Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1901-10-10
OLD FORT STANTON.
A Transformation Which Has Been Accom-
plished the Past Few Months,

l
full of interest. 1t was on the border
! country during the Mexican war and
was once in the hands of the MeX-
| cans. 1t has experienced all the ex-
elements incident to the frontier; has
| braved the raids of Indians; has wit
messed the long strife be-
| tween cattlemen and rustlers, and has
been resort for the famous bandit,
Billy the Kid. 1t was for many years
| the garrison of some of Uncle Sans
best troops, but was abandoned as a
| military post and left to crumble into
to a magnificent marine hospital and
today stands as living monument to
our national charity.
Fort Stanton is situated about IS
miles northeast of Alamogordo, under
the shadows of the White mountains,
level. Twenty-four square miles Of
fertile grazing and agricultural land
on Bonito creek have been set ASIDE as
a government reservation, and there
in the valley lies the fort. After it was.
abandoned by the government as a
military post, it was not long in re-
gaining it's former wildness. AS soon
as the soldiers left, the gardens turned
into weed patches, the fences fell and
deer grazed where the army had fed;
coyotes and jack rabbits chased over
the parade grounds; the old barracks
rrrI,o te1,
had slept and died began to crumble,
and soon became the haunts of skunks
owls and bats, which ;as trsUd1tIonN
holds iD were disturbed only by the,
nightly walks of the ghosts of departed
warriors. Thus it lay for few years
unmolested by soldiers tread or the
crack of the target rifle.
But not for long. At last there ar
rived at the fort by special stage from
Captain a well-built, soldierly man
wearing an officers uniform. He car
ried in his pocket an order from Wash
should be transformed into a marine
hospital for consumptive sailors. That
man was DR.. Cobb Of the United
States marine hospital service, and be-
fore he left, few months ago, he had
the satisfaction of seeing that order
obeyed. 1t was a hard job and re-
quired both patience and perseverance,
The officers quarters were renovated
the old barracks were rebuilt into neat
hospital wards a new water system
was constructed; one building was
turned into an ice plant another into
a dairy; a steam laundry with its in
tricate machinery was hauled over the
mountains by team. The wheels of
progress began to turn once again,
and as if by the touch of magical
hand new life permeated the old fort.
The wild animals were chased back in
to the mountains, the fences rebuilt,
the, gardens cleared and the flowing
herds now wind slowly DER the lea"
Today a hundred sailors, weakened
by consumption, are sheltered, fed and
cared for at the governments expense,
and Fort Stanton has become the home
of the homeless, shelter for the sick.
Those patients who are unable to
leave their beds are cared for In the
most considerate manner. The strong
er ones walk from their well-kept
rooms to their meals, wander over the
pine-covered hills, ride horseback, play
golf or swing in hammocks under the
trees. M
Thirty expert attendants, dressed in
United States marine hospital service
uniforms, under the able command of
Surgeon Darlington, perform all the
work on the reservation. Three doc
tors visit the patients every day and
administer to their needs.
Thus the old fort exists today, sep
arate and disconnected from the busy
world; complete in it's formation and
accurate in it's management, remind
ing one of an ideal communist settle
ment, where the sick are cared for by
the labor of the strong.