Back in 2006, I created my own city and spent hours upon days upon weeks upon...well, you get the idea, adding to it and changing it. I called it Mason City and it went from one piece of paper to about 40 or so. The city was huge but over a year of use and erasing and an accident involving juice, took it's toll and I finally threw it away. I draw this map of Mason City so I wouldn't forget it and every so often I think of something I want to add to it but sadly, I can't. Since then, I've been thinking of some way to incorporate Mason City into my writing. I came up with a story based a piece of history I gave the fictitious Mason City.In Mason City, there was a cemetery in the middle of the downtown area. It was named for the small dead-end road it was on. I had it where a large number of American Indians were killed in the 1840s and buried in a mass grave in the cemetery. I never came up with a reason until a couple weeks ago. The town founders, who were staying at nearby Fort Salinas wanted to start a town right where a small Indian village was located. While the Indians and settlers were wanting to work together to create a diverse community, the Indians wanted more rights and stake in the city than was normal. After holding out and waiting for the Indians to agree to the provisions, one of the settlers gathers a posse, captures all the men and has them all killed and buried before the bodies cool.
The settlers return to the village and burn it down, sending the remaining women and children out into the night. The other settlers and the army arrive to see what's going on and discovers the massacre. In honor of the village, the new city is moved closer to the fort and the site of where the village once stood, is left alone until around 1950.
I have it all planned out, I just need to write it which I'm hoping to do throughout this week and get it posted some time this weekend.
