Hi Listers, In my younger days, I used to prowl the lands west of the Miss. River. I love digging in old Ghost towns for their rich history. In Nevada City and Virginia City, Montana, are the orginal (everything's) and buildings...the Historical Societies of four states got together and "rescued" the odd building(s) our ancestors built back when they came "West", they even rescued a small 10 building town, even the "cat" house and pharmacy. They gather furniture, dishes, clohing and related items to life of the era. They even have a hotel (3-storied") that at the end of their respective hallways , had an 2-hole shaft..(guess what this was?) even had a few Sears Cats. for quick use. The Pharmacy was stocked with jars of chinese medicines of the time. These communities had fire depts even....but i digress here....In order to make these "Towns", they were often disassembled and moved to a new gold strike or rail head as needed....when the smelters were running to process the Gold and Silver of the times, they cut trees for about 5 miles around the established towns, striped the ground bare of anything burnable....to provide the "COKE" needed for the smelters. In the West, American Indians and Mexicans were used for their labor. The early fur trappers provided the meat for the tables and very early "truck gardens" provided some foods, pioneers often bartered their food stuffs from the local tribes...When the Germans settled in Idaho and that area, they started the Pototo's we know today...then the great cattle drives found their way to Gold towns. Rails brought fresh produce from the East by the 1850's....If you want a great vacation that teaches try the trip to Montana, & or Fort Smith of British Columbia for some great history finds....and old time entertainment....amazing finds about our history. Woods is America's great renewable resource, plant a tree for history. Meals in this house arrive in a box...and are zapped in a microwave, which is my idea of made from scratch!. Have a great day. ~Linda~ I'm so busy....i really don't know if I found a rope...or lost my horse ?