El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-07

that the writer burdened down with
, two cameras, a blanket roll. a water
bottle and no food. walked over it and
got off the right road twice one warm
day. The road is sunken an average of
six feet or practically the entire dis
lance and thee ut is proba bly, the work
of centuries of grinding wheels. The
cut gets all the surface water and
more than its share of the rain. so
that when the weather is storming it is
n batter of mud and when dry it is
knee deep in dust. 1t is stone clogged.
cut and broken. and the traffic of the
armies have made it more impossible
than ever.
These thirteen or fifteen miles have
proved longer and harded to the trans
port service than some of the desper-
atelv hard stretches of the same length
on the river. Various packing systems
have been tried over the road, and the
result has been interesting to watch
The Americans have splendidly
equipped American wagon train. but
while it has done very well. the roads
have proved too much for it at times
and seriously impaired it's efficiency.
1t kept ahead on rations, but was be-
hind on commissary stores and quar-
termaSter supplies. The British are
using Indian pack trains of horses and
mules and have had better success
than anyone else The Indians are ex-
pert packers the lesson having been
thoroughly learned in the frontier
campaigns and their mules have moved
past stalled wagons. They also had
the advantage of an army of Indian
coolies. The Japanese employ small
two wheeled drays that are very light
and at the same time very effective in
a country with roads like those are.
They also have mad the advantage of
a coolie corps. and while they have
the largest army to care for. they, like
the British. are far ahead on supplies.
The Russians have used their light
military carts and wagons. and have
Jared very we'll. The Germans have a
mixed service and system. and are gen.
orally understood to have only kept
fairly we'll supplied. The French are
using the atrocious impossible Picking
carts. and it fortunate their force has
not been a large one.
Prepared for Winter.
Forage for horses has been a diff
cult thing to obtain The surround
ing country is capable of big con-
tribution. but prolonged operations
would strip it long before the end of
the winter. The Americans have been
very lucky in that respect and are in
possession of large quantities. The
fuel also offers grave problem. The
coal mines arec losed and the amount
of wood available is limited. General
Chaffee planned and General Wilson
executed a movement aimed at Sc
curing control of the mines. but it re-
mains to be seen whether or not they
will be put in operation. The compile
ton of railway would. no doubt sim
plify matters, but the length of time
before the last remaining and largest |
gap is closed is doubtful. Beyond that !
there is shortage of rolling stock, and |
the actual capacity of the line is seri- |
ously questioned. Meantime the things |
these armies must have are being liter
ally dragged up the Pei-Ho. and provi- |
dence is trusted to keep water enough |
in that narrow stream and prevent it
from washing over its low banks and
seeking a new outlet to the sea.