The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-25
Montana Volunteer Engineers
Like Army Life.
THERE IS NO KICKING
A Letter From Roy l.. Allen, One of the
Butte Boys With the Regimen. at
San Francisco-Plenty to Eat
and Treated Like Kings.

ieA1 putie IA tue afternoon of July 4
are evidently greatly pleased with their
army life so far, and the treatment they
are receiving. There is no kicking
among them. Most of the news pub
lished here has been in regard TO the
Montana regiment now on the Pacific
and Stivers' rough riders. and people
will read with pleasure the following
letter from Roy l.. Allen, one of the
Butte boys who Joined the I'd regiment
of United States volunteer engineers.
now at San Francisco:
ITO the Editor of the andar
II you Will allow me space in the
columns or your paper / will try and
tel your readers how soldier boys are
treated by u government. To be-
gin with. Montana's quota of the I'd
regiment or the United States volun-
teer engineers left Butte the afternoon
of that most glorious of all HOLIDAYS.
July 4. at 4 o'clock. over the Oregon
Short Line for Salt Lake, Utah, to ioin
the rest of our company, which con-
slsts OF men from Idaho. Nevada and
Utah. We left Butte two men short.
put In 20 hours after our arrival at Salt
Lake Anaconda had two more men
there TO fill the vacancy, SO you can
very readily see Montana, as usual. is
up to her full allowance. We camped
I'm the barracks at Fort Douglass, Utah.
until Sunday, July 10, when we left for
Fort Preside. where we are now. Dur
ing our stay at Fort Douglass we were
drilled from three TO four and a half
hours each day. AS the weather was
very warm there. our boys were some
what wearied at first. but after a short
time we became used to il, and then
were q. *. We were mustered in as a
company at Fort Douglass July 2 at
Z p. m. by Commanding officer Lieu
tenant Dieshiel.
"When we left Salt Lake the ladies
OF the Red Cross society met us at the
depot and gave each one Of us a sewing
outht. three bandages and a bouuuet.
as well as three cases of fruit, which
were put on our train for use on our
trip. We went to Ogden over the Dem
yer q Rio Grande. and from there over
the southern Pacific to San Francisco.
We Travelled in Pullman tourist sleepers.
We were met by the Red Cross society
at Ogden, Sacramento and here. and
you may form your own opinion of
what they a in store for us from
what the Salt Lake society did. We
arrived at Oakland the evening of July
ii and stayed in that city over night
in our cars, The next morning we
came across the ferry to San Francisco
~ Aiitit VI IItSlllO,
which is about six miles from the fer
ry, so you can readily see that our
first Introduction TO marching was one
that could be remembered by every
member of the ompan We arrived
on the grounds of Camp Miller about
10 a. m, and the first thing on the pro-
gramme was putting up our tents and
getting our cook started to work i'm
mediately. Just before noon our blan-
kets and eating utensils were issued TO
US. During the afternoon we separat-
ed any way we desired, just so there
were four men to each tent. From
that day on we were restricted to a
soldier life. Each man has been is
sued one shelter tent, blanket. under
clothes, blouse. hat, gun. knapsack,
canteen, cartridge belt, bayonet, fry
ing pan, tin cup, knife. fork, spoon and
two tin plates. Our uniforms are navy
blue complete. The non-commissioned
officers chevrons and stripes are red
and white. Our commissioned officers
do not have n stripe OF the leg of
the pants. The rest of our equipment
will be here tomorrow. We are al
lowed $50 each for clothing during the
first six months and $40 per year. ANY
money We can save out Of our clothing
is given to us. Our cloth
ing is of a very good quality. l saw
some OF the clothing the Montana in
ItCelNeu, ana 10 say IL Is OF Door
quality is not an adequate description.
1t looks something like Lumber Jack
Jackets.
Our treatment is something immense.
We get enough to eat, and VIA we
get is properly cooked. and IL Is the
desire of our officers for every one to
be wen treated. We are allowed all
we can eat. We have corn, tomatoes.
cabbage. bread, pork, bacon. beef. corn
ed beef, potatoes. onions. coffee. sugar,
salt, pepper and every two or thre DAYS
fruit of some kind. We get I'D at 6
a. m, have setting up exercises for
Is minutes: breakfast. $50: drill, s TO
10; dinner, II; drill. 3 to 8 p. m; supper,
$50. and dress parade at $3.50. During
the hours between drills we can go to
the city, or any place we desire. All
in uniform are carried free of
charge on the street cars here. We
must be inside the guard lines before
? p. m. unless we apply and get a pass
from our commanding officer to stay
later. our camp is one and a half
from Camp Merritt. There will
not be any Camp Merritt after to-mor-
All the troops at that camp will
be move over here. The Montana in
etc. Of Camp Merritt left for
the Philippines on the Pennsylvania and
last Monday. They were
all in the highest OF spirits. Their
pflnclpal desire was 10 get away from
Camp Merritt, and I do not see how
any person could blame them for that.
as 1t is a disgrace for any one to have
10 stay in such a place. There Is about
six inches OF loose sand In and around
most all the tents. and when a wind
would start to blow you can imagine
about what things would be like. our
is on the shore Of the bay, and
are surrounded by nice parks.
drives, flowers, etc. We are about one
mile from Golden Gate. There is no
10 speak OF. There are. on an
every day. We are ordered 10
here on the Scandal. August /
Honolulu. There are 364 men in the
engineering corps OF our battalion.
is the Sd. 1t consist OF four
companies, one each from Portland.
Denver. a Francisco and Salt Lake.