Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-08-13

part OF the program. After the com.
panies were paid, tents were struck
blanket rolls were rolled up and the
regiment entrained for its homeward
trip about seven o'clock. Two spe-
Gals were required for the organiza-
ton, one over the Great Northern and
the other over the 500 line. There
was some delay at Sparta owning to
to arrange for individual transporta-
tion for the boys who intended to stay
over. Sparta was left behind, now.
ever, about ten o'clock in the even
ing, and the Twin Cities were reached
early Thursday morning.
Day In Twin Cities.
The members of the regiment were
allowed the freedom of the cities all
day Thursday, their specials not leav-
ing Minneapolis until 1880 p. IN. The
state capitol, Minnehaha Falls, Fort
Smelling, Minnetonka, the various
amusement parks, and the American
Association bali games were among
the places that afforded amusement
for the visitors. The trains pulled
out of Minneapolis promptly on time
for home.
! Home Once More.
The 500 special arrived in Bismarck
at half-past ten yesterday morning. II
was composed when it reached here
of a baggage car, and cars for com
panies A. F and X OF Bismarck, Man
dan and Dickinson, respectively, as
we'll as a car for the officers.
The boys were all glad to get back
home. The trip this year was one Of
the hardest that the guar(lsmen have
ever had. The Sparta reservation is
an ideal ground for maneuvers, but
Camp Bruce E. Mccoy, where the
boys were stationed, has absolutely
no place for camp site. Drill uoes
not hurt militia boys very much il
they are given a clean place to eat
and a clean place to sleep after drill
and maneuvers are over. But the
camp at Camp Mccoy is pitched on 6
bed of pure sand and breeze Was
blowing all of the time which con
stantly covered everything with {
fine dust. When the boys would begir
to make up their beds at night the
ticks would be covered with sand an(
the bedding would be covered witt
sand; when they would start to change
uniforms for guard mount or retreat
they would find their other uniforms
with the drifted sand beaten right in
to the cloth. At meal time they
would not be able to have their fooG
on the table over five minutes or II
would also be filled with sand. They
wore clothes plastered with sand
they ate sand, they wallowed in sand
when they tried to sleep, and it "tooh
! lots of sand to stand the sand"
Government May Remedy Evil.
There is no vegetation on the sand
that amounts to anything, but 1t Is
understood that the war department
will endeavor before another year to
! try to sod down the camp site so as
to make it more pleasant for visiting
troops. If that is done and pleasant
camping ground assured the men, the
reservation will then achieve an en-
viable reputation as an ideal camping
ground. Until that is done, however
the place bears the distinctly une1'
viable reputation of being the dlthiest
spot on the face of this great earth.
Regiment Makes Good.
The North Dakota regiment is to
be congratulated upon it's excellent
showing at the army maneuvers, II
the taxpayers and voters of the state
could see their guardsnen in action
they would feel that they were very
we'll represented. The efficiency of the
North Dakota organization is more
apparent when it Is compared with the
guard of other states. The regular
army officers who were detailed with
North Dakota during the Sparta man.
euvers said that the regiment as a
whole was the nearest approach to a
hodv of regular trOODs that they had