Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-09-26
GREAT MACHINE SHOP
BUILT BY YANKEES
French Coast Town Sees Mon.
ster Industry Grow Like
Magic.

mail.)-There is the crash and bang
of a great %cannonade like q battery Of
trench mortars in action. But this Is
not the of the battle front
n hears here. but another kind OF
cannonade. almost as fierce and ear
splitting, of trip-hammers. giant
sledges n electric riveters i'm tho gi-
gantic American construction camp
which has suddenly sprung into exist
ance here.
Standing in the vast workshops
about. tho dimensions of the capitol In
Washington, with the thr0b Of a great
work going on inside and miles Of &C
tivity stretching away outside in rail-
way yards. warehouses. doc and
camps, one feels this is after all quite
as essential a part In the winning of
the war as the struggle going on fur
Their forward. for here IN tho very
fountain head of material for winning
the war. There are great 800 MILL
metre cannon like the IL inc monsters
on American battleships. with all their
pondrous mountings n trucks. huge
80 ton locomotives which are turned
out with he incredible speed Of six to
10 a day, exceeding the output Of the
great establishments in America and
fat cars, freight cars. o cars. tank
cars. and all other forms Of railway
transportation turned out by scores
II hundreds daily as q baker turns
out cakes from his ovens.
NtIldl udS UCcu IuOSL aSIOUlAnlUK 10
the European observer Is that all this
vast s~torehouse Of American energy
and production could be created In q
few months out of practically moth
Ing. Last fail h site Of this pres
ent plant was q vast marsh with the
sea water over IL at high time. 1t was
necessary first to raise the level OF h
ground five to nine feet. This was q
huge engineering undertaking In It.
self. When it was done. instead of q
mash with the sea tapping it, h as
tonished townspeople saw q high and
level plain adjacent to the city. with
big ocean piers beginning to stretch
out seward for the incoming migra-.
ton of American men and materials.
Soon thereafter rose like magic tho
huge buildings to carry on the infinite
diversity of activities Of this hive OF
war industry.
Under the escort Of Baron, Dornes.
ne of the chief French officials con-
nected with the institution. The Asso-
ciated Press correspondent had an oD-
portunity today to see the huge enter
prise in full swing. 1t was like going
through the Bethlehem or Carnegie
works. with the same roar OF produce
ton on Il giant scale. with furnaces
glowing, hammers n riveters beating,
and armies of workmen-enlistcd Am
erican soldiers in their blue jeans and
overalls-in their many branches Of
work. Inside the main building was
like being inside the Pennsylvania
railway station n New York. enlarged
'ey yrhars sl' ars !, ox xSG;men i work n.,..
explained the Baron. "all of them
skilled American mechanics enlisted an
soldiers, working In three shifts con-
tinuously for "a. hours"
To the left big trench mortars weigh
ing 100 tons each were being picked up
by the giant fingers Of a derrick and
landed on their train of trucks ready to
be moved forward to the front. To the
right another huge crane was bodily
picking up a locomotive and passing It
around to its proper place. These To-
scomotives como from the United States
IN parts packed IN crates. Looking at
the long rows of these giant crates.
they seemed to be streets of cottages
or shacks. and one wondered how they
could ever be brought across the ocean
with all the shifts and storing between
docks.
We w~atchedsonc OF these locomotives
as 1t was taken from giant boxes.
gradually grew into q massive gin
Seen thereafter this locomotive was
moving through he yards on its own
steam. and soon after hat it was on
of France. which is one of the vital
links OF the war game. First Of all the
American double track road up to the
front was equipped. and then the
French state railway took It's turn, for
they are all a part of the network Of
feeders for the allied war service.
w turn out six to 10 complete.
locomotives a day." said the Baron.
and by September it will be 20 a day.
the largest construction of the kind In
the world.
Now the baron led the way % some
of the detailed processes of the big
plant. Here was the boiler testing
plant. Steam waa up n the big boil
ers were being tested after their 10Y.
age across the ocean to see IL the sea
water had opened any joints or
loosencd rivets. 1t was surprising.
said the baron how well they stood the
voyage with no lo0sening of.partS. ana
practically perfect when they arrive.
Besides the industry of such q huge
concern. there is besides. the equip
mcnt of living quarters for the army Of
soldiers. Thus a good sized
city sprung up, with and
streets lined with barracks, mess
'ooms. cantcens. barber shops. dentists
,ffces. bath and all the activities Of q
furnishing frontier town.
Beyond the shops and barracks are
he great STRETCHES of railway tracks
md sidipgs. for: this is the first step in
he intricate SUSTAIN of transportation
" which American troops and supplies
re moved to the front. When the
americans came here there were two
racks; now there 10 a network Of 81
racks. Hundreds OF American en-
ines and cars were moving over these
mes rs we went through the yards
)day. and some 40 newly completed To-
1m0tives just turned out at the near
y shops were starting on their way.
nd as these ven out, long trains
ere bringing in more of the huge
ates with the bodies and wheels and
>S1orr D0Nr En- ho n,n< <Orn%A-- A. Az