In The Beginning

  Chapter Fifty Nine

  Three moons later I stood on the bank of the Great River, watching the water slowly flow past me. The speed of the river would cause us no problem. The problem was the great width we would need to traverse.

  We had chosen this spot because it was almost due west of where we would build the city, and also because a large forest grew almost to the river’s edge. The forest could provide more than enough logs for the ferries, as well as all the buildings we would need to construct on both sides of the river to support the ferry service.

  I stood with about twenty members of my family discussing how we would anchor the ferry boats. Behind us, in a clearing back from the river, some men and women were setting up the camp we would live in while we built a small village to support the ferry on this side of the river. We would also need to construct some guest houses on the far side of the river.

  We had all arrived over the last few days, and the village was already laid out. People were at work felling trees and gathering the rock we would need for the village and the pilings that we would use to anchor the ferry boats. Another crew was bringing long, straight logs to the river to build the ferries.

  These ferries would be quite simple, but very large. They would be long, wide and able to carry a great volume of cargo. We would need to anchor posts deep into the ground, and make the thickest, strongest ropes I had ever seen to allow us to cross the river the way we planned. The ferrymen and passengers would pull the boat across the river using these ropes. It would be a difficult job, but I was quite confident it could be done.

  The ferries would cross the river on an angle, which would allow the full ferry boat to go with the current and the empty boat to crab across the river and take much of the work off the ferrymen. While crossing from our side to the east, the full ferry moved with the flow of water to the north. When crossing the river to our side from the east, the full ferry once again would move to the north. This requirement meant that the boat landings on this side of the river would be next to each other, while on the eastern side they would be quite a ways apart.

  We finished our discussion of the pilings. It was decided that we would use three large tree trunks, binding them together to create a huge piling as an anchor for the ferry rope. This piling would be buried deep in the ground and surrounded by rock. We would need to do this four times, twice on each side of the river. Once this heavy, difficult work was done and we were able to connect the two sides with a permanent ferry line, work on the other side of the river would be possible.

  Over the next few weeks we made steady progress. The settlement for the ferry landing on this side of the river continued to be built. The pilings were installed and the ropes attached on our side of the river. Carrying the logs and rocks across for the pilings on the other side was a difficult job, but once the first piling was completed on the far side we quickly had a permanent ferry crossing.

  I was thankful the ferry boat crossed on the rope as well as I had imagined. While I had been confident it would work, one can never be sure until it is actually done.

  Once the first ferry line was completed and running I set off with a work crew. We traveled due east towards the eventual location of the new city. We had oxen pulling carts filled with food, water, and building supplies. Everything we required to build the guest houses along the road would need to be transported from the river. I expected transporting the supplies to be the most challenging part of building the guest houses. It would be a long and tedious undertaking to move everything we needed eastwards across the plains, especially rocks and logs.

  Every day crews would cross the river to carry supplies along the road. The builders would continue to be supplied this way as we crossed the plains, building guest houses and digging water holes which were spaced one travel day apart. I believed we would need to build at least fifteen guest houses to get across the plains. I hoped we could find water beneath the ground at each of our locations.

  We walked for what we considered to be a solid days’ worth of travel, and when the sun dropped low in the sky we set up a camp. This would be the site of the first guest house. Early the next morning we started work. Part of the crew began setting the logs for the framework of the structure that would become the main building of the guest house, while another crew began digging the first water hole near the building.

  Digging a water hole was hard work. The grass roots stretched deep into the soil, and it was quite difficult to cut through them and reach the softer soil beneath. Once we hit the soft soil the ground was damp, which was how the grass received the water it needed to live. As we continued to dig, eventually we reached a point where the water began to fill up the bottom of our hole. We kept digging, pulling large pails of mud out of the hole, until we had deep water in the bottom of the pit. It took several days to complete, and we finished by placing a loose layer of rock in the bottom to keep mud out of the water.

  I stayed with the work crew the entire time, and together we built everything that was needed for a guest house. Since this was the first one, I wanted to use it as a model for all the guest houses that would follow.

  We built two solid, comfortable structures. One was a home for the family that would run the guest house, and it would also house small groups of travelers. The other building was for those times when large groups were crossing the plains and more living space was needed. We also dug several additional water holes and built all the assorted outbuildings and paddocks that would be needed for a guest house.

  In the future, after I laid out the site and we dug the first water hole, I would take another work crew and continue to the east to locate the next guest house. I would leave behind a leader and all the workers that were needed to build the structures and dig the rest of the water holes. By leapfrogging across the plains this way, I hoped we would be able to build several guest houses at one time.

  The process proved to be as tedious as I had imagined, but it worked. Every day a fresh caravan of material arrived at the furthest point of the road, and we were able to keep working on several guest houses at a time as we slowly but steadily moved across the plains.

  The third guest house was completed just as we were breaking ground to begin the seventh. Things were moving smoothly and everyone knew what was expected of them. I was no longer needed on a daily basis, so I took a break from the plains and went back to the river to see what progress had been made.

  I was very impressed. The ferry villages on both sides of the river were nearing completion, and both of the ferry lines were now crossing the river many times a day, carrying the materials and people that were needed to build the guest houses.

  The village on the east side of the river was quite small, little more than a couple large guest houses and their outbuildings and paddocks, since it existed only to house a few ferry workers and any travelers that were forced to stay on that side of the river for a night. The village on the western side of the river was larger, since it was expected to support the bulk of the travelers, the ferrymen and their families.

  Many of the people that had been working on the villages were now being transferred to work crews to transport supplies across the plains and build the guest houses. Eventually, as construction continued to the far side of the plains, a huge crew would be needed to supply those that were building the guest houses.

  My grandchildren were the leaders in every phase of this endeavor. My children all had positions of high authority in cities across the land, and they were not able to leave their posts to go to the east. This was the perfect adventure for the younger members of our family; those that were looking for more excitement. Settling a new land was exactly what they needed.

  My grandson Talencar was leading the construction of the western village, while my granddaughter Alerca was in charge of the eastern village. Andaran was responsible for the building materials for all the construction, and Sataran was in charge of the daily supply caravans that crossed the plains. Many ot
her grandchildren also served in positions of leadership, and I was proud of every one of them.

  We were making steady progress, moving even faster than I had expected. Since there had been no problems up to this point and I had been away from Kalou and my city for more than two moons already, I decided to take some time and travel home for a visit.

  I brought Kalou up to date on our progress, and she was amazed by all we had been able to accomplish thus far.

  “At this rate you will be across the plains and starting on the city in another four moons!” she exclaimed.

  “Yes, we are moving steadily,” I said. “I can’t wait for you to see the new land. The plains, as boring as they are to travel across, are something that everyone should see. They are perfectly flat and seem to go on forever. When you look around you feel like you are in a world made up of only tall green grass and endless blue sky. They are a wonder to behold.”

  “Yes, you make them sound lovely. I can’t wait to walk across them for days on end,” Kalou said with a sidelong glance and a slight smile.

  I had to laugh. It was so good to be home with my wife.

  After a brief but satisfying visit I had to return to the river and the far plains. We were moving east at a rate of about two guest houses each moon, and after the tenth guest house was begun I gathered several of my offspring and we traveled to the mountains, to the spot where the new city was to be located. I had been correct in my estimation. It would require sixteen days travel, with stops at fifteen guest houses, for a person to cross the plains. While this was a long journey, it was one that most people would do only once in their lifetime. While I expected there would always be steady traffic both ways along the road, most of those that came to the east would stay, never returning to the west.

  When we reached the site we spent a few days surveying the surrounding area. We had chosen a good location. It had everything that was needed to allow a great city to thrive, and this was important. This city was to be the capital of the east, and it would be the city from which all others would grow. After we reviewed the site and made some final plans, we returned to our work on the road and the guest houses. We were now completely focused on finishing that road and reaching our destination.

  The roadway, including both villages and the chain of guest houses, was completed in six moons time. It was an incredible accomplishment, perhaps the greatest of my life.

  By the time we completed the road and the final guest house, the majority of the people that would build the city were on the site. My grandson Lataron was in charge of building and would lead the city. I intended to visit several times during construction, but I would soon be going home to Enoch for a good, long stay.

  Most of the workers that had built the road and the guest houses would also be building and living in the new city. Now that construction on the city was set to begin, farmers could travel across the plains and start to establish the fields and flocks that would be required to support the city. Though the long journey and the distance from the rest of the nation would make the process move more slowly than usual, this was now essentially nothing more than building a new city. This was something our nation had done many times in the last three hundred years, so I was confident we would be successful.

  I had decided to call the city Kan-Eden in honor of the new start that God had provided for us. Though I truly enjoyed the excitement and adventure of opening up a new land to settlement, I looked forward to going home to Kalou. It would be good to be back in the peace and quiet of my home.