Jan 29 2009
What Makes a Town Last
All across the west, through Arizona, California, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Montana the landscape is dotted with towns that used to be. Most of the towns that were built by pioneers and adventurers simply didn’t make it. People built in areas that had no resources or too few resources.
The landscape changed quickly, and with it the sources of income. The stage line that ran through one year would be replaced by the railroad the next. Suddenly the towns along the railroad prospered and the others disappeared. Gold appeared one day and in a few months towns of several thousand sprouted to life. A year or two later the same towns completely disappeared.
Today the landscape doesn’t change as quickly. Offices that belong to one company can be replaced quickly by leasing them to another company. Jobs change. Products change. Services change. The expenses associated with building and rebuilding are often prohibitive, especially when much of the work can be done with email or tele-conferencing.
