Chapter 71 – Reeling from Rock Creek

As Abigail was waiting, Pastor Frank, Bill and Dee came in. The men had a seat around the table. Abigail could see that Bill looked exhausted and it was more than physical. She had only known him a few months, but she knew that whatever he had seen was wearing on him. Suddenly, Abigail was worried for the other men that had responded. She also understood what Charlotte was talking about and knew that she must be struggling as well. Abigail made a point to have Frank talk to Charlotte. She wasn't sure how Charlotte would respond to that, but Abigail knew that it was needed.

"Bill." Abigail said. "Are you alright?"

"I will be." Bill said. "It has been a long couple of days. I need to clean up, get some sleep and things will be better."

Wynn and Abigail both looked at Bill and knew that wasn't the case. Whatever he had seen was going to stay with him for a while. Wynn also knew that Bill was putting on his Mountie face and just moving forward. Wynn made a note to check on him later when they could talk in private.

"Did you find anyone else?" Dee asked.

"Not alive." Bill said. "Did the woman brought here make it?"

"Unfortunately, no." Pastor Frank said. "I sat with her husband and son as she passed."

"That was good of you." Bill said. "At least you were able to identify her. Were you able to identify the children?"

"Yes." Wynn said. "How many did you find and do you have names?"

"Everyone that we know that was at the settlement, has been accounted for." Bill said. "With the woman brought here, all fifteen women are dead and there are seven dead children. The two men at Rock Creek who lost family members have been notified. They will bury the dead or have them brought here if that is what the men want. I just need to let the mayor know."

"What are they doing about the five men that died?" Pastor Frank asked.

"They were going to bury them." Bill said. "They don't have a regular pastor, but they were going to have a burial. Lee had Mr Annesley to wait to hear from us before he went through with the burial."

Abigail got up to get Bill some coffee, since he looked like he really needed it.

"Can I propose that we have all the dead brought here?" Pastor Frank said. "Also the two men that lost their families. Then we can have a large funeral for everyone here, since most of the men are here. I think that we need to bury those families together."

"I agree." Wynn said.

"I think that can be arranged." Bill said.

"I think that is a wonderful idea." Abigail said. "Wynn, are there people that need to be notified? Let's get on that."

"Yes." Wynn said. "I am going through this list, and it looks like some of the women and children who died, the husband was also killed. It looks like we have at least one orphaned child, so far."

Wynn continued to go through the master list and make a list of his own.

"We will deal with that as well." Abigail said. "But I think that it is more important to let the husbands know about their wives and children first. Also as far as I can tell, most of the children are younger, so I don't know if they will understand, but we can try and have some of the other mothers talk to them."

"Dee." Wynn said. "Here is the list of men. How do we want to do this? We have nine men that we need to talk to, plus an eight year old boy who has lost both parents today."

"Can you bring the nine men here?" Bill said.

"I can bring six of the men here." Dee said, looking over the list. "One of the men is unconscious and may not make it. He is the father of the twin girls. The other man, I think, is the one with a badly broken arm and I know that Faith doesn't want him moving anymore than needed."

"How about Dee and I go talk to the men?" Pastor Frank said.

"Actually," Wynn said. "If you don't mind, please take McGinty. I need Dee to go over some information. Also make sure that the men that have children at the saloon know. I don't know if that has happened this afternoon yet."

"I will make sure." Pastor Frank said. "McGinty over at the mining office?"

"He should be there or at the jail." Dee said. "I know that he has been working on paperwork from the last few days. Feel free to come back here, both of you when you are done. I have a feeling that your input will be needed. I would also like to know how things went and if there is anything that needs to be done."

"Yes." Wynn said. "Please come back here and bring McGinty with you when you are done. You can tell him that on my order, he is to help you and paperwork can wait. Dee is right, your input will be needed. I also want to hear about how things went. We might also have more information for you about the funeral when you get back."

"Thank you, we will." Pastor Frank said, taking the list from Dee. "If I haven't said it before, I am so grateful that you are both here to help during this time. I know that it was because Jack was injured that you are here, but either way, I am grateful that you are here to help. I am not sure what the town would have done without you. I also know that there is more going on then I have been informed of. I am not asking that you tell me, but I want everyone to know that I am here to talk to if anyone needs it. This can't be easy on any of you."

Frank left to find McGinty and let the men know about their families. It wasn't a task that he was looking forward to, but he knew that it was part of his job to be there for the families of those who died. Pastor Frank knew that it was the least he could do was to let the men know about their families. He knew that if it was him, he would want to know, he was also glad that he didn't have to do it alone and that McGinty at least had some training and experience in doing notifications.

After Pastor Frank left, the group looked around. They all knew that they had hard days ahead, but they would do what they needed to do to move forward.

"Bill." Abigail said. "There are a couple of things that you should know. The owner of the Silverton and Rock Creek mines is in town. He has also made an offer to buy the Hope Valley mine. The council has voted to accept the offer if a deal can be reached. Andy Yeager, the owner, has ties to the Rocky Mountain Mining company in the States. Before you get upset, he was not happy with Mr Mullins, so Mr Mullins happens to be sitting in the jail. I don't know if he will be charged, but Mr Yeager thought he could cool his heels after causing a public disturbance."

"Can you trust this Mr Yeager?" Bill asked.

"Yes." Abigail said. "I think that he will be a good fit for the town. He had been concerned about his men that were injured. He has already struck a deal with Lee to build sixteen additional row houses. I also think that there is an option to add twelve additional after that if wanted. The new houses will be used to house families of miners here and Silverton first with part of the rent going back to Mr. Yeager until the cost of the building is paid off. Then the houses will become the sole property of the town and will be treated like the other row houses."

"Abigail." Dee said.

"Yes." Abigail said.

"I was looking at the map and have been out to the field by the row houses." Dee said. "I think that they could put in more houses with a slightly different layout. It would require adding another road, but that wouldn't be hard, just done by use. You would be able to get twenty-two houses in the middle. It might also mean putting in four additional pumps, and I would be willing to help secure funding for that if needed. I think in the long run, you will need the houses and the spacing would pretty much be the same as the current row with a couple on the ends facing the roads. Those around the pumps might have a little more room, but they will also have more people around their houses."

"If you think it will work." Abigail said. "Please talk to Lee. You are right, the housing will eventually be needed and I think that there are spots marked for the pumps, but they aren't capped and have a wooden platform like the others."

"I will." Dee said. "I will also double check on the additional pumps and see what needs to be done. Don't worry about it, I will handle it."

"Thank you." Abigail said. "At least that is something off my plate."

"How have things been here?" Bill asked.

"Things have been okay." Abigail said. "We have been trying to work on housing and restarting school. The town is doing what it has to. We have been grateful for Wynn and Dee. I think that we need to start getting back to normal around here. I know that we have hard days ahead, but I think that a routine will help everyone."

"I couldn't agree more." Bill said. "We need to start getting back to normal. I think that the first step will be getting families settled and the people back to work. I also agree that if the mine is reopening, we will need housing. What has Mr Yeager said about getting the men back to work?"

"Mr Yeager, Andy." Wynn said. "Has expressed getting the men that are able back to work as soon as possible. He was talking about taking the single men back to Rock Creek and getting that back up and running."

"What about those men with families?" Bill asked.

"We need to talk to them about that." Wynn said. "Andy said that he would be willing to take them back, but he wants a more stable environment for the children. I think that if we can get the families settled, maybe the men can go back to work and then travel back and forth on off days. I know that we need to talk about things more. Speaking of men able to return to work, Dee do you have a list from Faith?"

"Yes." Dee said. "I have a list of all the men that Faith would be willing to release on Friday. She was thinking that the men and families might need a few more days, especially with more wounded coming in."

"Let me see the list." Wynn said.

"How many names?" Abigail asked.

"Fifteen men from Silverton, sixteen if you include Wyatt Weaver." Wynn said. "And it looks like nine of the men from Rock Creek. Granted that includes men with families, including four men from Rock Creek who have lost their wives and now have small children to care for. There are also seven men that are married, but don't have children. There are also three married men with children. That is from both places."

"Well, we will talk to Andy." Abigail said. "Then we will give the people their choices. Please know that I think as a town, we need to step up and help all those who have lost a family member. Especially men and women who now find themselves as single parents. There are people in this community that understand the challenges that these people face and I believe that they will be there to help them face these new challenges."

"I couldn't agree more." Bill said. "I think that it is going to be up to the families, but the single men should head back to work once they have been released."

"I agree with you both." Wynn said. "We need to get this list to Mr Yeager and then I think that you need to talk to the town as a whole, including all that have been brought here."

"Do you know where Mr Yeager is?" Bill asked.

"I think that he may be at the saloon." Dee said. "I will go see. I know that he wanted to spend some time with his men. He was also trying to keep a low profile so as not to add to the gossip that is running through town."

"Thank you." Wynn said.

Dee got up and left to find Andy. After he left, the discussion continued.

"The housing is coming along." Wynn said. "Dee shared what he had been working on. I have made a few suggestions and this is what we have come up with."

Wynn pulled out a hand drawn map of the town. He then pulled out another piece of paper. Wynn set both pieces of paper on the table and motioned for Abigail and Bill to come closer. Everyone could tell that Dee had put a lot of thought into what he had given his father. Abigail was impressed with the hand drawn map. Other than the one she had seen from Jack, it was one of the better ones that had been done.

"Here are the four apartments." Wynn said, pointing to each one. "Number one behind the mercantile. The downstairs is used as storage for the mercantile and the building is owned by Ned Yost and he agreed to rent it at the same rate that the town does. Since it is the largest, I thought that we could put Mona Weaver and her three boys in that one if they want to stay. In apartment number two, which is upstairs of the building next to Coulter Enterprises. As far as we could tell the downstairs is empty and no evidence of a business ever moving in. It looks like town storage right now since the building is owned by the town. I thought that we could put Kurt and Wilma Larson with their daughter Maggie.

In apartment number three, is upstairs of the building behind the mayor's office here. It looks like it is an old gun smith building. It also looks like that building is owned by the town. I thought that we could put Andrew and Cynthia Bell with their son Jonah. In apartment number four, is upstairs of the building next to the dentist office. The downstairs looks like it was a tailor's shop. The building appears to be owned by William Bolt who has the newspaper. Apparently, he has moved to Benson Hills, but has left Ned Yost to care for his buildings. Again, Ned assured me that the apartment could be rented at the same rate that the town charges. I was thinking about Matt and Sara Anderson with their daughter Victoria."

"If Mr Bolt is living in Benson Hills." Bill asked. "Who is running the newspaper?"

"He does." Abigail said. "He is here a couple days a week. I think that he has been looking to hire someone to run the office. Since the paper is only published once a week, he does most of the work in Benson Hills at the newspaper he owns there. If he can't find someone to run it, he might shut this one down and we would get a weekly paper from Benson Hills."

"Good to know." Wynn said. "Side note, do you think he would be willing to sell it? You don't have to answer right now, but something to keep in mind. I think I might know someone who would be willing to buy it. We have time to talk about things."

"I don't know him." Bill said. "But I can't see him holding on to it if someone made him a fair offer."

"I agree with Bill." Abigail said.

"Good." Wynn said. "We will talk more about it later."

"I think that is a good plan that Dee and you came up with, but can I suggest some changes." Abigail said. "I do know now, I have two row houses available, so I was thinking that we can put the Weaver family in a row house. I was also thinking of a row house for Nancy Tucker and the Bell family. I learned that Nancy and Cynthia Bell are sisters, so they wouldn't mind sharing. Then the apartments could go to the Larson family and Anderson family. Then the other two can go to Roy and Edith Hall with their little one and the Grady family since Ann has her mother here as well. I was thinking of using Gowen's old house for the injured that need to stay here.

Lee also reminded me of the seven cabins on the north road, but they would need some work. I don't think that any have been used since the mine accident over a year ago. Most of the people that stayed there were single men or men with wives who left after the accident. They are all currently owned by the town and I would be willing to sell or rent them if they are usable. We also have the three cabins on the south road. Again, they need work."

"I knew about the cabins on the south road." Wynn said. "Hickum said that they definitely would need work, that was why I didn't include them. The cabins on the north road are also good options. Let's focus on what we have right in town or the row houses at the moment."

"That sounds like a good plan." Bill said. "We can always still use the tents and I know that Dee said something about more tents coming."

"Yeah, there are five more tents coming." Wynn said. "As I told Abigail before, the town is welcome to use them for as long as you need."

"I think that's the thing that we need to focus on right now." Abigail said. "Is getting the families that want to stay settled and then moving forward as a town. I know that there are changes coming especially with the reopening of the mine, Lee expanding the sawmill and the coming of the railroad at some point. It is not public knowledge yet, but Lee has reached an agreement with the railroad for a spur line to the mill and they talked about the possibility of laying a main line through the valley next year. They are also laying tracks from Union City to Buxton. Nothing about the main line going past Buxton is official and the town hasn't been approached. I assume there would also be a spur line to the mine, but I will leave that to Andy to deal with, unless it requires the use or need of town owned land."