Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-10-31
FROM CAPT. ECKERS
More United States Troops Land
in Manila.
OTTUNWA OFFICER DESCRIBES TRIP
Thlrty.third Regiment, ono Company
signal Corps, 200 Recruits and Three
Companies of Thirty Second ON
Board the Sheridan

( ! d .
The Courier is in receipt of a letter
from Frank w. Eckers, a captain in the
Thirty regiment, United States
volunteer infantry, now in Manila. The
letter was written to j. u. Hinsey, of
this city, by whose permission it is
published, in order that the many
friends of the captain may read it. It
was written while on board the trans
port Sheridan, Oct. z, having been com
pleted just previous to landing on the
Hawaiian islands. The letter is print
cipally descriptive of the voyage, and
& is as folllows:
Transport Sheridan, Oct. z, $780,
s Mr.. j. Z. Hinsey, Ottumwa, Ia.-Dear
Joe: AT last have made up my mind
to let you all know I am still alive
and that haven't forgotten my best
4 friends. If hadn't a good excuse I
would be ashamed of not having writ
ten before, but after attending to my
duties / haven't had time to write to
anyone but my mother, brother and
sisters. Our colonel has a faculty for
keeping everyone busy from $3.50 a. m.
4 to 8 p. M, and when the latter hour
comes around we are just about tired
enough to go to bed.
We left Ft. Leavenworth. on Sept IA
and arrived in Frisco on the evening of
I the 10th, after a hot and dusty trip.
The trip across Kansas, Colorado and
California was very pleasant, but in
crossing New Mexico and Ar
izona person wonders what
the Creator ever intended it for.
Nothing but mile after mile of sand,
Broken occasionally by a chain of hills
and mountains, or a small village of
"adobes" inhabited by Indians or Mex
leans, or rather by mixture of both;
and over the whole stretch not a sign
of any vegetation excepting sage brush.
How the people make living is mys-
terry to me. 1t is impossible for them
to raise anything excepting little
corn and few red peppers in a few
Of the valleys (Which we did not see),
and there is nothing to hunt and fish
for. OF course there are a few thriv-
ing cities like Las Vegas and Albu-
querque, which are the trading points
for very large territories, but they are
away behind the time in their manner
of conducting business. But suppose
this all will be changed when some
bright mind solves the problem of IT.
rigation.
, We saw great many fruit farms
( while passing through California, and
at one small station where we stopped
we were invited into an orchard to help
4 ourselves to all the pears we wanted.
They were the best I ever tasted, and
we modestly took along enough to last
us couple of days. We expected
Z when we arrived in San Francisco to
go at once on board some transport,
but there had been an order issued that
the regiments would sail in the order
in which they arrived in San Fran
cisco, SO we had to go into camp.
The Preside, in which we camped,
may be nice place sometimes in the
year. but we did not find it so while
we camped there. They have to utilize
every foot of space for their camp, and
we were crowded considerably COM
pared with our Leayenworth quarters,
The soil is all sand, and has been used
j. SO much by the troops that it is badly
cut up, and the constant sea breezes
keep the whole camp in a cloud of
dust. 1t was impossible for a person
to keep his face clean for ten minutes
at time. All the tents were heated
by small coal stoves, as the ocean mists
that blow from about 3 p. M. until
the next morning make everything
very damp and chilly. We were glad
when the order came for us to sail
on the 2sth. Three companies were
assigned to go with the Thirty-third
regiment on this ship and the rest of
the regiment was divided on two small
boats.
We have on board the Thirty-third
regiment, three companies of the
Thirty-second, one company signal
corps and about 200 recruits, for regi-
ments in the Philippines, which, with
the crew, make about 1000 men. The
ship is one of the largest, fastest and
best equipped Of the army transports,
and we were lucky to be assigned to
her, instead Of one of the tugs which
were carrying the other companies.
The main deck is used for layatories
and toilet rooms for the soldiers. and