Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1916-07-20
IDAHO REGIMENT IN CAMP ON
BORDER AT NOGALES, ARIZONA.
Continued from page ~

| (COnLlnueu from page L.
through the wonderful tabernacle of
the Mormon church at that place and
it SO happened that Representative P.
G. johnson, Of Bingham county, was
in the city and he personally conducted
several parties of the Idaho soldiers
through the temple grounds and ex-
planned in detail the points of inter
est.
Caliente and Las Vegas, New, San
Bernardino and Cotton, CAL, Tucson,
Ariz.-where the ladies of the city
served the boys with sandwiches and
milk and gave them tobacco matches,
ETC., and which, by the way, they have
done for more than six thousand other
troops during the past 10 days-and the
cheering, hilarious, greeting at Nogales
were interesting and thoroughly appre-
| ciated by the entire regiment.
Good Service Given.
Considering the demands being made
on all the railroad lines of the United
States for sleepers and troop trains at
this time the transportation service
was good. | think all of our troops
had sleepers from Salt Lake City, Most
of them from Boise lie Connecticut
troops came through the entire distance
many VI tHtH III tHdlT cars ana uaV
coaches. In view of the rush and other
unavoidable conditions the western
roads have handled their troops move
ments as well if not better than the
big eastern lines. True there was some
crowding and on the desert. the boys
felt the heat considerably but there
was no real suffering.
| would like to give you, if I could
ilaa Of e
Nevada and California-real deserts,
the perfect representation of desolation!
Once an Idahoan has crossed the Mojavv
or Salton basin, the latter 25S feet be-
low sea level, and never again will he
call any part of Idaho "desert'' The
Snake river basin, raw-even the lavas
are not deserts. They are gardens when
compared to the scorching, wind-swept,
hells of sand and heat of southern
Nevada, California and part of Arizona.
Some day | am going to write a little
description of these deserts-but MOI
now. There is rot time. In this l'ttel
cannot even give you a description
of the Nogales country which I would
like to and which you shall have in
future letter.
About the Situation
Just a paragraph about the "situa-
ton
Nogales is not excited although
few weeks ago the people-civilians-
were sitting up nights, armed, ready
and expecting to have to defend them
selves from the bandits, for bandits
are what the four to six thousand
Mexican soldiers a few miles from the
border at this point are.
thic - ov.t+Al Vat
there is sort of well-itsrgot,to come"
feeling in the air that has already made
me sure that it will comet Yes, on first
which may be wrong, I am
convinced more than ever that no mat
ter what has been done, or what may
be our choice in the matter, the Idaho
troops will go into Mexico before very
long. 1t cannot be prevented.
You know Nogales is the town where
one side of the streets is American ter
ritory and the other Mexican. Well,
across that street and back in the blue
hills of Sonora, made darker this after
noon by the storm clouds that hang
over them, there is kind of heavy
threatening something that makes |
you sure storm alone may clear the |
air. Tt may break quickly-it may not
break for weeks or months, but it is
sure to come.
There is a tenseness here that you
must come in contact with to appre-
ciate.
Across the Dead Line.
When our train stopped at Nogales
today | Immediately fastened to the
telegraph office to send wire-know
ing you were all anxious to learn if
the boys came through safely. After
sending the dispatch--the telegraph
office is in the depot, right at the boun-
daryl thougrt / would step across the
street and see what was doing on the
other side.
1t was easy till husky "Hey,