Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-21

base of mountains. The view across tn
enclosed level plain is a singular blend.
ing of natural beauty and forbiddinl
austerity. The weIl-kept grounds are
shaven and neat. The handsome oficia
buildings, employees quarters, guarC
and engine houses, are bright and fine
| The splendid rim of chestnut groves al
| the base of the mountains, with the i'm
posing line of cleaning red rocks above
| and the mountain crests covered witt
| frs and spruce, cutting a fine horizon
| edge against the sky, are filed with riet
and picturesque beauty. But thos;
| long, low, dark structures, solitary and
! alone, in seemingly the most remote
| places, have weird suggestiveness, Civ
| ing most forbidding aspect to a scene
| otherwise perfect in exquisite beauty
| and repOse. Altogether, few structures
are required. There is the guard house
a square brick building with granite
trimmings and heavy battlemented
walls, in which apparently to rem
der the place easy of destruction, there
is never any guard; the engine house
containing fine engine, and nobody TO
man it; the commandment office, fine
commodious building with large offices
for the cOmmandant, Maj. Frank H
Phipps of the ordnance department, who
has been in charge since August 1887 ,
and the depot's chief clerk, Mr.. Robert
w. Hughes; the keepers house, the
stables, the Toulouse and the workmen s
quarters. These with the powder maya
zines themselves and the tall flagstaff
and regulation flag flying from its head i,
comprise everything within the entire
valley to suggest the tremendous
IMPORT OF ITS OCCUPANCY.
It was at first intended to erect ten
magazines within the grounds, but the
number was subsequently, limited to i've
so that each could be placed at least q
half mile from any other, in order TO re-
duce the danger from explosion. The
first was built in lSS0-Sl, I'M
der the direction of Maj. +. H.
Parker of the ordnance corps, then in
charge. Four are completed and in use
for storage, while the massive founde-
tons for the fifth are already in. They
are practically alike, and the dimensions
of each are 200 by fifty feet. The CEN
trail piers and foundations are of granite,
-quarrried from the near mountain sides,
and the twenty-four-inch walls above
are hollow and provided with apertures
for free circulation of air during a few
hours of sunny days. The cell
Jugs are low of corrugated iron, laid on
wrought iron trusses, forming low attics
above. The interiors-foors, walls,
ceilings, iron door-frames and support
ing iron pillars, are all sheathed as per-
fectly a as ships deck with yellow pine,
while each are provided with two doors
and eight windows, hung with
solid inside shutters of pine,
shutters. Those of the doors and of the
vehtilators which open from the
outside are lined with half an inch
of soft rubber. All the magazines
are protected from lightning IN the most
thorough manner, one being provided
with an aerial network of conductors on
lofty poles carrying cables and forming a
continuous circuit above and around the
entire building. No human being is
permitted to enter magazine unless
barefooted or with rubbers over his boots
or shoes. Side tracks from the Morris
County railroad run to each magazine
and every barrel of powder is handled on
rubber-covered skids or trucks with
wheels tired with soft rubber. Once
within the magazines there are only the
seemingly endless tiers of barrels of
powder, or boxes OF inter, the polished
ceilings, sides and floors in view; but no
one can escape the sense of awe at the
reflection of what one little spark in
such a place could unloose. Nearly
a half million dollars has been expended
upon the depot. About l ,250 COO pounds
of powder, chiefly of an experimental
variety, and 900 900 of the total of o.
900, 900 pounds of inter now possessed by
the United States, are stored in this
magnificent depot for the Atlantic sea-
board. And yet there is but one keeper
and three or four laborers to protect
these, under certain conditions, priceless
properties. Picatinny powder depot
should be made a regular army post,
with artillery bristliug upon the heights,
an adequate body of infantry encamped
in the valley below, and no human be-
ing, save under proper authority and
surveillance, should ever be permitted
to enter the tract. AS it is, any person
liz the pay of foreign military secret SER
vice can prowl about it; half dozen de-
termined men could take possession of it;
and any one rampant socialist or lumin-
Gus crank could effect its absolute ami
hilation. Somebody at Washington has
demonstrated the highest character of
military patriotism in the foresight neo-
essary to its provision. Who is the GRIM
inally idiotic patriot at Washington that
is bidding, through the grossest negli-
gence, for Its destruction.
EDGAR L. WAREMAN.