The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-02-23
AMERICANS TRANS
FORM FRENCH PORT
Docks Enlarged, Storage Warehouses
Built, Harbor Dredged and Railroad
Facilities Increased TO Accommo-
date American Forces.

A Port in France, Feb. 2s Correspond
ence of the Associated prcssl-A little
more than six months have wrought a
mighty change in the base at which, hast
June, the first division of American
troops landed TO 20 into training for
their fight with the Germans.
The docks have been and are being en-.
larged, storage warehouses have been and
are being built the harbor has been
dredged ont To accommodate more and
larger ships, and the railroad facilities
have been nearly doubled and are being
increased day by day,
The enlargement of the port has Great
ed a somewhat anomalous situation. For
whereas up to about the end of last year
troops landed more regularly and quick
ly than supplies, so that 1t was some
times feared il would be necessary to
draw temporarily on the French for their
support, the base is now in the position
of being able TO handle more tonnage
than is at present coming TO il, either in
the form of supply or troop ships.
The capacity OF the port would, how
ever be almost reached with the compile
tion of the docks and storehouses now
under construction if il were not for far
reaching engineering plans that are un-
der way.
The American authorities early fore
saw that even comprehensive dock en-
largements would inevitably result in
and confusion if some outlet
were not arranged for the increasing sup
plies expected to arrive when they are
needed and which even increased storage
space could not be expected TO accommo-
date. The problem resolved itself into
one of transportation.
Therefore. while the railroad tracks at |
the port itself are vastly more numer-
Gus than they We're six months ago, the |
American engineers have conceived a |
plan whereby a vast tract of land three |
or four miles back of the port has been |
taken over, and is being developed CO.
with the port itself
On either side of huge basin into
which ships can if necessary be towed
and unloaded, dozens of parallel spur
racks are being laid. They will serve a
lual purpose, for cars either can be filled
rom barges and vessels brought into the
BASIN, or cars loaded at the port itself
an quickly and easily be hauled to the
purs and there made up into trains.
The Americans already have taken
'ver on lease from the French certain
ines of railroad which will be fed from
he yards of the port and of its compile
nentary station in the rear They are +,
constantly the efficiency and /,
apacity of the port itself by helping the
'rench to economic in dock and trans q
ortation space.
The American plan which envisages
airing for vastly more volume than the !
ort would normally accommodate, even
nth the enlargement OF docks and store
ouses, is not original with them but is
lore or less copy of what the English /
ave done at another port, where they
ave increased the daily output of mer
iandise from about. 200 cars or less to
lore than 700. This they have been J
Bile to do by laying out huge yards to {
ie rear of the actual port to avoid con-
sstion and TO facilitate making up
aims. v
The steady development of the Amer b
an port has made it necessary to re- O
range the manner in which the work v
done. Last July comparatively small p
-anch of the quartermaster' depart {
ent was amply able to superintend and v
anage the unloading and distribution &
supplies. To-day the work has grown 3
that it has had to be entrusted to a h
ilway transportation department that il
growing in size every week and which A
Nv merely turns over to the quarter .
aster as ii does to the engineering, the
ration and all the other departments.
ch material as belongs to each
To Keep pace with the increasing vol v
ne OF supplies that arrive. a huge force
workmen has been found necessary
Ho regiments of colored soldiers, num-
ring 1000 men and most OF them W
lsky stevedores and longshoremen from rC
aw York and southern ports in times of h,
ace, now do the bulk of the unloading o
ON the ships and the reloadng of the H
aims. T
A not inconsiderable force of German ce
isoners of war, with whom the negroes Fl,
pecially seem to enjoy fraternizing, are ID
work about the docks from early In
,rning until evening. Every able NJ
died male citizen of the port and MANY
{ so able bodied, in addition to all the
men who care to work, have found
ployment and of course at wages that Fl
re hitherto unknown. The city may
said to be in the heyday of its pros
-ity.
The somewhat chaotic conditions that 10
Lurally prevailed when thousands upon OF
,usands of newcomers flooded into the yo
Y from the boats in late June have MI
,sided. Those stationed permanently pa
the port have gradually settled down, by
the few hotels and in many private de
Miles. The officers have established OF
sses for themselves at which they can col
iil themselves of American food, and ha
|, men who are not quartered in the uri
vn itself live at the original camp where
neral Sibert and his first division
yed until il was time to 20 to the
lining camp behind the front. Nc