The National tribune., 1910-03-10
SOLDIERS HOME IN OKLAHOMA.

Hon. Dick T. Morgan, representing
the Second District of Oklahoma, has
| introduced the following bill in The
House of Representatives which has
been referred to the Committee on Mill
tary Affairs:
BE it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives Of The United
States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Board of Managers or
| the Home for Disabled Volunteer Sol
diers are hereby authorized. empowered
| and directed to locate, establish ard
construct and permanently maintain
branch of said National Home for Dis
abled Volunteer Soldiers within the
Plat National Park at Sulphur in the
State of Oklahoma.
Sec 2. That the Secretary of the In
terror is hereby authorized and directed
to select and convey, by patent in fee
simple, to the Board of Managers of the
National Home for Disabled Volunteer
Soldiers 160 acres of land within and
part of the said Platt National Park,
upon which said Home shall be located.
and said tract of land shall be selected
and conveyed within three months from
the approval of this act.
Sec. 8. That within six months, or as
soon thereafter as practicable. from the
approval of this act, the said Board of
Managers shall commence the erection
of suitable building or buildings on
the ground so conveyed for the use of
said Branch Home, and said buildings
shall be completed at as early date
as possible.
Sec. 4. That all honorably discharged
soldiers and sailors who served in the
army or navy of the United States dur
ing the war OF the reballion, or IN the
war between Spain and the United
States who are disabled by age, disease
or otherwise, and by reason of said dis
ability are incapable of earning living;
shall be admitted into the sail Home
for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, sub
ject TO like regulations as they are now
admitted to existing branches of the
National Home for Disabled Volunteer
Soldiers.
Sec 5. That the sum of 500, 900 out
of any moneys in the Treasury not 9TH
erwise appropriated is hereoy appro-
priated 10 be used in the construction
of said Home and n carrying out the
provisions of this act.''
Accompanying this bill Is the follow
ing statement Of the reasons why there
should be such a Home established at
Sulphur, Okla:
In south central Oklahoma, midway
between the eastern and western boun-
daries of the State. so miles north of
Texas, on the Frisco and Santa Fe Rail-
roads, in the foothills of the Arbuckle
Mountains. in the heart OF the Chicka-
saw Nation, lies the United States new
est playground, Platt National Park.
Situated Is miles north and eas: of the
Arbuckle Mountains the park is out of
range and free from the blustery, dusty
winds which sweep over western Okla
homa and the Panhandle of Texas in
the Winter and Spring months. and is
free and exempt from the hot winds in
the Summer, the Arbuckles the eldest
ranges of mountains on the continent,
completely shutting them out.
THE altitude of the park, LOO feet,
together with its location in a rugged,
well-drained country thru which dashes
many springfield, perpetually-fiowing
streams of clear running water, makes
the place free from mosketos. malaria,
chills and fever. The atmosphere is
clear, light. balmy, mellow and invig-
Grating. giving to the park the most
ideal, all-the-year-'round climate on the
continent
"The formation of the park is con-
glomerate. Its hills and Bromide
Mountain are composed of huge con-
glomerate powders made up of in
Vulnerable small, round stones, cement
ed so securely together that II is diff
cult to blast them apart. The park is
rugged, chaotic, fantastic and pictur-
esque, so much so that it Is unlike any
other spot on the earths crust, and it
is said to be the most beautiful spot in
the world. On every hand are evil
dences that the earth's crust in the
park was at one time burst aSunder,
and that its surface was a mass of
molten things, evidences of fire and
flood, of a great eruption and of the
oceans bed itself. The valleys and up
| lands are fertile and thickly coated
with native grasses. and the park, espe-
cially the valleys, is shaded with large
trees OF many varieties more varieties
| in fact, than has ever been found in
any one forest or equal area in the
world. Down the mountain and hill
sides, over cataract and precipice, dash
the parks clear. springfield creeks to
the larger and more torrential streams
in the valleys below. Some of the Ma
tional Fairgrounds streams have for
their source mammoth, never-failing
springs of the worlds .purest water;
others are sourced by great overfowing
mineral or medicine springs. each of
which flows a different mineral or medf-
cine water. The Governments analysis
shows the waters of each of the park S