Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-06-17

Ing thousands OF feet of lumber to the
post daily. The railroads are putting
In extra sidetracks to care for the in>
creased traffic incident to the arrival
OF troops and material for buildings
In Lawton. ten miles distant. cam
paign already has been started to en-
tertain the guardsmen with substantial
clean amusement.
Army engineers are working Oh
plans To enlarge the water supply and
a pipe line probably will be laid to
Lake Lawtonka. In the Wichita noun
tains. The permanent deep well water
supply will be inadequate to care for
the increased men.
In the military reservation are In
Guided $1,000 acres of land and IN the
national forest adjoining are oS, 600
acres more, a total OF 10000 acres
available for mobilization and train
ing of a large body of troops. Mill
tary officers declare that the reser-
walton Is large enough to care for any
number of men. The Witchit noun
tains arc almost wholly within tho
forest resNrvation but the military re-
serve is principally prairie. Within
the military rtscrve IL is estimated
that there are $1,000 acres OF prairie
hay which the government could cut.
Permanent quarters at both the old
and new posts will accomodate only
three thousand men. The Oklahoma
national guard now is quartered in
tents. About two thousand artillery
men are now in barracks at the new
post
Fort Sill by reason Of its size and
variety, for many years has been used
10y the government chiefly as an ar
tillery range.
Has Interesting History.
The post was located In June. 1868.
under the name OF Camp Wichita, by
General Benjamin IL. Grierson asd
was first occupied by four companies
of the tenth cavalry in January Of the
same year on the same site, l6 years
before, in 1852, Captain r. B. Marcy.
in command of the Red River" eN-
pedition which brought the first white
man into this country asd Captain
George b. Mcclellan. later COM
mander-in-chi of the federal troops
in the civil war. then associated with
the expedition AZ engineer, pitched
camp for several days. In his book
relating to the story of the expedition
General Marcy gives an accurate des-
cription of their camp location. tho
present site Of Fort Sill, and writes;
"From its commanding position, 1t is
well secured against surprise and is,
by nature. one OF the most defensible
places | have seen."
General Philip Sheridan selected
Camp Wichita" as the base of oper-
atoms against the Cheyenne and
Kowas In hts winter campaign or
1S6S-69 which, in the decisive Battle
OF the Washita." put an end to indian
deprcdatlons in western oklahoma.
Since then It has been the military
center for the reservations OF the
Comanches, Kiowas, and the affiliated
bands OF Wichitas. Keechies Wacoes
and Caddoes. Partially covered stone
and dirt embankments, erected by
General Sheridan In thaS campaign are
still visible to the north of the post.
Shortly afterward the post was
named Fort Sill, In honor of General
Joshua Woodrow Sill. n military
leader OF the civil war and a West
Point classmate of General Sheridan.
For 25 years following his capture
In Skeleton canyon, Arizona, the
famous Apache war chief Geronimo
was held prisoner here and when he