As technology inexorably advanced, industrialization spread through Elan. Resources were discovered and utilized, buildings were constructed, and rails were laid to connect it all. In this climate, a privileged few struck while the iron was hot, climbing to the top of their industries and dominating markets. Mining, timber, fishing, ranching, and railwork - all were revolutionized to meet an ever-growing demand.
Of course, this mounting demand cannot be met without supply, and supply cannot be maintained without workers. Many thousands of Elanites saw opportunity in the new companies, and employment swelled as people signed on to get a piece of the profits. There was a call for labor like nothing ever before - and a chance for money within it. And, as railroads connected communities from the Girdle to the Bryne, more opportunities emerged. Now, previously uninhabited land needed to be worked upon, and a mass of workers were needed to get the jobs done. The solution that was settled upon was simple yet effective: company towns.
Company towns are just as their name would suggest. These settlements are created, funded, and maintained by the companies that created the need for them. The spawning of these particular towns are simple, at first. Resources and building materials are sent along the rails to the railjacks at the termini, where simple shelters are constructed to house the teams laying track, digging a mine, or tending herds. Over time, these temporary encampments can become more intentional and permanent, serving as a home to many employees without a hearth or family to return to. Companies understand the importance of these slapdash communities, and more employees are hired in turn - doctors, builders, grocers, and smiths sent to ensure the well-being and maintenance of these halfway towns and the people who live there.
On the surface, company towns aren’t particularly different from the numerous villages and hamlets occupying the space between Elan’s mighty cities. Families live together in houses, people go to the saloon for a drink after a hard day’s work, and the Code and peace are maintained by the town’s keeper and a group of deputies. Much like many rural Elanite towns, a single industry is particularly nucleic to each town: a mine, for example, at which a significant percentage of the town’s workers find employment. Touring performance acts and newsjacks even make appearances from time to time to entertain the locals and update them on the happenings in the rest of the world.
However, upon a closer look, the disparities become apparent. First, rather than being elected, town authorities are assigned by the company. The four primary positions are the sheriff, the purser (runs market and keeps supplies and commerce flowing), the director (analogous to mayor in a common town, but directly instructed by the board of the company), and the foreman (in charge of the company’s operations in town, including arrivals, departures, and projects, and answers to the director). While the power is shared transparently without much overlap or argument, the company has final say on everything in town. While this can make authority figures unpopular characters in town, control over everyone’s employment and welfare usually means that any criticism aimed at them, the Board, or the company in general happens behind closed doors.
Second, everything from medical operations to groceries to brothel tabs are not paid in money, but in company-issued currency, or chits, only good for use in the town. On the nose, chits are valued less than the same amount in standard cash, but an employee discount on all town services ensures that the discrepancy isn’t noticeable to the locals. It’s only those who attempt to leave town who realize how little a chit is valued outside the company’s jurisdiction - which means that most employees tend to stay put and have enough to go around rather than head back home with hardly enough to buy the train ticket.
Finally, if you’re working in the town, as a railjack or a smith or a gravedigger, you’re working for the company. Every week, the worker’s hours are paid out. If someone doesn’t show up, the pay is added to their bank account, and it’s impossible to pull money out of that on the spot. Unsponsored work - that is, work not under company oversight - is prohibited by Code, and the sheriff and deputies have been tasked with cracking down on profit that doesn’t pass through the company’s grasp. Naturally, some disagree with such practice, and fleeting undermarkets dealing in chit, barter, and trade for outside contraband and secret services are not unheard of - that is, until the authorities shut them down.
The Dauntless Railroad’s crossing of the Girdle was promptly followed by the reestablishment of the town of Hargrove under Dauntless ownership. Acting as the railroad’s hub and starting point for projects exploring the Thorpe Territory’s interior, Hargrove receives special attention from the Board in terms of incentivizing people to start new lives there. Teams of railjacks and other employees often pass through on their way to continue laying track in several directions. Unusually for a company town, another corporation is permitted to operate within the town: the Silver Pine Trading Company, a loose affiliation of trappers, traders, and foragers using the town as a base for work on the fringes of the town. Their willingness to take chits enables them to operate with ease in the town’s economy and provide goods that may not be otherwise available to company employees. The sheriff and deputies usually don’t hassle them too much - that is, unless they’re trafficking contraband products like unlicensed alcohol and firearms into town. The town is also home to a thriving congregation, which sometimes meets on Saturdays under company auspice and observation. Seeing as everything is provided and owned by the Dauntless Railroad, the surveillance comes at no surprise.
Although living in Hargrove means a lot of hard work and long days, the resources afforded to the locals are better than those in many company towns. Indeed, although many have stepped off the train here in town, none have headed back over the mountains yet. It’s as though everyone in town has the same curious feeling - that of excitement, and of potential. The future seems closer here, and the people are eager to step forward into it.