Old West town population topic question

[Michi]

I found the "Hell on wheels" show rather inspirational for such details. There were tent cities at the beginning and established boom towns in later seasons. Although it is a TV show, I consider it quite convincing regarding the assembly of the population.

[modelwarrior]

Found this interesting:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Tombstone_fire_insurance_map_1888.jpg

[FifteensAway]

Those Sanborn insurance maps can be great sources of historical information.  The one linked in particular shows how businesses were so often 'cheek by jowl' packed together.  Only some of the 15 mm buildings on the market allow that though I suspect many can be modified to make it work.  A Dremel tool - with proper safety gear - can make the job a lot easier.

[fred]

That map is incredible- the density of buildings in the central few blocks, then very sparse very quickly.

Also interesting that most of the buildings are adobe in construction - from the shapes I was expecting wooden.

Would make for some very different games with a solid wall of shop fronts down each side of the street, no handy gaps between shops for figures to duck into.

[Cory]

While there can be a lot of variation based on gold camps versus cattle towns versus farm towns, the Northern Pacific Railroad in the 1880s figured a population of 40 to 50 people in the area for every "substantial" building in town. This is a way of estimating service demand and I have never seen the formula explained, it just shows up in their calculations for building branch lines.

[FifteensAway]

Adobe?  But two fires ripped through Tombstone which suggest a lot of wooden buildings - supported by a lot of the photos I've seen.  Perhaps after the fires adobe became more common.  And likely common in the earliest days.

What is the evidence for "most of the buildings are adobe"?  I didn't see a legend on the map.  Is it part of additional records?

The famous shootout occurred in between these two fires.

[fred]

The key is rather hidden (its just words) - it is towards the bottom right - between the word STAFFORD and the compass rose

[modelwarrior]

The key is rather hidden (its just words) - it is towards the bottom right - between the word STAFFORD and the compass rose

 I wonder what ,"specials" are ? Highly flammable ?

[fred]

Struggling to read / understand the labels on most of the green specials.

Some are carpentry, one looks to be a wash house, several have something like Bl sm on then, paint features on one or two. And one has barrels of water on the roof.

So all in all - don’t know!

[anevilgiraffe]

looks like a mix of high risk (woodshop, smithy) or high value (print shop, hotel) although the map doesn't agree with the list of specials given as to what should be green according to the key.

[FifteensAway]

Thanks, Fred, found it.  So, map is dated five years or so after the shootout and about four years after the second of two fires.  So, next question is how much of the adobe construction was post fire?  Not sure how to track that down but it would add an additional dimension to understanding the overall situation at the time of the shootout.

edit: did some hunting and found this article: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-best-reads/2016/03/09/inglorious-arizona-when-jerome-and-tombstone-burned-and-burned-again/81447420/

Very last paragraph in article talks about Tombstone rebuilding too fast with combustible materials.

I wonder if it was much like Sacramento, near where I live,  that got hit bad by fire and then rebuilt with more fire resistant materials:

"November 2, 1852

On this day in 1852, Sacramento’s great fire, known as the Great Conflagration, burned more than 80 percent of the structures in the city. The structures were mainly made of canvas and wood. It is estimated that the total damages from the fire was around six million dollars. The fire started at the millinery shop of Madame Lanas on J and 4th Street. Within a month, 761 structures were re-built, many of them in brick; many installed with iron shutters to help prevent fire-wind fanning. The Lady Adams building is the only original building in Old Sacramento to survive the fire."

Be curious if anyone can find more information about when the adobe buildings in Tombstone started to predominate - before the fire or after?  Adobe seems like it would be pretty close to fire proof - depending on the roofing material.

Another edit: looking again at the Sanborn map and doing some further checking, the buildings with dw'g are dwellings - houses.  Looks like the Chinese section was at the west end of town (on the map), the northern portion was the 'respectable' portion of town to live in and the southern portion the shadier area, miner's shacks, etc.  Clearly, there were a quite a number of residences in the town separate from the businesses.

And on the official population of around 7,000 - that was only white males eligible to vote, did not include women, children, and other ethniticities so probably closer to 15-20 thousand total population. 

And the whole phenomenon really only lasted for about 15, maybe 20, years before it collapsed back to a very small town once the silver mining dwindled substantially.

[terrement]

Another shot in the dark but from another direction.

What is your town like?  What do the people "do?"  How long has it been there?  Some of the buildings will vary based on that.  Families more likely in more settled, less chaotic towns.

What are the twenty buildings in the town?  Some could fit into multiple categories - you know your town better than I do.

Some buildings are more likely to have families with kids.  Of these and given the hazards of getting to the old west and staying there once you got there, at least some of the families will be single parent. I think these will likely be shopkeepers, or a few tradespeople.  General store or two.  Gunsmith, leather goods, feed stores, hardware/tool stores, other specialty stores.  Nicer boarding houses/hotels.  Newspaper.  Church.  Stable and wagon repairs.  Laundry.

Some are more likely to be adults only or primarily adults.  Saloons, Gambling parlors, Soiled dove coups (dedicated, as opposed to the one to three possible above the saloons.  Town marshal / county sheriff.  Mayor.  Stage coach line office.  Stockyard (could be for holding beeves or horses until the train arrived, or local facilities for horses, mules, livestock <hogs, sheep, chickens, etc.>).  Opium den.

Some are quite possibly single person.  Based on the very reliable historical accounts in TV and movies, this might be your doctor, school marm, gunsmith blacksmith, undertaker, livery stable, telegraph, train station, assay office, land office, dressmaker/tailoring, barber/minor medical.

A representative but hardly all inclusive list.  A town that sprung up because of a silver/gold/copper strike last month will be different, for better or worse, in another six months.  Clientele there likely different from a town that sprung up similar time frame but for a new sawmill / logging operation.  Or for a transfer point of herded livestock.  Or adjacent/nearby an Army post or fort.

So, lots of variables.

Option two.  You aren't needing to model all of the civilian activity in the town for your specific scenario.  The number of "wander around, get in the way, lookie-loos, nosey britches" with their normal day will vary.   A bank holdup scenario designed to be as soon as the bank opens (or jumping the manager as he goes in the back door before it opens) will have a few people out on the street.  Riding out for an early start.  Heading to the cook house for breakfast.  Making a run to the food store.  Shops won't necessarily be open yet.  Compare this to a shootout from a barroom dispute well after sunset while decent folks are already at home.  So, think about the setting of the scene for your play

[FifteensAway]

Good ideas to consider terrement.  And the 20 buildings was just for discussion, I will be able to do smaller towns and MUCH larger towns, just ordered a bunch of 3D Old West buildings yesterday from Tabletop Terrain (great source for variety of scales); maybe eventually add some more adobe style building but that is very much a wait and see.

And just for the self-indictment of mild 'hobby insanity', if all are painted I'm pretty sure I could put - literally - 1,000 civilians on the table if all painted (but 3 to base).  Why so many?  Finding the answer would induce actual insanity so I don't worry about it.  Just kept adding here and there when I found something new or created some new desire to add something.   And even with that, if I could find some more variety in Old West women and children, I might be induced to add more!   In 15 mm, of course.  And mounted women would be a for certain if I liked them.

Maybe one day I'll be able to outfit 10 gamers with a complete Old West - and Pony Wars - set up!  Figures, buildings, even a good chunk of terrain.  Not just yet, though.  ALL MINE for now!  . 

[modelwarrior]

Been reading a bit about the numerous fires in Tombstone and the rebuilding and it seems even though adobe walls were eventually used people still preferred wood as it was cheap and in abundance. Also the fire damage was rebuilt within 3 months(adobe and wood construction being used) and the 2nd fire burnt down another section of the town. Something else that comes across about the old Wild West towns was how really flamable they were. Just about every trade was a fire inspectors worse nightmare

[modelwarrior]

 So to answer a question asked above,adobe walls started to appear after the first fire(but only in the fire damaged quarter) and they were a combination of wood and adobe so still not totally fire proof. I think the picture sums up the issue with only certain walls being adobe and the rest wood