The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-07-26
FORT DUCHESNE
TO Be RETAINED
Post at the Uintah Reservation
VIII Not Be Abandoned by
War Department.
DOUGLAS TO BE ENLARGED
CHIEF OF STAFF OF ARMY
REACHES SALT LAKE.


Major General J. Franklin Bell. CHIEF
OF STAFF of the United States army and i'm
military ma oters the right hand man of
secretary Of War William II. Taft ar
rived IN Salt Lake City at o'clock this
morning from Fort Duchesne, where ne
Went to report to the war department
conditions at that post Tomorrow he
VIII VIII VISIT Fort Douglas and make an ex-
tehdeu report to the war department az
10 the needs of that post. He announced
as result Of his visit to Fort Ducbesne
mat that post would not for the pres
ent be abandoned. and, further that this
was the official decision Of the war de-
cent"
As to the Fort Douglas enlargement.
! the general made statements which are
certainly indicative Of a proper represen-
tation of Salt Lake City on the TniIitarv
! map at an early date. There will be-
Ieglmental size, and that at once
! whether the brigade post will. come later
or not remains with congress, which du-
ring the last session took the matter IF
brigade posts under its personal charge
Inc general did not wish to state specifi-
cally what the war department. would do
win regard TO the post until -he had
looked over the ground. He has not been
TO salt Lake City for many years. He
authorized The Herald to state positively
or the war department that the post will
De retained on their present scheme as
a reglmental post at least. 1t is not now
SO classified. At present twO-thirds of a
regiment are living in buildings which
were made to house about one-third Of
a regiment The new classification will
mean the enlargement of the garrison one
half again, and the building of many new
buildings, and quarters. which should be
done within short time.
Visits Many Posts.
General Bell left Washington one month
ago He is now accompanied only nv
his aide. Captain NJ. F. Davis but at
the outset of his trip was accomDanfed
by other officers and Travelled as far on
his route as Fort Smelling with Secretary
OF War Taft Since that time he has
visited most of the posts in the middle
west, including Fort Logan. near Denver.
Fort Russell. at Cheyenne: Fort Ieav-
e6n npy, where for two years he had
Deen commanding officer of the IufaD-
/ Try college before he became chief of
/ STAR or the army. and Fort Duchesne.
winch IS in the Uintah reservation in the
/ northeastern part of Utah.
| 1t was while at Fort LeaveUwOrth that
a correspondent attributed to General Bell
the phrase which has been going the
LOunus or the press. that something was
l wrong with the army"
Bell Was Misguided.
! As to this expression General Bell said
Ills morning: I was wrongly quoted
| Or at least quoted so that a wrong infer
| ence was drawn from mys expression 7
said that owing to the shortage of off
GERS on duty with their regiments and to
I many OlAltA apparent Ills some of
nave come TO feel that there is some
thing wrong with the army and I hope
you VIII believe that the war department
Is doing its best to remedy it,"
General Bell also denied that ne was
correctly quoted in interview I'm last
Sundays Denver paper in which he was
described as ladling out large numbers
of buildings and troops etc to Fort IO-
gan at Denver. He was interviewed there
but gave no specific account of the num-
Der and price of the new buildings with
an inference that a brigade post would be
built there as was stated.
From Fort Logan the chief of staff
went to Mack. Colo, where he took a
branch railroad and stage drive into
Fort DUchesne, Utah. where two troops
of cavalry are stationed. He afterward
visited Captain Hall, the Indian agent. on
the Uintah reservation and received from
him the report on the Indians who neces-
state the retention of the post in that
vicinity. much to the disgust OF the off
GERS and troops who have to serve there
and for the financial betterment of their
| immediate neighbOrhOOd.
Will Retain Fort Duchesne.
You can say that the war department
| has decided upon the retention of Fort
Duchesne. at least for the present Please
say the war department and not General
Bell, as the matter was one which be-
longed to the higher powers" said the
/ general
Did the Indians look like awful bad
!
He smiled.
well. not to me-" he said. mot real
bad Indians"
Coming out of Mack this morning the
general had long, hard day on
the train, which added to the fact that
it was as usual two or three hours late
and did not bring him into Salt Lake City
until o'clock this morning. did not put
him in the best of humOT- 1t was drizzly
rain when the train got in and the general
had trouble with his cab, a belated citi-
zen being ushered by the cab driver into
the vehicle after the general had filled
ii pretty well with aide. baggage and
Herald reporter There We're several 9TH
er vehicles and as the gentleman who
butted in was able to be otherwise trans
| idea as to the identity of his distinguished
fare was finally piacated and the general
driven to the Knutsford where rooms had
been engaged for him three days ago
when he was scheduled to arrive.
On the way up the general was asked
! If he had ever before been in Salt Lake
| City Not since they had paved streets
| like this" he replied. He was very much
Interested in the city and its progress,
and was rather taken back when he was
told that the most recent development OF
| il was a desire to get him into a corner
and make him promise us a brigade post.
General Bell is known fer his cOnserva-
tism, a rather remarkable quality in our
military men. several OF whom have
rushed into print with the same avidity
with which they have searched out the
firing line. and he wasn't "A bit ready to
talk about what he was going to do for a
post he had not yet seen. He did say,
however;
Continued on Page 2.
WIFI MOT HATI