Omaha daily bee., 1905-09-10
FIRST CORPS FOR FORTONAHA
Fifty-FiVs ksn Under Lieutenant Butler
Take Train from Bsst.
THREE OTHERS TO COMPLETE POST
Important Training school for signal
Corps where Every Feature OF
Army Manipulation VIII
BE Taught.
THREE OTHERS TO COMPLETE POS.
(From a staf Correspondent.l

From a staf Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Sept. ESPECIAL Tele-
gram .)-Fifty-fve men, under command Of
First Lieutenant Laurence p Butler OF the
| signal corps, with camp equpage. leave
tomorrow evening by the Pennsylvania and
Rock Island for Fort Omaha, This is the
beginning Of the big post, as II is known
In army affairs for the signal corps
With the abandonment OF Fort Meyer
three signal corps posts will exist-Fort
Wood, New York. commonly known as
Bedloe Island, Bencia Barracks, Cali
fornia, and Fort Omaha Fort Wood takes
care of electrical defenses of the east
Benieia Barracks has charge of the Pa
cific coast and Alaska. But under the new
condition of things a four-company post
is planned for Omaha, where the whole
interior Of the country is to be looked
after in conjunction with a school OF train
ing that will make Omaha the most i'm
portant post of the signal corps.
1t is planned to make Fort Omaha, for
years an abandoned post. the most active
post for the signal corps in the country.
Heavy army work will be done there, to-
gether with field work incident to the
moving Of great bodies of troops. 1t will
become a training school for cable opera
tors, telegraph operators, the development
Of wireless telegraphy together with bal
I loon building and manipulation. In addi-
ton to the company which leaves tomor-
row another company is to be Immediately
organized from men now in the Philip
pines and Alaska, so that two companies
will take up quarters in the barracks at
Fort Omaha as soon as they are conf
pleted. Two additional companies through
out the country and the Philippines will be
designated by Brigadier General A. w
Greedy to complete the battalion post.
Extensive plans are under way to make
Omaha the training school for the signal
corps Of the army. Every feature of army
manipulation will be taught there. Accord
ing to the present ideas the four COM
panies which will ultimately he assembled
at Omaha will be divided so that each COM
pany will have distinctive work to per-
form. Congress has authorized the pur-
chase OF horses to mount 100 men, and
these will be known as the mounted men
of the signal corps, trained to carry hello
graphs and field glasses and to string wires
A second company will be in charge of the
telegraph train. A third company will be
detailed wholly for wigwagging, while the
fourth company will have charge Of bal
loon work.
The signal corps at present embraces
1900 men, with forty-eight officers, from
Brigadier General Greedy down. Major
Eugene o. Fechet will be in command at
Fort Omaha. Major Fechet has a remark
able record as a soldier. After serving
through the civil war he entered West
Point in 1864 from Michigan, and gradu-
ated in the class of '6S as a second lieu
tenant Of artillery After service of
a.. L.
| signed. On the breaking out of the Span
ish-American war he was appointed as
major in the signal corps of the army
which position he has obtained in perma-
nent establishment. In addition to Major
Fechet, Captain Henry S. Hathaway and
Lieutenant F. Alexis Jeuno will Join the
corps shortly after their arrival at Omaha
Lieutenant Jeuno is regarded one of the
most expert electricians in the army, hav-
ing invented an electrical marker for dis
tance shooting which is accepted by all
| arms of the service.
Railroad to Yosemite Park.
Acting Secretary Ryan of the Interior de-
partment has approved the application Of
the Yosemite Valley Railroad company for
| right-of-way through some two miles OF the
Sierra forest reserve, leading to the west
| ern entrance to the Yosemite National
park The Yosemite Valley Railroad COM
pany has completed a railway line from
| Mercedes, Cal, to a point lying two miles
| from the western entrance to the park and
the railroad company is to pay, under the
terms of the agreement, 100000 per year to
the government for the privilege OF laying
tracks to reach the Yosemite park prop
erty.
Bank for wakOnda.
The application Of f. w Babb, II. ].
Babb. Elizabeth Babb. ]. II. Dwyer T. J.
Lynch and r. H. Babb to organize the First
| National bank of Wakonda, s. D., with
$4,000 capital. has been approved by the
comptroller Of currency.
New Rural Carriers.
Rural carriers appointed: Nebraska-Jan-
sen, route 2 J. A. Krause carrier. /. A
! Ericsson substitute. Iowa-Bridgewater
route l. John b. Auer carrier, F. L. Smith
substitute; Minden, route l, Henry RihmeI
carrier, Sam Rihmer substitute South
| Dakota-Bristol, route ], Theodore F
Huhwe carrier, Otto Huhwe substitute.