Why the Names Dehurt and Pierpont ?

[NW Mailing List]

Abe

Freight rates were very complex and heavily regulated at this period in 
time. I will try to answer your question in part with a simplified answer..

1."So it seems to me that those names, Dehurt and Pierpont, were created 
for purely commercial purposes, probably weighbilling purposes.
Why did those locations/businesses even need special names, since they 
were only two miles from Salem, and Salem was the governing Agency ?"

a. Rates published to or from Salem or any other point only applied to 
the locations in that switching district.  The switching district for a 
Station was generally published in the carriers switching tariff. If the 
tariff did not specifically publish the switching limits by naming the 
mile post etc of such limits they had a provision that if not named the 
switching limits would be the corporate limits for the town etc. So I 
must conclude at that time period these two points were not part of 
Salem by tariff application. Governing agent has nothing to do with 
freight rates.

Now there are exceptions to this and some cases Salem rates may apply 
under the aggregate of intermediate rule published in tariffs. This is 
not a factor.  Both Dehurt and Pierpont were published as stations In 
the Open & Prepay station list. Pierpont was listed as late as 1963 and 
perhaps later.   You do not need a building to have a rate station.  
Just a point you can publish rates from or to.

2. But my real question is:  Why were those two particular NAMES chosen?

I have no idea. Deyerle was named for the Deyerle family.  The name was 
changed to Glenvar around 1901. Perhaps one of the wise men of Salem 
could answer this.

Jim Blackstock


2021 2:52 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> The Lists of Officers, Agent and Stations issued by the N&W Accounting 
> Department carried for some years (1940s-1950s) the names Dehurt and 
> Pierpont, between Salem and Glenvar.
> Salem had Statistical Number 1259; Dehurt was 1261; Pierpont was 1262.
> For DEHURT, the notes column states, "Shipments for Foutz Bros. 
> Molasses Service may be forwarded with freight charges COLLECT, 
> billing will be handled by Agent at Salem, Va."
> For PIERPONT, the notes column states, "Shipments for Salem Brick 
> Company may be forwarded with freight charges COLLECT, billing will be 
> handled by Agent at Salem, Va."
> Neither Dehurt nor Pierpont appear in any Time Tables, so I suspect 
> there was no passenger shelter there, and one could not buy a ticket 
> to either location.  And the Time Table Special Instructions do not 
> mention either location as a place "for which time is not shown by 
> name in the Time Table, but at which [certain] trains will stop on 
> signal for passengers."    (Gunton Park, Copenhaver, Government 
> Siding, and a few others, were listed in the Special Instructions as 
> such flag stops.)  And there is no conceivable way in which those 
> distinct names would be of any benefit to the Agent at Salem, or to 
> the crews switching the sidings.
> So it seems to me that those names, Dehurt and Pierpont, were created 
> for purely commercial purposes, probably weighbilling purposes.
> Why did those locations/businesses even need special names, since they 
> were only two miles from Salem, and Salem was the governing Agency ?
> But my real question is:  Why were those two particular NAMES chosen?  
> There does not seem to be anything in the history of the area which 
> would make the words Dehurt and Pierpont significant.  In the normal 
> procession of human history, names have always referred to something, 
> whether the antecedent was topological, personal (the name of a person 
> or landowners,) related to some historical event, or such like.  That 
> is to say, names are not arbitrary:  names have meanings in one sense 
> or another.
> So, how are the names Dehurt and Pierpont significant (meaningful) in 
> those locations?  To what antecedent factors do they point ?  Why were 
> they chosen?
> This is one of those questions I wish I had put to the venerable Bill 
> Harman (1922-2000, R.I.P.)  Perhaps some of our Wise-Men-in-Residence, 
> like Bishop Blackstock and Cardinal Bundy, will understand such 
> matters, far too profound for a mere Box Car Jockey such as myself.
> Attachment, showing the 1954 listing for Dehurt and Pierpont.
> -- abram burnett
> ..Seedless Turnips..
>
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