The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1922-02-02
CHAPTER ~.
At the BacL; of Beyond,

To my chagrin. the railroad ticket
Offices in Denver di,lh't know nry su n
place as Placervilc In the Red desert
region, which wnS then ms now, trav-
ersed only by one railroad. The sim
gle "Plncervi;!e" they had listed WAS
n 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 iird some old resident cold
timer" was the word he uSed) whose
memory reached back n ways, there
might be something doing.
'Steer me-" begged; I'm a half
orphan and total stranger in Den
ver."
He laughed, and then thought for a
minute. and said:
"The Du Pont Powder people have
been doing business here for good
many years, and they know the pow
der hnvers NIL over the state. It's just
possible that they could tell you. Sup
pose you ask at their Office"
/ went, forthwith and the gentle
man to whom l presented my card at
the cashiers window had the dope.
The Red Desert Plncerville. he told
me, was strictly "has been" The
placers had long ago been exhausted
and the place had afterward figured "A
n 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 sIeepers 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 n
through, ticket to Angels; and the fol-
lowing morning. when l 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, 1t appeared to be, with with
cred bits Of grass here and there and
scattering punches OF what / after
ward learned was called "greasewoOd."
1t was while luncheon was getting IT.
self served that the train stopped to
water the engine at the most desolate
place that ever lay out of doors, / do
think. The place was utterly deserted:
there wasn't human being in sight,
either on the platform or In the street
upon which the station faced not even
the bunch Of loafers which usually ma
terializes out Of nowhere to see
train came and go. / was looking ont
OF the window and wondering how any
body. even hermit telegraph opera.
tor, could stand 1t to live In such
graveyard Of place when got my
shock
1t was dog that connected up the
hieh-voltage wires for me a. shaggy
mOngrel with his ears cooked and a
red ribbon Of a tongue hanging out rs
he jumped up on the high station plat
form as II to say "HellO. stranger !" to
me. For. right down the center Of that
dogs face and dividing 1t as accurate
ly as II II had been drawn by some
mathematical craftsman, was a line
marking off black half from a white
half!
i was just taking a swallow Of hot
chocolate when the dog appeared, and
1t nearly choked me. Luckily, got
the swallow down before / saw the
horse-a grasshopper-headed cow
pony. saddled and bridled and standing
hitched to gnawed wooden rail In
front of one of the tumble down
shacks. "Piebald" Is a sort of. an elias
tic word. as the dictionaries define It,
and It might apply to almost any
beast-markings out OF the ordinary
But the horse I was gaping at fell cas-
lily within any or all of the deanitions !;
IL was a true "calicO," white and light
sorrel In .grotesque patchings; unmis
takaoly "piebeld," II purist In the
use of the mother-tonguo--lik Cousin
Pers., sor example fwished to call II