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The
Iron Mountain
An old Mississippi
riverboat salvaged from the pages of a Mark Twain
novel, it sits tied up on the river within easy reach
of the road and the major tourist hub of the city,
the smells of the cooking drifting over it's decks,
mixing with the clack of the roulette wheel, the chink
of chips, the soft whisper of cards and the sounds
of hope dying and being reborn, all bathed in the
comfort of alcohol.
The Mountain is the premier gambling
establishment within the city, offering anyone with
the money the chance to lose it surrounded by lavish
decorations that create the romance of a century and
a half ago, men fresh from the mountains trying to
double the gold dust that they fished out the river
that morning, a local girl on their arm and a pistol
up their sleeve.
Over its three floors, the boat offers
everything from slot machines to serious poker games,
the decks offering beautiful views of the river and
over the city when the air is clear enough, and the
main room having its own stage and in-house entertainment.
Perhaps the most enduring appeal of
the old boat is the stories that have grown up around
it. There's the story of JoJo Balms, a drifter who
took his last dollar onto the gambling tables and
walked out a millionaire, the oil baron who lost all
his money on one spin of the roulette wheel and threw
himself overboard and into the river (his body was
never found), and even the man who won so much that
he now owns the boat itself. True or not, the place
has its own mystique about it, its own unique atmosphere
that makes people, if only for a few hours, believe.
There are also, of course, darker stories about the
people who run up more debts than they can pay off,
or are just a little too astute at the card tables,
but only a fool would believe such things more suited
to a movie script than real life.
The antiquated mood of the place only
runs so far, as expensive CCTV systems watch and monitor,
carefully and without fuss removing trouble before
it starts.
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