Chapter 109: Back to Work

I was up with the first crow of the rooster. I had a lot to do that morning to get our work teams setup and busy, and that was only dealing with the men; Michelle would handle the women. I intently studied my project list and the work roster while I ate my breakfast. By the time I had finished my coffee, I had a plan for the day laid out. Sonya dutifully noted who I was putting where and who would be the team leader for each group. By the time I had finished my second cup, Timmons and Michelle had joined us and I ran it past them to check validity before I met with the men.

I was due to meet with the men at the center of the temporary village. so we headed over there to get things rolling. Pete and Mouse joined us once we got there. We had about ten minutes to chat before the men started to gather around. I breezed over our goals for the week just in time for the meeting to kick off.

We had our ‘Good Mornings’ and polite morning chats out of the way in a few minutes, then I pushed forward from there. I explained that our main goals were to try to finish the roads this week and get started on some more permanent builds. I then listed out the work crews. I saw some sideways looks, but nothing I couldn’t deal with.

I had two guys that had been apprentice carpenters and they would be working with Holder to build some structures. One was for the animals and the other for ourselves. First order of business would be a woodworking shop. The remainder would clear the road down to the prairie; Samuel would be in charge of that crew. The boatmen would finish the road down to the landing and start on a dock. Clearing the road meant pulling stumps and, understandably, nobody really wanted that duty.

Everybody was to go armed. We were still in wild country and preparation was the path to survival. Lunch would come around 10 a.m. and dinner at about 2p.m. We’d shut down for the day at 6 p.m., then supper was their wives’ responsibility. The road team was sent out, except for two men to put their pulling mule into traces. Amos and Mila trailed with the dog cart to move extra tools and chains in that.

Timmons headed out to the boat crew with the other mule. They had their tools and would be hard at work before I ever got there. That left me with Holder and the carpenters.

We walked over to the table and I rolled out our crude map. It was drawn on deerskin with charcoal and was hardly to scale. I wasn’t much of a cartographer or artist. I showed them where I wanted my carpentry shop built. It would sit at the very west end of the industrial sector. The Livery would be across the road and the Smithy would be adjacent to that.

It would start as a simple shack but would need to be hardened before the snow came. The toolshop would be their eastside neighbor and the lumber yard would be adjacent to that. I allocated them a full acre to start with. I went over property setbacks with them and explained the reasons. Although we didn’t need them initially, the setbacks would come into effect when we built more permanent buildings. With all that explained, I saddled Lunch, whistled up Brin, and we set off down to town.