New-York tribune., 1916-07-17
Nebraska and Indiana
Guard, in MOrass, Envy
New Workers. Sites.
THREE MILE HAUL
FOR CAMP WATER
Hundreds SWelter in WoOllen
Uniforms-Cheered by Re-
ports of Supplies.
BY ROBERT II. ROHDE.

I.lano Grande, Tex, July Is (by
handcar to Mercedes With mud to
the right Of them, mud TO the left Of
them. mud underneath them, with mud
in their puttocs and with mud in their
hair. 5000 National Guardsmen from
Nebraska and Indiana are glued here
in morass which makes the New York
encampment sites stand out like mill
ion-dollar, paved. sidewalked, street
lighted. suburban developments out
on Long Island.
II was raining hard last Saturday
when the first of the troops, battalion
Of Indiana artillery. detrained. 1t has
rained hard every day since, except
to-day. Sun-baked fields which until a
couple Of weeks ago had known nothing
but duststorms for more than year
have become swamps.
The three-mile road TO Mercedes, the
nearest town. offers the same sort Of
thoroughfare to autos and motor trucks
that fypapcr does to fly, and half
way along that road the men must
toll to reach their water supply, hoOf-
ing it.
Handcsr Route Popular.
Only two trains a day pass over the
nearby branch line railroad, and the
only other reliable transportation to
town is a handcar that the sap kindly
lends to Uncle Sam when it is not en-
ploved in transportatlon-the trans
portation Of Mexican track hands. In
the North The water that repays the
men for the long, sticky haul would
hardly be considered worth going after
II comes from an irrigation ditch and is
unfltcred
In McAnen, by the way, the water
comes from arteslan wells, and AT
pharr and Mission IL is sand filtered.
The camp sites. though, are quite as
good as the surrounding country al
fords. IF they were not completely
nrenared no fault attaches TO the regu-
lar officers stationed here, for they
received only three days notice that
the guardsmen were coming. Sui1cient
piping 10 reach TO the camp was lmme-
diately ordered, but it has not arrived
yet.
I1aro Grande itself might have been
quite a town by this time and able to
offer all sorts Of advantages, but some
thing happened while 10 was building,
seven wears ago A big resort hotel
was erected on the strength Of lake
nine miles long and a mile wide-a
lake with more water in II than there
is i'm "a hundred miles of the pathetic
irrigation drained Rio Grande.
Llano Grande Ready to Grow.
Somehow or other the development
company built Mercedes and let Llano
Grande slide The hotel, turned into
y brigade hospital, now is receiving its
first guests. All that Llano Grande
boasts in addition is a group of rough
board pavhons. knocked together by
thrifty Texans. intent on harvesting
the dinero while the watchful waiter
waits. Already there are pop and ice
cream stands aplenty, and before the
combination Of sun and eght-mule
scraper have made the road negotiable a
little movie show will have made Llano
Grande independent of Mercedes. As
concerns equipment. some Of the Ne
braskans and Hoosiers are glaring il
lustrations of military inadequacy.
One Indiana infantry regiment came
10 the border to face, for all its men
knew. an immediate engagement with
only $1,000 rounds Of ammunition Tor
the entire command. A Nebraska regi-
ment brought only $4,000 rounds, and
the Indiana artillery has not single
she'll in its caissons. Still another
regiment had to spend the first night in
the morass i'm dog tents.
Thus far the longing Of the men for
their homes has been increasing daily
as the woollen uniforms in which they
were sent into the hottest part of the
country grow more unbearable.
Supplies Approaching Rapidly.
But light uniforms, mud-proof camp
cots. malaria-proof mosquito bars and
other badly needed supplies are com
4.