Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-07-07
WHY TROOPS CO UlO NOT HURRY.
supplies Held Upon the Railroads mex
pcrienced Ouartermastcrs.

|
system, who returned recently from Tam
Ia. throws new light on the conditions at
tending the TRANSPORTATION Of troops at
that point lie said those who have crit
ic.scd the military authorities for the de-
! lay in transporting troops and supplies
! failed to take into account the many diff
Incultics encountered.
! 1T was unfortunate" said Mr. Plant.
/ that many Of the army quartcrmastcrs
were young men and inexperienced in the
shipment Of large quantities of supplies
and the transportation of thousands of
men. They lacked the knowledge of cars
and railroad equipment which would have
ttted them for this work, There was
therefore, considerable confusion upon
their arrival.
| Port Tampa has ample warehouse ia
cilit!os for the ordinary purposes of com
mcrcc. 1t was extremely difficult, how
ever at that time to find buildings In
which to store the supplies and equ' pments
OF an army of 5000 men Freight cars
stood on the tracks for miles because the
quartermasters and Commssary officers
had engaged no place in which to store
the contents. | do not say that this was
their fault; it was rather their misfortune.
/ 1t was hard to find anything when il was
wanted. The vexatious delays were due
I 10 the fact that at the terminals Of the
railroads the cars were not promptly un-
1>-DI,c,rsrO>- Ann ,,r-pov
| .,',
H'o'"', aus "iI''" 'u,'''"u''u H'uS'
70 wy S'o'c ~ anh'lS at "''ipu Wd' thc
,'".ol9'o' WIN l'ss'u W t"c ON va N"''o',
N"S ru'S'lo' VI W'c'e an" WIZ" anu
now tnc troops Shou'd De transported 10
/ """' ~ va" "V''e"",! " ""'' ~ ''"r'
10 inahc sure tnat the tranSnortS coulu
20 ",tnout running me uans,r OF pelhs
",taohtu y! tlc war snlps oi W, 'n'"y;
it must also De rememoercu 'hat inc
hiou,hHd''pn OF 'ne troops was uoh' nur,
| rIeuN' u"h th't inc So'uicrS were r"Shcu
ncers had ali tbcv could tn Lrirr order
out of chaos. They had Herculenn task,
In which they were ably aided by railroad
otloia ls.
LAS to Port Tampa itself, no better place
could have been selected for the cmbarka-
ZION of troops. The great problem is 10
get troops to deep water with the least
possible effort. There Is twenty-onc feet o
water at Port Tampa, which is ample for
all the transports which may be employed.
Besides that. the bay affords an anchor
age ground where there is thirty feet of
water. As fast as vessels are loaded at
the piers they may be taken out to the
anchorage.
/ "Fcw ports in the country have better
wharfage facilities than Port TAMPA Two
piers Of earth and stone work Just out in
to the bay 1000 feet They are 80 feet
apart. and between them there Is depth
of water from twenty to Twenty-Five feet.
! Ten vessels OF large size may be placed
! fore and aft along beth sides of the piers,
! on the south pier are three parallel rail-
road tracks, from which supplies may he
loaded 10 the vessels alongside The end
of the north pi1S is used as "A coal dock
and there is room for the storage of ali
the coal which might be needed for
! feet of transports. There are also two
railroad tracks there. At the head of the
dock IL "A freight yard which extends
/ back for a mile
-, .-.,, o,, coon ,,,,,,,,
railway ana steamship facihtles at