Oak River page updated

I've updated the Oak Rive page. It was quite out of date. I've now included all entries in the list and have updated the satellite and transport maps of the main area.

I've also updated the pop and wealth stats to 1925. Dart River has slipped down the list in population terms behind Anduin and Sarah's Cove. However, it still remains the industrial powerhouse with more industrial jobs than any other city. It's this industry that causes it to be the richest city. The high tax income and low expenditure mean that they are making money quickly, though as services come in the differential will decrease.

Entry 26: What have you done for me lately?

It's been 25 Game Years since the region started. In that time, since the first settler, the population grew to 39,790. Farming and industry have taken off. Mines have been found and trees have been chopped.

 Let's have a look at how it's grown.

The first image is of the whole region in 1905. You can't see much, but it gives the whole context.

Now we zoom in to a close up of 1907.  In the first 7 years the region only grew to 627 people, and the villages are small and relatively isolated and surrounded by the forbidding forest. The first small industry appears on the banks of the Dart River.

By 1915 the farms had started to spread and shipping had become an industry, leading to the founding of new port villages.

 

By 1920 the first railway line had been built.

Finally, by 1926 farming has expanded so rapidly, that cornfields were more common than trees in some areas.

 

Entry 25: Grinding Axes

It was not just the settlers of the Oak River region that were interested in the land. Various big foreign businesses, and business minded individuals (who were also inclined to be big) had heard of the promise of the land. There were jewels to be had, great big pearls and lumps of gold just sitting by the road. This may or may not be true, but what was certainly true was the fact that there are a lot of trees. And trees mean lumber. And lumber means big profits.

So it was that Woody Woodson set up his logging company. The original inhabitants of Oak River were not even aware of the operation.

He built a small docks, and houses for his workers. The docks were temporary and to be used for immediate dispatch. The plan was to set up a road to the main coast and build a substantial docks there, but this would take time.

 

The machinery was moved in. Men stood around looking busy and occasionally chopped down trees.

They utilised the steam donkey technology, though they had planned on trying to get or invent better technologies.

The massive swathes of oak that covered the region were not of great interest to Woody. He was after the pines and other rare trees because that wood was selling for great profit.

The question is would Woody Woodson's wood company grow to great heights or would it be felled in its prime?