The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-11-20

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death. The appearance of daylight, mad
such by the coruscation OF the heavil,
charged wire, caused them to take refug
among the creyices and caverns OF the noun
tains. by way OF the bedroom window
through which they had forced their way
But the saddest part of this night ATTACK
npon the Peak is the destroying Of their in
FAINT child, which Mrs. OKeef thought sh
had made secure by heavy covering Q
bed-clothing, but the rats had found thei
way to the infant (only two months old,
and had left nothing Of it but the peelet
and mumbled SKULL"
Iregret to state that the foregoing is thu
fabrication of our Colorado Jules Verne and il
not a matter OF fact. Mr.. O'Keef is bach
elor.
This rat story has been considered such 6
peculiarly happy fiction that the Sigma
Service lends itself to the illusion as far az
possible. Stereoscopic views are taken Of
the sergeant weeping over his little daugh-
ter's grave; and the inventor of the tale has
contributed the tombstone. A paragraph in
the local paper recently informed us that
the bereaved Mrs. Norah had made a
pilgrimage to the peak, in order to plant
flowers upon the tomb of the unfortunate
Erin.
AS we turned away, Mr.. Sweeny of the
Signal Service, belied the touch-me not in
scription on his door, by kindly inviting us
within ''tae highest habitation on the face
of the globe" The snte-room of the build
ing is rough and unfinished, being used for
storage The main room is very pleasantly
lighted by two windows; carpeted with grey
list, blue bordered; and glittering with all
manner of brazen and scientific instruments.
1t is heated b. huge boiler of a stove. big
enough to warm the peak to its foundations.
The wall was adorned with a woodcut of the
heroic O'keef, with his stove-pipe armor,
waging battle against as many rats as be-
sieged Bishop Hattie, in his tower on the
Rhine. Through the half-Open door we
could see the bed room where Erin persisted.
The Signal Service corps should be COM
posed of as many Jobs-models of patience.
In the summer innumerable parties Of
tourists are appearing over the crest of the
Peak, from morning till night, all eager for
exploration, observation and Information.
And in order to relieve the over-burdened
officers somewhat, copies of paper con-
tanning all conceivable questions and an
swers on the subject Of Pixies Peak, have
been placed on file. with ''Vsitors to Pixies
Peak take one.'' For the benefit Of those
who have not had an opportunity to prose-
cute (persecute0 their inquiries in person, l
transcribe it here. 1t is taken from the
Times, Muncie, Indiana:
Eyes, this is Pixies Peake. Yes, this is a
U. S. signal station. No, we never get
lonesome, as we have no wives or sweet
hearts (emphatc). Oh, no, Qaughing) it is
not fifty miles to Mantou; it is only fourteen
by the trail and twelve miles on air line.
No, no, laughing louder it is not twenty
five miles to timber line, either; its only
three miles. How high are we? By the
best calculation we can make, we are IA, $50
feet above the level of the ocean.
Where does the peak begin? The peak
proper begins at the Lake House, and is
about 1000 feet above that point. The gen.
eral shape of the red granite peak above
timber line? 1t is a truncated cone, with
slightly convex apex, as you see. This sur
face contains about twelve acres as you will
ascertain by stepping it off.
The little round pile of stones you see on
the west side? No, it is not the grave Of
the infant of O'Keef. That is yarn they
tell down stairs. O'Keef? lie was former
officer here. No, his infant was not eaten
by the rats. No, nor was his wife either.
He is an old bachelor, as all of old Prob's
high men ought to be. The pile OF rocks you
inquire about was built by Hayden as land
monument.
This house? 1t is 24x3O feet, built as you
see of stone picked up from the yard, the
walls are feet thick and 10 feet high. The
roof is fat, and made Of sheet iron held
down with stone. 1t has four rooms, only
two furnished. The west wall, you see
down, fell at o'clock in the night. No,we
don't keep whiskey and no cigars, except
when visitor gives us one to keep!
1t rains or SHOWS every day.
The barometer? 1t ranges from II to 1874.
You see it is now IsO76. The thermometer?
The highest it ever went was 600. You see
it is now 300. 1t freezes every night.
No, we never hunt for gold. You came for
that? Sorry for you.
The only crop we raise is the red stones
you see here, except what we raise on the
backs of mules. We have no piano.
Hope to have billiard table next
winter. Now it is only checkers and
hebem auf. Have a. snow storm regu-
larly every afternoon to ORDER the year round.
On the 10th of last June the snow was up to
the middle of that window there, about sew
en- feet deep.
Oh it never gets more than 20 or 30 feet
deep on the peak here, as the wind keeps it
blown away, but off in the crater and the
abyss OF desolation, and round the summit,
it gets pretty deep, tell you.
The worst one, we'll. it came at night. 1t
sifted in and covered the table, bed and
floor about six inches deep. kept breath
ing hole till morning, and then got up, and
scooped it out in the empty rooms. No this
is not common. I've only two such.
Visitors? They come up for about two
months, June, July and August and Septenl-
Der, from to SO per day, ladies and gentle
men. The rest of the time nobody comes
here but signal-service men on snow-shoes.
We drink ice water all the year round. We
melt snow for coffee, and to cook with.
Wood? It's carried up on burros and cost
SIS per cord. Burro is polite name for
jackass. It is Spanish. 1t was introduced
here for the benefit of the ladies. You saw
the burro wood train unload out here. One
Of those woodmen you saw is J. P. and the
other an M. D.-a Jack Puncher and Mule
Driver. That nice white donkey is the one
Grace Greenwood rode astride up to the Peak.
She was the first white lady that ever came
on that line. The donkey's name is Daisy.
| We get the mails once week the year
round. The top man goes to the timber
| line and meets man from the base office.