The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1917-10-25
HARTFORD SITE
TAKEN OVER
President Wilson Issues Prov.
Ing Ground Proclamation.
MAY CHRlSTEN 1T ABERDEEN
The Territory Includes About $4,000
Aeres-Farmers In the Territory
VIII Be Given Ample Time To
Harvest Their Crops.

Washington.-President Wilson, by
proclamation through Secretary of
State Lansing, has taken for an
ordnance proving ground the territory
generally known as Gunpowder Neck
and Halls Crossing in Hartford county
AS a matter of fact, the proving
grounds as defined by metes and
bounds in the proclamation, extends
into Baltimore county.
The exact lines are now being run
by the engineers ON the ground, for
Secretary Baker announced last week
that this site had been approved by
the President and the issuance of the
proclamation is only a formality by
which the President, through the Sec.
retary of War, on next Saturday will
take possession of all the ground
whose owners are unwilling to sell to
the Government
The land on Gunpowder Neck will
be the first to be purchased, as 1t is
concentrated In the hands of few
owners, who have been willing to sell
and who have already given formal
permission to the officers of the War
Department to enter on their lands and
to make the surveys for the railroad
spur which will run from the Pennsyl
vania tracks into the proving ground
No name has as yet been officially
selected for the ground, but it will
probably be known as the Aberdeen
Proving Ground. 1t is not a part OF
the present plan to use the proving
ground as training school for artil
lery officers, but II may be done Incl
dentally as the general plan Is develop
ed. At present all the energies of the
War Department will be devoted to
building emplacements for the guns,
and preparing testing grounds and
ranges for the munitions to be tested
The tract includes about $4,000
acres. 1t runs irregularly about 20
miles from east to west, and is about
8 miles on the western boundary and
4 miles on the eastern boundary. Much
of 1t is water.
While the proclamation fixed Octo
Der 20 as the date on which land which
cannot be procured by purchase wiz
be taken over by the Secretary of War
there Is no intention of dispossessing
any residents at that time. Every
will be given ample time tc
harvest all his crops and remove all his
live stock, farming implements and
goods and all factories can
continue at work on supplies on lands
Indeed, 1t is promised by the War De
partment that many need not leave
their present homes before December
The government fully appreciates the
sacrifice 1t is demanding, and will exen
else the greatest forbearance and patti
ence.
The Presidents proclamation makes
provision for acquiring the land whose
owners are not able to reach satisfac
tory prices with the government A
will be appointed by Sec
retary Baker, before which all per
sons whose interests are affected may
appear to obtain compensation. Tho
governments agents will be instructed
10 deal generously with such claim
ants. When the House OF Represen,
-atives struck the original appropria,
ion of s3,000OOO from the bill, Sen
ltor John Walter Smith had it restored
and increased in the Senate to $1,000.
700, in order that every one who suf,
'ered loss or injury of any kind would
De amply compensated. In the event
Of irreconcilable differences between
he claimants and the government
commissioners, the latter will fix
price, of which three-fourths will be
paid to the claimant, and |
he claimant will he permitted to sue
he government in the Court OF
Claims for the settlement OF his claim,