Revolution S1E16

[amigocabal]

I have one observation about this episode.

We see a group of nomadic herders in Kansas, near Kansas City. Last time I checked, Kansas had plenty of fertile farmland. Would not most people live in towns and farms. What could possibly happen that could wreck agriculture in Kansas to such an extent that we would have wandering herders who have barely enough food to survive?

[FaxModem1]

Lack of modern irrigation maybe due to no electricity?

[amigocabal]

Lack of modern irrigation maybe due to no electricity?

I did read about irrigation in Kansas from this site. It would have been difficult to switch the pumping engines to steam or diesel, and apparently in-universe, it was not successful.
Spoiler

Rachel and Aaron are apparently following U.S. 40 westbound to Colorado. I do wonder why they did not try to catch a westbound train upon arriving in the Plains Nation; surely the people in LaGrange, Missouri (the border town they visited in the previous episode) would have told them where the nearest westbound station was. The only reason that I can think of is that they did not want to attract the attention of the Plains Nation government (given their mission of restoring electricity), and they would be far less likely to attract attention going on foot through nomad territory, rather than riding in a train.

[FaxModem1]

Are we sure that the Plains nations are that developed? If anything, it seems as if the Plains Nations are more primitive than the Monroe Republic and so they have no working trains.

[amigocabal]

Are we sure that the Plains nations are that developed? If anything, it seems as if the Plains Nations are more primitive than the Monroe Republic and so they have no working trains.

It would be odd if the entirety of the Plains Nation (covering the nine states of Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah) was more primitive than the Monroe Republic.

I read S.M. Stirling's Emberverse series (which has Blakcout plus taking away guns, steam power, and diesel power), and in that series, the Midwest is the richest area of the North American continent, while the northeastern part of North America is wilderness populated by hunter-gatherers. And the explanation for that makes perfect sense.
Spoiler

The scene with Aaron and Rachel meeting nomads would have made more sense if the setting was in the Dakotas. The Dakotas consist mostly of shortgrass prairie and are drier on average than Iowa or Nebraska. It makes sense for nomadic herding to make a comeback there.

[Atia]

I get the impression that the plains nations are probably the least developed part of America now. There also might not even be one Plains Nation to being with. Maybe after the black out and stuff the areas extremely low population density didn’t allow for warlords and new nations to pop up like what has apparently happened in the east and on the west coast. So things sort of devolved down into a pastoral society, though I’m willing to wager where it is easier there is probably still some farming to be done just not on the massive industrial scale we see today because you really can’t do that without modern tech.

[amigocabal]

I get the impression that the plains nations are probably the least developed part of America now. There also might not even be one Plains Nation to being with. Maybe after the black out and stuff the areas extremely low population density didn’t allow for warlords and new nations to pop up like what has apparently happened in the east and on the west coast. So things sort of devolved down into a pastoral society, though I’m willing to wager where it is easier there is probably still some farming to be done just not on the massive industrial scale we see today because you really can’t do that without modern tech.

The territory that became the Plains Nation grew far more than enough food to feed its population at the time of the Blackout. In addition, it was home to major military bases like Fort Leavenworth and Offutt Air Force Base.

By contrast, the territory that became the Monroe Republic had such a high population density that every place outside the Appalachian Ridge and Valley system (which could be easily defended with firebases) should have been completely wrecked.

I would love an explanation as to how the whole Plains Nation became the least developed part of America at the time of the series, given the advantages listed above.

[Atia]

Yes the territory did grow more than enough food to feed themselves but they did it in a pretty modernized way at the time of the black out. I find it hard to believe they would be able to keep up with pre blackout food output without modern tractors, running water, fertilizers and so on. Even if they did getting it from the fields to people would be a pain. Most people now in these areas would have no idea how to work a plow a field properly with livestock, even actual farmers. So I’m willing to wager that in the seasons after the blackout crop yields almost certainly dropped like a stone.

Also I still don’t see how a few extra military bases would be useful in hammering out a centralized very developed faction in the American mid-west. Only thing really useful you could get from them are the guns I suppose but that’s no different from bases in the Monroe Republic or Georgia Federation

Don’t get me wrong this is all wild speculation, based on what I’ve seen in the show if it’s contradicted in the next episode or whatever then I’ll just shrug and move along. I just think because there was such because of the sheer amount of land the Plains Nation and just how low density of the region is that I don’t see it being very hard to believe that the area would sort of develop like it had, with a few trading posts and settlements interspersed with nomadic herders and maybe a few farming communities here and there where irrigation would be the easiest. Though I could be wrong, we have barley seen the region it could just be that area of Kansas is the Plains Nations backwater.

This could have happened in the Monroe Republic too, we saw the anarchy that followed the blackout in the region and who knows, if not for Monroe and Miles it could have continued on like that until the point of the series. It could just be a fluke that the Republic is as good as shape as it is as a result.

[amigocabal]

Yes the territory did grow more than enough food to feed themselves but they did it in a pretty modernized way at the time of the black out. I find it hard to believe they would be able to keep up with pre blackout food output without modern tractors, running water, fertilizers and so on. Even if they did getting it from the fields to people would be a pain. Most people now in these areas would have no idea how to work a plow a field properly with livestock, even actual farmers. So I’m willing to wager that in the seasons after the blackout crop yields almost certainly dropped like a stone.

Also I still don’t see how a few extra military bases would be useful in hammering out a centralized very developed faction in the American mid-west. Only thing really useful you could get from them are the guns I suppose but that’s no different from bases in the Monroe Republic or Georgia Federation

Don’t get me wrong this is all wild speculation, based on what I’ve seen in the show if it’s contradicted in the next episode or whatever then I’ll just shrug and move along. I just think because there was such because of the sheer amount of land the Plains Nation and just how low density of the region is that I don’t see it being very hard to believe that the area would sort of develop like it had, with a few trading posts and settlements interspersed with nomadic herders and maybe a few farming communities here and there where irrigation would be the easiest. Though I could be wrong, we have barley seen the region it could just be that area of Kansas is the Plains Nations backwater.

This could have happened in the Monroe Republic too, we saw the anarchy that followed the blackout in the region and who knows, if not for Monroe and Miles it could have continued on like that until the point of the series. It could just be a fluke that the Republic is as good as shape as it is as a result.

I was asking why the characters traveling west to Colorado did not take a train. I know that passenger rail lines usually run between large and/or important cities that are fairly close. Looking at Google maps, the longest east-west route is likely between Lincoln, Nebraska and Davenport, Iowa. (It is not clear if St. Louis, Missouri was resettled, which could make a passenger rail, line between there and Kansas City viable.) In any event, it woukld be unlikely for there to be a passenger line heading out west from Kansas City.

Salt Lake City, Utah (which is in Plains Nation territory) would be too far from Lincoln to extend a passenger line there (although the government may use the rail line between Lincoln and Salt Lake to transport troops and supplies via horse-drawn or even diesel-powered train.)

[Atia]

You are probably onto why they aren’t taking the train, if they have them running they are probably monopolized by the government or just not practical for them use the entire way. Rachel also might think, for whatever reason, that taking the train would draw too much attention to the two of them.

[amigocabal]

You are probably onto why they aren’t taking the train, if they have them running they are probably monopolized by the government or just not practical for them use the entire way. Rachel also might think, for whatever reason, that taking the train would draw too much attention to the two of them.

Rachel and Aaron snuck across the border at La Grange, near the Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge, instead of crossing at Davenport. (Interstate 80 crosses the Mississippi River near there, and Rock Island Arsenal nearby would be the ideal place for a border crossing station.) I am guessing they did not want to be searched by customs agents or soldiers and having Rachel's little book confiscated.