St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-08-02
HEAT AT EAGLE PASS
A st. Johnsbury Boy Writes That 1t
Is 1872 Degrees-Tells About Sand
Storms and Thunder and
Lightning.

The following letter written by Jack
Howard to a st. Johnsbury friend
will be of general interest:
Eagle Pass, Texas, July 20, 1915.
We are encamped at Eagle Pass,
just across the Rio Grande river,
from the city or town in Mexico which
used to be called Diaz, but is now
called Padre Negras. This is one of
the hottest parts of Texas. Yester-
day and today it has been 100 and
122 degrees, but most of us are stand
ing it well.
You know the regular army sur
geons threw out Is of US at Fort
Ethan Allen, so you may know those
of US who passed examination were
in nearly perfect health. 1 have felt
fine until last Sunday morning, when
1 ate some hash which confined me
to quarters without duty for two days,
but 1 am on duty today again.
One of our chief pleasures is sand
storms, which we get nearly every
day. 1t will get right dark, and the
wind will almost take one off his feet,
and the air will be so full of sand you
cannot see 10 feet. There is no green
grass and nothing green except mes
quite and cactus.
We have just had the worst sand
storm since we have been here. /
had to go out and help fasten the tent
down, and the thunder and lightning
is severe enough to make the thunder
showers in old Vermont blush.
We are getting fed very well and
the camp is sanitary, and about 49, 900
soldiers hive at Camp Shafter. The
town of Eagle Pass has a population
of of which
Mexicans. There are also quite a
few Japs.
This is quite long way from the
part of Texas I was in before, al
though I had been in San Antonio.
Our company has been split up, part
of them have been sent to Elm Creek,
Texas, to guard two railroad bridges,
and SO of us are left here. Cutting is
still here. He is o. K. We would be
glad to hear from you all.
One of our boys got a rattlesnake
the other day measuring four feet and
seven inches.
On our way out here we wrote our
addresses on slips of paper and threw
them into the crowds of girls, in all
the cities we came through, who
came to the train to cheer us on our
way. L got post cards and letters all
the way from Bellows Falls to Dallas,
Texas.
I was train guard coming through
Conception, Mo-, and a girl gave me
a nice bouquet of roses with her adj
dress fastened to it, We certainly
got some great send-offs in all the
cities and towns we came through,
even Chicago, st. Joseph and Kansas
City gave US cheer after cheer and
threw flowers to US.
Well, I will tell you a little more
about the way we live. We sleep
nine and ten men in tent. Of course
we have not seen such a thing as a
bed since we left St. Johnsbury. We
have small hay tick and roll up in
our blankets and sleep on the ground.
At first they kept us going nearly all
the time, but now, except when we
are on guard we can go to town,
three-fourths of a mile, every day.
Cutting and I and 3 others are at
tached to Co. H now, but we still
sleep in Co. D street for there are
four tents of us left. We eat and do
post duty with them, but we have
assembly in our own street in the
morning. The End Kansas regiment
is camped right beside us and they
run a movie" show and vaudeville"
every evening. They pick their sing
ers from all the different regiments.