Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-08-17
LETTER FROM
THE BORDER
Sergt. Rayburn Tells About the
Camp at San Benito

Through the kindness of Mrs. Ray
burn we are permitted to publish this
letter from her son, knowing that it
will also be of interest to many of our
readers.
Co. d, 18th Inft., SanBenito, Tex,
Aug. Tl916.
Have not got much time to spare
but will write little. ! am duty ser
geant today. We are camped on an
old lake bed that has been drained by
canal and we have to dig two ditch
es into the canal for each company so
we have no spare time. The First
Oklahoma and First Louisiana are
camped here, and they cleared off the
brush for us. We are to have per-
manent cook and dining rooms as soon
as they can be built; they are hauling
the lumber for them now. We also
will have board floors in our tents and
cot for each man. The day we un-
loaded it rained all day. The soil is
gumbo and is very sticky As soon
as we get things arranged it will be
very comfortable for army life. |
wish ! had time to write full account
of our trip down here / enjoyed it,
but there are surely some parts of the
country we went through that arn't
worth much. Around here it is all
irrigation. We are about nine miles
from the Rio Grande They guard
the camp quite thoroughly, no town
leave after ten o'cock and only one
night week for each man. They are
building dandy shower baths for as.
The water is good to drink but is
warm from standing in the tanks.
We have four tanks about the size of
the Hurley water tank for the boys.
There is a regiment of regulars
here beside the guard boys Don't
know when pay day will come We
don't notice the heat, for we get the
Gulf breeze. hope we can take a
ride on the Gulf. John Lakings'
place is about 20 or % miles from
here. We expect them over Sunday.
Well, | started this at noon and it is
night now, so I'll try and get it
finished. We will be busy for few
weeks getting everything in shape.
The eats the folks put on the train the
night we left Parker lasted US all the
way and it surely came in good.
After we struck the middle of Kansas
we had all the watermelons and musk
melons we could eat. Watermelons as
large as you could carry for quarter
and smaller ones for ten cents; musk
melons 30c dozen. We took exer-
else at Council Bluffs, Fall City, Neb,
Herrington, Kan; Enid, Okla; Mart,
Texas; FIT. Worth, SanAntonia and
klngsville. Kingsville is the home of
Mrs. Capt. King. Capt. King got very
rich boating on the RioGrande, cattle
raising, etc, here 80 or 40 years ago,
invested in SOC land, died and left his
wife millions. She donated the fine
highschool building to Kingsville, and
gives lots of money away to the
Presbyterian church, etc
Our daily schedule is longer here
than at Redfield; that is, we get up an
half hour earlier but don't drill in the
heat of the day and only an hour in
the afternoon.
Got letter from Lulu to day. The
morning we were in Harrington |
tried to phone, but couldn't get them
SO | wrote a few lines and mailed it.
| don't think their crops will be very
good from what | saw Oklahoma
didn't look very good to me; lots of
bad lands. The most of Texas where
we came through is covered with
thicket and mesquite. There are lots
OF oak trees, also holly and mistletoe.
Lots Of negroes, and every family,
black or white, is large. We saw a
lot of large plantations and ranches.
The Spanish buildings are very
pretty; wish | could explore them.
On Friday we take a long hike, so
will see some of the country. We are
quite curiosity to southern regi-
ments; they think we are all cow
punchers and only half civilized. We
have them all beat in drill. They say
we are the best looking bunch, ply
sically, that has come south
] wish you could see the camp. It
surely will be quite lot different
when they get it finished. The brush
comes right up to the edge of our
camp and we will have to clear space
around, There are Tot of tropical
plants growing all through the brush
Every town has dozen parks and
vines growing over all the buildings.
Well, must close. Write often
Lovingly,