The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1916-08-23
TELLS OF
BORDER
COUNTRY
N. B. Mclean of Company 3,
First N. D., Likes the
Southern District
MERCEDES PRETTY TOWN
Considerable Fruit Raised
For Local Consumption
Life in Camp

In an interesting letter to his par
ents, Mr.. and Mrs. Miles r. Mclean
of Moorhead, Norman B. Mclean of
Company B, First North Dakota In
fantry, now at Camp Llano Grande,
Mercedes, Tex, tells much of life in
the North Dakota camp. The letter
in full is as follows:
1T is a hard question to decide just
where to begin or stop to write a de-
scription of the conditions and life in
camp at Mercedes, which is five miles
from the Mexican border, (the Rio
Grande) and thirty miles from the
gulf coast.
"As I expected, it looks quite differ
ent here than it does around Fargo
and Moorhead. In place of the prairies
we have here the sand dunes and a
general run of hills and slopes. In
place of the tall pines. cottonwoods ct
cetera there are low scrubby trees
with many branches starting out near
the ground and not much trunk; in
place of wheat fields, there are fields
of cotton. broom corn, sugar cane and
orchards of peaches, oranges grape
fruit and banana trees but the fruits
raised in this vicinity are not so much
a commercial product as in Florida
and other southern points, but are
Mercedes is a pretty little southern
town of about 1900 inhabitants and
beautifully set off by a magnificent
hotel and the plaza right beside it.
This plaza is only block square but
in the center of it is bandstand and
extending all four directions from it
to each side there are walks fringed
with palms, banana trees, resin palms
and mesquite trees. 1t is an ideal
place to lounge around, especially at
night when there is a full moon play
ing it's light on the shadowy palms
and the lawn full Of people of all va
rieties listening to the music Of the
band.
1T is interesting to know that there
are Texas diamond rattlers which are
to the great length of feet and as big
as ones arm. There are scorpions,
adders. centipedes and tarantulas. All
of the above are deadly but the taran-
tulas are the worst.
However, none Of them bother one
unless disturbed. The rattler will al
ways give it's warning before striking
except at a certain time of the year
when they are blind and it is at that
time that they strike without warning.
There have been no fatalities as yet
due to bites or stings, although many
of the aforementioned pests have
been stung and bitten. They were
been stung and bitten. These were
rushed to the hospital and fixed right
up.
"One little incident Of my own was
to dress hastily in the morning without
shaking my shoes and upon removing
the shoe a couple Of hours later to
find a scorpion, very much dead, in it.
1t had been crushed by my foot before
it could sting.
The daily routine of camp life in
the army is almost monotonous. Re-
veille is blown at 80 in the morning
at which time we scramble out of our
hunks and into our clothes and fall in
for roll call-all in about five minutes.
Mess call is at 6 o'clock at which time
we fall into a long line, each company,
and pass by the cook tent where the
cooks hand out the rations as we pass
by one at a time. Next comes sick call,
and all those who don't feel right are
sent to the hospital tent. After sick
call, first call for drill Is sounded and
we ither hike or drill from $50 to
1880 and then rest until 8:15 and
then have a second drill period from
8:15 to 1915 after which we have
privates' school from 1890 to 1:3O
o'clock. Mess call for dinner is at II
o'clock and then at / o'clock officers
from 4:30 to $50 o'clock and mess
call for supper is blown at $50. At
6:15 retreat is sounded and roll call
again and every one stands at atten-
tion while the band plays the Star
Spangled Banner. We can do as we
please then until 9:45 when the call
to quarters sounds and at 10 o'clock
taps is blown when all are supposed to
be in bed and all lights out.
although it is very hot in the mid
die Of the day and the 100 mark suf-
fers considerably from wear and tear,
| it is always cool in the shade and in
| the evenings.
1T has rained here nearly every day
since we came, which will be three
| weeks Wednesday.
There are 1900 men in the North
| Dakota regiment and in all there are
about 10000 silders camped around
here within five miles.
During our months stay at FIT. Lin
coin, l was appointed as regimental
mail orderly and was assisted by Jack
OLaughlin and we handled from to
| 10 sacks of mail q day, but since we
arrived here the mail is now so heavy
! that our chaplain handles it, which is
his duty in the army anyway"