The Adair County news., 1921-12-27
CHAPTER w.
At the Back of Beyond.


offices in Denver didn't know any such
place as Placerville In the Red desert
region, which was then, as now, traV-
ersed only by one railroad. The sin
gle "Placerville" they had listed was
station not far from Telluride, in
quite another part Of the state. Nor
could the Mining exchange gentleman
help me. However, he suggested that
If could find some old resident Gold
timer" was the word he uSed) whose
memory reached back a ways, there
might be something doing.
"Steer me-" begged; I'm half
orphan and a total stranger in Den
YER"
He laughed and then thought for a
minute, and said:
"The Du Pont Powder people have
been doing business here for a good
many years, and they know the pow
der buyers all over the state. It's just
possible that they could tell you. Sup
pose you ask at their office"
I went, forthwith; and the gentle.
man to whom 1 presented my card at
the cashiers window had the dope.
The Red Desert Placerville, he told
me, was strictly a ''has been" The
placerS had long ago been exhausted,
and the place had afterward figured as
a shipping point for some mine or
mines on the desert slope Of the East
ern Timanyonis. He was not quite GER
tain, but he thought the name placer
Vile" had been changed to something
else.
AS to the manner Of reaching the
has been," this, as he pointed out,
was simple enough. There were
through sleepers by way Of the P. S-W,
and Copah all the way to the Pacific
coast.
Armed with this information, ]
quickly shook the dust of Denver (no
slam here intended at the Queen City
of the Plain) from my feet, taking q
through ticket to Angels; and the fol,
lowing morning, when / ran my win.
dow shade up previous to turning out
! for breakfast, the train was rollicking
| along over endless reaches of the
| dryeSt, drearieSt, most barren-lOOking
country that the SUN ever shOne upon
red sand, it appeared to be, with with.
cred bits of grass here and there and
I scattering bunShes of what l after
ward learned was called "greaSeweOd.'
1t was while luncheon was getting it
hot hn CT +r
water the engine at the most deSOlate
| place that ever lay out of doors. dc
think. The place was utterly deserted
| there wasn't Il human being in sight
either on the platform or in the street
| upon which the station faced not ever
| the bunch of IOafers which usually ma
terialiZes out of nowhere to see &
train came and go. I was looking out
| of the window and wondering how any
body, even a hermit telegraph opera
| tor, could stand it to live in such {
graveyard of a place when I got my
! shock.
1t was a dog that connected up the
high-vOltage wires for me; shaggy
| mOngrel with his ears cooked and {
red ribbon of a tongue hanging out a.
he jumped up on the high station plat
| form as if to say Hello, strangerr' Il
me. For, right down the center of tha
dogs face and dividing it as accurate
ly as if it had been drawn by som,
mathematical craftsman, was a lint
marking off black half from a white
half
| / was just taking a swallow of no
chocolate when the dog appeared, ant
it nearly choked me. Luckily, 1 go
the swallow down before 1 saw tn
horse-a grasshOpper-headed Gov
pony, saddled and bridled and standini
hitched to gnawed wooden rail II
front of one of the tumble-dowl
shacks. "Piebald" is sort of an ella.
tic word, as the dictionaries define 4
and it might apply to almost an
beast-markings out of the ordinar!
But the horse was gaping at fell ca:
lily within any or all Of the definitions
II was a true "calico," white and ligh
sorrel in grotesque patchings; unmi!
takably "piebald," if purist in tn
use of the mother-tongue-like Cousi
Percy, for example-wished to call
so.
Before 1 could rush back to tn
stewards sentry-bOx in the vestibule o
the car our train was chasing alon
again.
"Hey!" shouted; whats the nam
of that place where we stopped to wa
ter the engine?"
"AtrOpia"
"Death-sleep," 1 translated with
grin. at fits, all the way down to tn
ground. What are the industries o
Atropia?"
Il don't get you"
Excuse me; I'll try to put it il
simpler form. Why is AtropiaT'
He appeared to have reached tn
conclusion that / was an escaped luna
tic, safe enough, most probably
harmless one. He looked first at the Iii
! tie eolored slip sticking in my haitian