A moderate sized company operating in Central Texas, Blue Mesa has weathered raiders, plauges and acts of God in its 130 year run.
Founding and history[]
Blue Mesa started as nothing more than a lone man and a hand cart filled with colorful blankets that was taken from settlement to settlement. Timothy Darvis, seeing this man pull this cart for several years went up to him one day and asked how his business was. The man, Marcus Klimington, told him that it was actually pretty great, having only to pay for his own needs and supplies to sell, he was actually fairly well off.
Davis, impressed with this, took the few hundred caps he had saved up as a scavenger and bought a similar cart, a backpack full of food and water, and loaded it with trinkets he had scavenged. Klimington, seeing what Davis was up too, proposed that they travel together. The two quickly became friends on the open road and made a good profit that first year of traveling together. They continued living this gypsy life for three more years, until in 2154 Davis made Klimington a offer to buy out him and his wagon. He gladly accepted, finally having enough money to never have to work again, and Davis had the beginnings of Blue Mesa.
He next bought two brahmin to pull the carts, and went out again on the road. He was able to make much more progress each day, able to stay in each town for several days before he was expected at the next one, which allowed him to build a network of suppliers of various things, so when he made a formal caravan in 2157 he had a variety of things to sell. Taking over an abandoned shack on the outskirts of Midessa, he would organize several routes and the personnel on each for the next 16 years until he died of choking on a old sausage.
Having already declared his only daughter as the next CEO, the Mesa was not long affected, as Sheila showed even greater business acumen than her father. Her tenure as head of the caravan would be the most profitable the company has ever known, with them opening their first warehouse, and even venturing as far the Rio Grande.
Sheila passed in her sleep in 2223, having named her general manager as her successor. Jorge Nerix kept to the course for ten years, until he felt the time was right to venture into the weapons trade. Securing a wagon-load from near the border, he sent it, and thirty employees north to trade with those settlements around The Seasons. The caravan was never heard from after it had left the main office, and the cost of the guns had almost bankrupted the caravan.
After no word or money came back, Jorge realized the grave error he had made, and began to cut some of the more expensive venture in order to keep the company afloat; the trips to Mexico were stopped, the caravans were expected to ran on a tight schedule, and any stock left over was not to be bought again. While this caused a lot of unhappiness from the employees, it worked and the company was able to continue operating.
Jorge made up for his previous failure in 2245 however, when he heard about an old factory that used to make clothes. Sending a small group there, they reported that the factory was indeed real, and it was operational still. More than overjoyed, Jorge quickly moved the company headquarters there, and had a few generators rigged up to the production line. Now with a sure supply of blankets and textiles, their profits increased enough to be able to loosen some of the previous restrictions he placed. It also allowed the company to lower their price, allowing a small fashion crowd to develop through Texas, each wondering what the latest style would be.
Since 2250 Nerix has also kept a handful of guards with each wagon going out, after the disappearance of "Quiet' Ned Howard and his entire caravan. The only thing found when others went to look for him was Ned's pocket knife covered in blood sticking out of a cactus. While no one knew what this meant, all agreed it could only be bad. There are luckily few other notable incidents that befell the company, something that the owner is more than happy about.
Activities[]
Despite being 92 Jorge still manages the overall operations of the Blue Mesa, and it's trade. He has the caravans organized by material for sale and is constantly finding new materials for each caravan. Where blankets might be for sale when a caravan comes through, the next time it could be loaded with pre-war clothes or canvas shoes.
Leather and dried foods is also a staple item for caravans, as there is never an abundance of food in the region, sales are always stable. They are able to keep the stock stable as they have made arrangements with several brahmin ranchers around the region.