[IW] Tsar

[Anders]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Let me get this straight-

The US ended a civil war with reasonable negotiations that prevented a behemoth federal government from lording it over the states, ended slavery, and preserved the Union through what was effectively a peace treaty?
And it's only CR 3?

Hot damn, fire up the conveyor! I'm moving to...America.

:)

I'm level 5 so I should be able to defeat all of America on my own.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

I'm level 5 so I should be able to defeat all of America on my own.

Okay, but remember TR might need to whup both you and Combatmedic. And if you don't fear Teddy, fear Mother Jones! She'd only be 89, so she'd be young enough to both of you over her knee.

[tshiggins]

So, Michele, this idea sorta grabbed my imagination, and I came up with a alt-history campaign with an Old West/Special Ops riff. Think "Two Mules for Sister Sara" on steroids.

I wrote up a background. Tell me what you think.

************************************************** *********

(Tape-recorded lecture, West Point Military Academy, February 1939).

All right, cadets. Now that we're all settled in, let's begin.

As we discussed in the last session, the geography and topography of a particular theater profoundly influences the shape of the conflict that takes place, there. The availability of indigenous food supplies, the presence of potable water, and even the lay of the land, itself, determine ease of movement, the difficulty of logistics, and layout of defenses and avenues of attack.

An understanding of these factors, in addition to the technological capabilities of the combatants, the doctrines embraced by the military of each side, and the skill of the officers, themselves, shape the very perceptions of the conflict. Sometimes, the ability to perceive an opportunity can depend on the proper understanding of land across which conflict takes place, as well as the population of the region.

We'll use the Colorado Conflict, and the role it played in shaping the Northwest “River” War, 20 years ago, as a way to examine these concepts.

Now, then. We're about to find out who did the reading, and who didn't. According to the author of the analysis I assigned at the end of last session, what was -- and is -- the single most important factor in understanding the shape and progress conflicts in the Rocky Mountain West, in the late 19-teens and early 1920s?

Yes? Good! Water! What was it about water that made it a key factor in the Colorado Conflict, and the primary determinant of victory and defeat in the Idaho Theater?

Hah! Five points, cadet. Quite succinct and almost exactly right -- there isn't any. Or, to be more accurate, there simply isn't very much.

To those of us brought up in the midwestern states, around the Mississippi River, and especially those who grew up east of there, the aridity of the west is difficult to comprehend. Picture a line that runs, roughly, up the course of the Sabine River from the Gulf, through the Oklahoma Indian Territories to Wichita, Topeka, Sioux City and then along the main course of the Missouri River.

To the east of that line, we have well-watered tall-grass prairie that gradually changes over -- or did, before we chopped it down -- to climax deciduous forests. Those forests used to cover Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. In fact, large swaths of those old forests still remain. Those give way to climax coniferous forests, along the Appalachians, and then the land turns to the lush green lands of the piedmont between the Appalachians and the Atlantic. Movement of troops and supplies, in that region, was facilitated by the multitude of deep and navigable rivers, even before we built the railroads.

The difficulty, in that area, is getting across the wide rivers and through the densely wooded areas, without suffering from heatstroke in the southern summers or frostbite in the northern winters. We've all read about the logistics and health problems suffered by both the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War, due to the constant humidity that exacerbated both the summer heat and winter chill.

To the west of that line, though, the country changes dramatically. The lush, tall-grass prairie soon gives way to an increasingly arid climate that shortens the grass and dries the soil. Pretty soon, the only trees we ever see grow along the banks of the increasingly rare and shallow rivers. The Missouri is only navigable by riverboats as far as Omaha. Past that point, small flatboats can make it as far as about Pierre. After that, the only option, before we built the railroads and military highways, was wagon-trails.

Once we reach western sections of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas, the only reliable water sources are the Missouri River and its few tributaries, and the Arkansas River that marked our effective southwest border with Iberian territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mejico. The actual border ran along the Rio de los Carneros Cimarron, but the water flow through that streambed is so sporadic that neither we nor the Iberians could use it to supply troops. Effectively, our control ended at the Arkansas River, and theirs stopped at the Rio Cañadiano, with a hundred miles of dry prairie between.

North and west, U.S. territory extended all the way to the Rocky Mountains, with the majority of the population along the Missouri and its various tributaries. The only two cities of consequence, in the area west of Kansas City, are Omaha and Denver. Omaha's prominence is obvious, at a glance. It's the point where the Missouri is no longer navigable and cargoes must shift to land-transport. However, the area is still lush and well-watered enough to support intensive agriculture. That combination makes a fair-sized city almost inevitable.

Denver, on the other hand, is an anomaly. It has only two sources of reliable water. One is the so-called South Platte River, which is the only stream of any consequence that has water in it, year-round. Moreover, to call it a "river" is to give it far more credit than it deserves. South of its confluence with the Northern Platte River, the South Platte would make a fairly decent creek, in Kentucky or Illinois.

The other source is a peculiar man-made lake, in the hills west of Denver, about half-way between the city and the mountains, proper. A farmer named Sloan tried to dig a well, out there, and accidentally struck a large artesian aquifer, which promptly flooded most of his land. "Sloan's Farm" then became "Sloan's Lake.” Eventually, the Denver city government bought it from him for a good price, and he retired early as a reasonably wealthy man. The river, the lake, various smaller streams, and the shallow aquifers, provide Denver with the water needed to support a large population, but resource economy was critical.

[tshiggins]

The Western River War - Part II

Denver started out as a mining camp along one of those smaller streams, in the early 1850s, when gold was found in Cherry Creek. The deposits, there, were small, but encouraged prospectors to expand their searches into the mountains west of town. Other placer deposits were found, and triggered the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. In 1859, large deposits of gold were found in the area around the mining towns of Central City and Blackhawk, along the banks of Clear Creek, west of Denver. Within 10 years, that area was called “The Richest Square Mile on Earth.”

The gold mines, and the rich silver mines found later, posed a problem for the U.S. government. While clearly worth defending, the close proximity of the Iberians, to the south, made that defense problematic. The 1870s saw continuous skirmishes along the Arkansas River, as the Iberians probed our ability to defend the sudden source of immense wealth.

To the northwest, another problem became apparent. Tsarist explorers and settlers began to push along the Reka Zmeinyj, the Serpentine River. That river flows from west to east from headwaters in the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains, to its confluence with the Columbia River, in Tsarist North America. The Serpentine River valley lies in, and helps to create, a fertile piedmont between the rugged alpine area to the north, and the deserts of the Great Basin, to the south, which separates the Rocky Mountains from the Sierra Nevada range. The Reka Smeinyj provides one of the only – and the most reliable -- routes across that desert.

A quick look at the map, and you see the problem. While Denver lay near the “Richest Square Mile on Earth” in the 1870s, by the mid-1880s, Butte, Montana was known as the “Richest Hill on Earth.” Prospectors found gold and silver there, and that triggered the initial boom. However, the real wealth came with the discovery of the greatest deposit of copper ore in North America, at a time when telegraphy – and the need for copper wire –
had begun to rapidly increase in importance.

If we look at the course of the Serpentine River, we find that its headwaters lie just on the other side of the Continental Divide from the copper mines at Butte.

The Russians were moving right at it.

The problem for the Russians, and the advantage for us, was that while the Serpentine River valley offered a route across the desert, that route was pretty rugged and the river, itself, stopped being navigable not far from its confluence with the Columbia River. That posed serious logistical problems for the Tsarist advance. They had to build the infrastructure to support the military, as they went, which meant the ability of the Russians to project power advanced only about as fast as the pace of settlement.

The other problem, to the Russians, was the presence of British Canada, to their north. The Queen and the Tsar never got along particularly well, and the frequent friction between the two monarchies over European affairs meant the Tsarist settlements along the Serpentine faced constant threats of raids by Canadian cavalry, at any point. With their typical conservatism, the Tsar only allowed settlements the military could defend, and that slowed the pace of advance, even more.

Still, by the turn of the 20th Century, the Tsarists lay within striking distance of Butte, with only the rugged mountains of the Continental Divide between them. South of Butte, between Montana and Denver, lay the relatively passable reach of the mountains at the headwaters of the Missouri River – the so-called “Missouri Breaks.” A thrust through this relatively passable territory would isolate the “Richest Hill on Earth,” and give the Russians access to the Missouri River basin – a highway to the American West.

[tshiggins]

The Western River War - Part III

Fortunately, we had not been idle, during that time, and that brings us back to Denver. The constant pressure from Santa Fe de Nuevo Mejico meant Denver had a substantial military presence since shortly after the Pikes Peak gold rush began. The discovery of the copper deposits to the north made protection of the western border even more vital, as the slow advance of Tsarist forces up the Reka Zmeinyj clearly indicated.

As such, by the early 20th Century, Denver not only acted as a center for services for miners, farmers and ranchers, but also supported a large military infrastructure. The Western Regional Command Headquarters lay southwest of the city proper, in the upper reaches of the South Platte River, which now held a number of dams for irrigation and generation of electricity.

Protected by the militarily impassible Rocky Mountains to the west, and a large expanse of dry and empty land to the south, Denver served as America’s western bastion in North America. The U.S. Western Region Command was primarily charged with the relatively simple task of keeping the Iberians south of the Rio Cimarron, and the more difficult defense against the inevitable strong push by Tsarists through the passable terrain of Wyoming, between Denver and Montana.

By the 19-teens, Western Region Command began to detect cautious probes by Tsarist forces, into the mountains above the Missouri Breaks. It appeared that the conservative Russians had decided the completion of the rail line through the Serpentine River valley had finally put them in a position to pressure the American West. The conflict seemed to be shaping up as expected, and the commanding general began to implement long-standing countermeasures.

That’s how the situation stood in the Spring of 1919, when a copy of a report by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) landed on the desk of the district’s commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He understood the implications, immediately, and passed it along to the HQ of the Western Regional Commander, with a strong recommendation for immediate review.

[tshiggins]

The Western River War, Part IV

Apparently, an adventurous geologist and hydraulic engineer with the USGS, assigned to survey the southern reaches of the Colorado Rocky Mountains in the spring and summer of 1918, had gone a step or three beyond the boundaries of his assignment. Rather than confine himself to a geological survey of the rich iron and coal deposits of the Sawatch Range, which marked the somewhat notional mountain border between the United States and Iberia’s Santa Fe de Nuevo Mejico, Philip J. Hendricks had pushed further south into El Valle de San Luis.

El Valle de San Luis was known to the U.S. military and political leaders in the Western Region, but little regarded. A dry, alpine valley that featured a sand-dune desert and tattered farms worked by desperately-poor Iberian peons, the valley was seen as unworthy of much consideration. That opinion seemed shared by the Iberian territorial government in Santa Fe, as well, which seemed largely inclined to neglect the remote, isolated area, inhabited as it was by the descendants of colonists whose primary goal seemed to be to escape the notice of the viceroy, as much as possible.

A young man, Hendricks had graduated from the Colorado School of Mines seven years previously and seems to have elected to visit the Valle de San Luis as something of a lark. Hendricks knew the Sawatch Range had been intermittently surveyed in years past, but that the Valle de San Luis remained largely unknown, from a geological standpoint. A meticulous and thorough geologist, Hendricks had won the assignment to survey of the Sawatch Range, but his native curiosity apparently made the Valle de San Luis an irresistible lure.

He’d be the first American to perform any sort of geological evaluation of the area, should he manage to do so, successfully. A bright scientist, he also suspected the geology of the valley would prove interesting enough to make worthwhile the inevitable dressing-down he’d receive for risking an international incident.

That notion proved prophetic.

Hendricks found that, while on the surface, the Valle de San Luis was exactly the arid alpine valley everyone thought, starting less than four meters below ground, the valley had one of the most well-saturated open aquifers of any region in the western United States. Moreover, below that – about 50 meters down and capped by a layer of impermeable shale and clay -- lay a highly-pressurized, contained, artesian aquifer. Additionally, the surface soil of the valley, while dry, consisted of nutrient-rich alluvial deposits eroded from the surrounding mountains.

In essence, the Valle de San Luis resembled a deep, oval-shaped wash-basin, the lower half of which was filled by a saturated sponge topped by a layer of nutrient-rich, but very dry, topsoil about eight feet deep. Moreover, the surrounding mountains on all sides held rich deposits of iron and coal – not just the Sawatch Range, to the north.

Hendricks concluded that, with the well-digging and irrigation techniques developed in the past decade, a modern civil-engineering corps could establish an irrigation system to bring the subterranean bonanza of water to the rich, but thirsty, surface soil. Such a system could easily feed at least 500,000 people, Hendricks’ report projected.

That would not only provide the supplies necessary to support any military force designed to defend the mountain-fenced valley, but would also feed a large population of mining families to exploit the wealth of industrial minerals, in the area.

That’s the report that landed on the desk of the Western Regional Commander, with the urgent recommendation for immediate review from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The commander had a good relationship with his engineering corps, so he took their advice, seriously. Halfway through the report, he started to sketch out some notes.

Should the U.S. successfully break the Valle de San Luis away from the Iberians, and then rapidly develop it with modern civil engineering and industrial techniques, the Rocky Mountain West would no longer rely on eastern factories and prairie farms for supplies. The rich resources available in the San Juan Mountains would not only allow him to significantly improve the defenses of the Arkansas-Cimarron frontier, it created a real opportunity for support of a push into the Great Basin, down the Colorado River Valley.

Such a push, if successful, would create a defensible line along the Colorado River, anchored to the northeast by the mountains around the Mesa Grande, and to the southwest by the militarily-impassible Cañon Grande.

That would drive a wedge between the advancing Russians and their putative Iberian allies. It would also flank the Iberians so badly that much of the territory of the Santa Fe de Nuevo Mejico northeast of the Rio Grande, could fall like a ripe plum into the hands of the United States. It also would nix any Russian thrust into Montana, since the entire Tsarist supply line would be vulnerable to raids from both the south and the north.

All he needed was a bright, aggressive and unorthodox young officer to put together a small team for a deniable mission to probe the Iberian border forces around the Valle de San Luis, and establish political relationships with peon leaders in the valley who might welcome a change of allegiance.

Fortunately, he knew just the officer for the job.

************************************************** ************************************************** ************************************************** **************

Phil Hendricks arrived at his office in the U.S. Geological Survey promptly at 7 a.m., poured himself a cup of coffee, and immediately began to review the morning’s correspondence. Since his trip to the southern mountains, last year, he’d come under close scrutiny by his supervisor, and resolved to carefully toe the line until the heat died down.

Said “heat’ meant he wasn’t too surprised to look up from his desk at 8:30 a.m., to see his boss, J. Michael Strand, staring down at him. A bit more surprising was the presence of Strand’s boss, and his boss’ boss, Dr. Abner Crossthwaite, head of the Denver USGS office.

Hendricks suddenly had a sinking feeling.

“Good lord, Hendricks. You look like somebody has come to take you to the gallows,” Strand said.

The engineer suddenly felt a burst of hope.

“Err, sorry about that. What’s going on?”

“I’ve cleared your afternoon schedule. We have a 1 p.m. with the Regional Military Commander and some of his subordinates, about your unauthorized little jaunt, last year. He’s sending a carriage for us, at noon. Take an early lunch.”

Hendricks blinked. “Right, sir.”

Crossthwaite had been watching the young engineer, and broke in.

“You’re recently married, Hendricks, am I correct?”

Astonished that Crossthwaite would have any notion of his domestic situation, Hendricks stammered out an affirmative.

“Well, I think you have quite a bright future, here at U.S.G.S. However, in the immediate future, as in ‘right now,’ I’d like a briefing on last year’s discoveries. Before we meet with Gen. Douglas MacArthur, about your report, I’d like a reminder about what’s in it, myself."

"Cable your wife," Strand added. "Tell her you'll likely miss dinner.”

[adm]

This just gets better and better. Kudos tshiggens.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by adm

This just gets better and better. Kudos tshiggens.

Thanks. Sometimes, a setting will grab my imagination and I have to get the ideas written down, just so I can think about something else.

The Denver hook is what really made it, for me, and the fun notion that one of the poorest areas of Colorado (the San Luis Valley) could play a key role in the future of that world.

Kudos to Michele for coming up with such a great idea. :)

[Michele]

Hey, it really caught your imagination! I'm glad to see that my idea did that, and your posts make for an interesting reading. The first one builds a bit slowly, but the rest gets more and more intriguing as one reads through. Posting these alternate Earth write-ups here is something I like to do in its own right, but it's very satisfying when somebody finds them realistic and usable enough to build upon them.
Have fun!

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Michele

Hey, it really caught your imagination! I'm glad to see that my idea did that, and your posts make for an interesting reading. The first one builds a bit slowly, but the rest gets more and more intriguing as one reads through. Posting these alternate Earth write-ups here is something I like to do in its own right, but it's very satisfying when somebody finds them realistic and usable enough to build upon them.
Have fun!

Yeah, an essay on water shortages in the Rocky Mountain West is pretty dull. However, in a TL5-6 society, that reality would have vital importance for patterns of settlement, and any military operation. It's also one instance where those with a technological edge could enjoy a profound advantage when it comes to recognition of opportunities.

The most fun part about this is that the real problems for the PCs start after they've helped secure the SLV for the Americans. The sudden increase in agricultural output would be sorta interesting to the Iberians and Russians, but when the steel mills start to appear at what was a little farming town and military base on the Arkansas, called Pueblo, the potential for disaster would become apparent.

At that point, the Russians increase pressure on Wyoming, and the Spanish begin bolstering defenses in Santa Fe (after sacking the current viceroy). I also think the Russians start to increase intelligence operations throughout the Front Range, while the Spanish try to spark insurgency in the SLV (after all the lives the peons are changing, drastically)

The clear assumption is that, with the new supply-base available, the U.S. plans to push toward Santa Fe, the capital of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico. When MacArthur, instead, takes the Colorado River line, the actual scale of the disaster becomes undeniable to both the Tsar and King of Spain. That may spark the general war, the loss of which sows chaos in Iberia and Russia.