benson Homes is coming to Access also, hoping to be the first to take the market of private dwellings in the area. Maybe a good start for Young Arven.

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It was late, just before midnight when John Gabber came home after a hard day in Frampton to find some new responsables for leading the highway project. His wife waited for him greeting him at the door. Little Charlie, now not so little anymore and 12 years old by now, was at the door of his room, still awake.
«« "Dad?" he said in a low voice, "Can I talk to you for a minute please?"
His mother told him to close the door and go to bed, but he wouldn't listen, then she turned to John and said, " Oh Geeez, he has been bugging me all day to go on a camping trip this weekend with three of his buddies near the Access Pond, you know where they built the dam."
John couldn't resist, smiled and said, " Come down Charlie and go to the living room, we'll talk there in a minute."»»

After John washed up and prepared his latenight drink he sat down beside his youngest son and started questions about who, where, how and how long that camping trip was to be. Charlie explained, all exited that father was actually listen to him after so many weeks having hardly seeing him, everything in clear details and also mentioned that he was about to become 13 and is a young man soon and be able to go away from home for a day or two. The three other fellows were a little older than him and hearing about Diarmuid coming along, father accepted the demand with a few conditions. It was 1 AM when Charlie got the green light and he jumped up with a scream of joy that almost woke up everyone else. But now it was time to go to bed.
First thing in the morning, Charlie called up his friend Diarmuid and told him about the good news. Diar enjoyed the news also and said that this trip will be fun a ton. He said to Charlie to bring his canoe.

The Access Pond is where the hydrodam and waterpumpstation was lately built. Not quite finished and still under some construction, the dam will supply the whole area with electricity. This project was financed by several organizations, such as the Racsan and Gabber Corporations, plus the Governor's Office in Lakestead and the government itself. Only a small amount was supplied by the municipality of Access, but who will be taking care of both stations in the future. Some powerlines have already reached the town and is already working to produce electricity for several parts of the residential areas, more is to come later this spring.

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The dam was still under construction and some installations for tourists and bywatchers were already constructed as we can see below on the picture. The lake is mostly rockbased on this side of it and it was hard to dig out a decent location to build the actual dam and waterways.

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And here is a look at the whole installation with the surrounding area.

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And here below is a last picture of what is yet to come. The federal simnation has decided lately to create a National wildlife Refuge in the Winding River region, where wildlife and best conditions for the reproduction of many mammal, bird and insect species are available. The area includes the Stoke mountains in whole and the Gamook marsh lands, a total of several thousand acres. Besides some rails and maybe a highway and/or route no other zoning and construction will be allowed. This Parkland might open its doors to the general public in the future one day.

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Hope you liked this update again, and again sorry for being a little slow on things, but RL is keeping me busier this year as it never has been before. I only hope that I will soon have more time to bring you better and more often the stories of the Winding River Region.
I'll be back soon, maybe with a shorter update though....

Fred



Still looking for more storycharacters from members.....

Character Partners:

danielcote = Nethaniel Joseph Wellington
just_a_guy = Riichirou Takahaschi
BarbyW = Ms Barbara White
The Tea Cat = Diarmuid MacGormain
Nascar_Guy = Guy Racsan
mightygoose = Michael Arven
RustyXL = Tom Kohler
Threestooges = TS Slye
Driftmaster07 = Alex Puto

[danielcote]

Wow what a great update! I never thought you'd put a mall there I thought it would just be more stores. Great job on custom content too!

[rooker1]

I have always loved the fact that you can jam so many details in. 
The Dam looks awesome, very believable and realistic.   

Robin 

[Tomas Neto]

Awesome update, really fantastic work!!! 

[KoV Liberty]

Wow!!! A HUGE update! A total of 41 pics! In fact, 41 is the size of the font on the word huge. Anyways, good job on it and glad to see you back!