This is meant to be a typical coal region town in the northeast of Northland(A country I made up based loosely on the United States). Like many coal towns Ash Mountain has fallen on hard times as coal mining in the region has declined, and its lost some of its population. People living in many parts of Northland are notoriously stubborn though, and will usually stick it out and stay in the regions they're from, even with the threat of poverty.
This attitude mostly comes from the fact many people have lived in the same regions for hundreds of years, and are often connected to the land. Many regions are also culturally unique, and people who move out find it hard to fit in somewhere else.

Ash Mountain is kind of the local commercial hub of this particular region, with a movie theater, several supermarkets, a passenger train that goes to nearby cities and a department store, as well as a large commercial strip.