the engine was moved to another area. From there, it was switched to a different set of tracks that sent it in a wide arch to the newly designated front of the cars.
An old railroad loading platform sat to one side with its depot building in semi-disrepair. Here, the shipments of goods being delivered to the ranch occurred and passengers were loaded or disembarked.
Off to one side, a huge corral and loading platform eased the cattle on to the cattle cars. Just beyond that they had buried a very large cache of essential goods for the retreat. It also served as a backup of indispensable supplies in case the retreat was unavailable, for whatever reason.
Looking around, Mike noticed this had also been the place where the men camped and cut thousands of trees for the railway’s construction. Throughout the new growth were huge stumps that resembled tombstones revealing the size of the trees removed more than a century past. Some of those trees had been ten feet across and remained as silent reminders of a time when things were still relatively untouched.
A little ahead and off to the right of where the tracks once sat, an old water tower stood to the side for the steam locomotives’ water supply. It still stood as a silent sentry, yet another testament of times past. A small stream swept by this area and had been the water source to resupply the tower. It went under the tracks and fell from the side of the mountain in a small, but spectacular, waterfall. There was an impressive rainbow that was perpetually off to one side, hovering above the spiraling cascade of water whenever the sun was out.
Off to the right of a large stand of Douglas firs was a dirt road that disappeared from view. At the end of that road, hidden in the trees, was their retreat. Once a lonely derelict, it was now a beacon of hope and security that would serve as a refuge for them and several others.
In the old days, around the turn of the century, it had transformed through more than one design. What had begun as a pioneer cattle ranch was later converted into a prosperous and posh dude ranch. Later, it was simply forgotten and sat derelict and devoid of any human activity for more than eighty-five years.
There was a time when the railroad brought trainloads of people and visitors to this place. They also hauled in supplies, animals, vehicles, and spare parts that were eagerly awaited, at times for months, by the full-time inhabitants of the ranch. As time marched steadily onward, the owners eventually died off through the steady progression of years and the property sat in the state archives as an abandoned trust.
Mike and Dan found it, paid the back taxes after a brief but brisk round of negotiations with the state, and became the owners of what some might consider a ghost town; less the mineral rights, which the state retained for itself. It had everything a group such as theirs could need in preparation of an undetermined long haul. This was that time and no one knew or could even guess how long it would last.
Mike pulled out his GPS and found the coordinates that led them to the last cache. It had been designated a “last ditch” backup, which meant it was large and would take quite a few people to dig up and transport to the retreat. They eventually decided to skip it and wait for a larger body of the members to get that job done. They were tired and wanted to relax now that their journey was virtually complete.
The original purpose of this cache was two-fold and had shifted as they prepared over the years. Originally, it was the primary long-term cache that protected their resources before they established a rotation of groundskeepers at the retreat. Later, they had decided it would make a good fall-back supply in case something like a major fire rendered the retreat inaccessible.
It had taken a lot of bodies and a few trips to move it all here. It was going to take an equal amount to get it all to the retreat, which was another fifteen
An old railroad loading platform sat to one side with its depot building in semi-disrepair. Here, the shipments of goods being delivered to the ranch occurred and passengers were loaded or disembarked.
Off to one side, a huge corral and loading platform eased the cattle on to the cattle cars. Just beyond that they had buried a very large cache of essential goods for the retreat. It also served as a backup of indispensable supplies in case the retreat was unavailable, for whatever reason.
Looking around, Mike noticed this had also been the place where the men camped and cut thousands of trees for the railway’s construction. Throughout the new growth were huge stumps that resembled tombstones revealing the size of the trees removed more than a century past. Some of those trees had been ten feet across and remained as silent reminders of a time when things were still relatively untouched.
A little ahead and off to the right of where the tracks once sat, an old water tower stood to the side for the steam locomotives’ water supply. It still stood as a silent sentry, yet another testament of times past. A small stream swept by this area and had been the water source to resupply the tower. It went under the tracks and fell from the side of the mountain in a small, but spectacular, waterfall. There was an impressive rainbow that was perpetually off to one side, hovering above the spiraling cascade of water whenever the sun was out.
Off to the right of a large stand of Douglas firs was a dirt road that disappeared from view. At the end of that road, hidden in the trees, was their retreat. Once a lonely derelict, it was now a beacon of hope and security that would serve as a refuge for them and several others.
In the old days, around the turn of the century, it had transformed through more than one design. What had begun as a pioneer cattle ranch was later converted into a prosperous and posh dude ranch. Later, it was simply forgotten and sat derelict and devoid of any human activity for more than eighty-five years.
There was a time when the railroad brought trainloads of people and visitors to this place. They also hauled in supplies, animals, vehicles, and spare parts that were eagerly awaited, at times for months, by the full-time inhabitants of the ranch. As time marched steadily onward, the owners eventually died off through the steady progression of years and the property sat in the state archives as an abandoned trust.
Mike and Dan found it, paid the back taxes after a brief but brisk round of negotiations with the state, and became the owners of what some might consider a ghost town; less the mineral rights, which the state retained for itself. It had everything a group such as theirs could need in preparation of an undetermined long haul. This was that time and no one knew or could even guess how long it would last.
Mike pulled out his GPS and found the coordinates that led them to the last cache. It had been designated a “last ditch” backup, which meant it was large and would take quite a few people to dig up and transport to the retreat. They eventually decided to skip it and wait for a larger body of the members to get that job done. They were tired and wanted to relax now that their journey was virtually complete.
The original purpose of this cache was two-fold and had shifted as they prepared over the years. Originally, it was the primary long-term cache that protected their resources before they established a rotation of groundskeepers at the retreat. Later, they had decided it would make a good fall-back supply in case something like a major fire rendered the retreat inaccessible.
It had taken a lot of bodies and a few trips to move it all here. It was going to take an equal amount to get it all to the retreat, which was another fifteen
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