East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1917-10-20
CHARLOTTE, HOME OF
CAMP GREENE IS ONE
OF HISTORIC TOWNS
IN FAVORED SECTION or SOUTH
CLIMATE. WATER, SUR
RoUNDINGS UNEQUALED.
Population 10000; Principal Industry
Cotton Manufacturing: Main Dis
tributing Center of CaroIinas.

Charlotte, the city which is to be
the transient home of the western
troops is histnri" community. cele-
hrated for the most part by reason of
the fact that 1t was here that the First
Declaration of independence was exc
cuted. Patriots of Mecklenburg. the
county of which Charlotte is the seat.
gathered on a spot now the central
site of the city marked by the inter
section Of its two principal streets,
and without awaiting the later ac-
tion in Philadelphia. signed a docu-
ment in behalf of British independ-
ence, which has become historic. on
May goth, 1777. This date is annual
ly celebrated by the state, with Char
lotte staging its most monumental
pageant. Presidents Roosevelt and
Taft. Vice-President Marshall and
President Wilson have all been the
distinguished guests of honor on the
/ occasions OF these celebrations. Pres
ident Wilson having made the princi-
pal address and being the central fig
ure in the celebration on May goth,
I 1916
Charlotte is, moreover, the metro
polls of North Carolina. Its popula-
tion is $4,000 and it is the most ia
vored of all Carolina cities in many
7 activities. notably that of cotton man
pfacturing, Within a radius of SO
miles of Charlotte are 400 cotton
mills with a payroll Of $40, 900, 900
/ year and having over 100000 em-
| ployes. Its own principal industry
4 is cotton manufacture and the man
1 ufacture OF by-products of cotton. 1t
/ is the main distributing center OF the
! Carolinas being state headquarters for
I more automobile distributing agen-
4 cies than any other city in the two
states. Its skyscrapers are office
buildings tenanted by representatives
! Of northern and eastern firms apd cor
porations whose range Of activities
Is over North and South Caralina, the
southern branches of these institu
tlons being centered here
The aggregate cost of the canton-
ment when 1t shall have been made
| ready for the troops will be between
100000 and S2.50O.0O0. There will
! be an aggregate of nearly 1000 build
( ings of wooden construction. in addl-
/ tion to thousands of tents. The wood
/ en- structures are barracks mess halls.
| hospitals, officers headquarters and
/ every other essential of city for an
army numbering $4,000 men.
| In addition to this central camp or
cantonment center, there will be 9TH
er locations for specific divisions of
this vast array of guardsmen. There
will be an aviation field of hundreds
of acres: a remount station of equal
area, a rifle range, artillery range.
this latter having as its objective
| Kings Mountain of revolutionary
fame 1t is Approximately 1 5 miles |
distant from the main cantonment.
The aviation squad will number O.
500 airmen with half that number of
machines. This will lbe stationed east 4
of the city.
The improved section of Myers /
Park, the handsome and fashionable |
residential suburb of Charlotte. viii I
be utilized for some division OF the I
guardsmen, perhaps for the aviation
corps.
There will be 1900 horses in the
artillery division and another site will
be requisitioned for the acCommoda
ton of these.
And then there will be several A
hundred acres used for maneuver
grounds. located six miles east of the
city on a stretch of sandy loan that
can easily be used during any period
of excessive precipitation.
To get the camp for Charlotte there /
has been no stintedness on the part
of the progressive people of Charlotte.
Whatever charges had to he met. for
the use Of any and all of the nearly
10000 acres available, have been
borne by the business men of Char
Iotte who have an appreciation of
what IT means to have city Of equal
size to the present proportions of
Charlotte In point of population
spring M almost over night just on
the outskirts.
The construction work will have
been completed at the present rate Of
progress by the time the last contin-
gent Of the 50, 900 or more soldiers
who arc coming here will arrive. a
veritahIe army of Iaborers are eugas.
ed now clearing up underbrush, burn
In~ the green trees that have been
felled from historic forests. laying
ned- for the concrete military roads
baracks and mess houses.
eveIinV and filling un bitches and
-therwise converting the landscape Of
cotton fields and wooded lands into
1 CITY for the habftation Of man.