Lost in the Whirlwind

Chapter 2: The Blossom Family Mines

Author's note: This chapter is going to be more of a backstory chapter about the Blossom Family mines, to develop its scenery a bit more, so it will be a bit off the beaten path, so to speak, of the regular chapters that will proceed this chapter. So just keep that in mind so you don't get confused. This one is also going to be a bit shorter, compared to the previous chapter. Also, this chapter is, excluding this note is 522 words.

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The Blossom Family Mines were first made during the times of the Yukon Gold Rush, but on the east coast of the United States, rather than up in Canada. An ancestor of the Blossom family as we know them today, Quinn Blossom, had struck gold: palladium. Palladium was a lesser-known metal that was newly common to what is now New York State. Where Riverdale's land was located, it was above a large underground sea of palladium metal. It was like striking gold. The palladium would be used to create supports for buildings, cargo ships, or trading with other citizens who were of the upper class.

Now, Quinn Blossom was a bit of a selfish man. He had the land, the orchards, the maple trees, the mansion. He had it all. And he wanted it to himself. He and a few of his close-knit cronies had made the decision to secretly go into the mines and harvest as much palladium as possible, and store it in the maple barrels in one of the many barns on the Blossom family property. They were going to build a palladium empire.

The Blossom family wasn't rich because of maple syrup, but the palladium that was beneath the roots of the maple trees. That was the real moneymaker of the family business.

Shortly after this small group was extracting the palladium out of the mines, one of the tunnels collapsed. One of Quinn's best friends, his brother Charles, was trapped in the passage, blockaded by large rocks. He couldn't escape. Quinn tried to move every rock and pebble that he could, but he couldn't. Toxic fumes were gathering inside of the mines themselves, and it caused him and his mates to go loopy.

Because of this, Charles had gone mad as well, and after a week in the mines, he had died from starvation and the fumes that he was trapped in. The rest of the mine exploded, and his body was never found or recovered from the rubble. Any palladium he collected before he died would have been lost.

Ever since then, the Blossom Family mines had been a bit of a touchy place for people to go. It was only ever running once before, and that was a few years ago when Cheryl had ordered Archie and friends to mine the palladium, just like her ancestor had done hundreds of years before. After the rubble was eventually removed, the one shaft had structural issues, but they still mined down there, since there was an abundance of palladium. This had landed Archie into hot water, just like Charles had. He was trapped, but he was freed, unlike Charles. 

It was almost like the cards showed a repeat event hundreds of years later. 

The exact same mineshaft. The exact same scenario but with different people.

After that, the mines were abandoned. After Archie and Betty nearly died, Cheryl thought it would be best if the mines were closed. They were never opened to anyone. 

The mines were left for five years unattended in darkness, in shadows, in mystery.

Just like the town that they are located in.