Bridge - A Town Divided

A Brief History:
Bridge was originally two smaller towns situated either side of Red Rock Canyon - a 250-foot deep scar down the countryside into which the Parle river cascades then disappears underground.

Developing the Concept:
The main two reasons for big settlements are either that the area is: resource rich; or strategically valuable. Since the town was originally two towns divided by the canyon, it seems unlikely that it is the latter, strategic, option as this suggests danger, or a threat, and defending two towns (rather than one) sounds logistically suspect to say the least. Because of this I’m going for the resource rich option. The two towns grew up on either side of the canyon which suggests to me that the resources are in the canyon walls – each town controlled a face of the canyon – so that leaves mineral options: Gold, Silver or Iron (I’m leaving out coal as I don’t want to steampunk it) or gemstones: Emeralds, Diamonds, even Quartz. The question is: What would make someone dangle themselves off a piece of rope over a 250 foot drop. Anything too precious and the town becomes Fort Knox, and that doesn’t really suit the feel I’m aiming for. Since Coal is out of the question I guess it has to be Iron (but I may change my mind later). To keep the standerd weapon/armour prices there has to be a forest within a reasonable distance (20-50 miles) to provide plenty of wood and other natural materials.

This is about as much as I have figured out for now and provides enough for me to base the rest of the adventure around. The surrounding towns and villages are patrolled by the town guard and this could be an opening for the first quest.