The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-08-01
ENGINEERS CAMP IS
MOST UNUSUAL PLACE
Uncle Sam Transforms Forest,
Into Busy Community Hous-
ing Men In Training.

Washington. D. .C.-Transfonmatiou
|sef a Forest into a great military camp
In four paonths is one of the achieve
ments Of which the American corrs q
engineers boasts.
EARLY In February, Camp Allen, A.
Humphreys. at Belvoir, Va. was viz.
cually unknown. R.k American a
sineers were put on the job and today
1t - a thriving. pulsating camp, .
great city In itself, housing some II. 900
men. and growing day by day unfit BY
august 1t VIII accommodate 10000.
ann Humphreys, named for the
first chief OF engineers OF the Unite6
States army. Is some 20 miles south q
washington, Just below the town %
Acotink, Va. Its confines cover the his
toric Lord Fairfax tract: to one side
10 Mount Vernon, home Of George
washington. and IN the other direction
Is Gunston Hall, plantation and typical
old southern homo Of George Mason. H.
IustEious X1xgtnian, author OF the a...Bt1
OF hfghts" the famous document which
Thomas Jefferson made the corner.
stone Of the American Declaration Of
independence. Camp Humphreys 10
training school. In the hills and val
g Americas citizen soldiers are
tunnellins. mining, quarrying. exca-
vating, fitting themselves for work ON
foreign battlefields. .tl
The camp IL the only engineer re-
placement camp In the country, and
II Is here the vast supply Of engineers
is to be kept, upon which General Per-
shing Will call for men to expand and
replace engineer units working with
the American overseas army. Already
replacement units have been sent
across. Early in June, $500 men
trained In al. branches Of engineering
work were sent to Pershing. The camp
can train. equip and dispatch men
to France at the rate of 5000 a month.
n by the first Of the year the ca
pacity will be raised to 5000 a month.
The Work Explained.
washington newspaper correspon-
dents recently were guests Of the corps
OF engineers on an inspection trip to
the camp and its vicinity. Every de-
tall OF the work was explained to them
by headquarters officers Of the star OF
Lieut.. Col. Richard Park. u. s.. A., an
engineer OF engineers, who has been
placed In charge Of the greatest re-
placement camp.
Seventeen thousand men are at the
camp at present, most Of them drafted
men, new ones are arriving. from
civil life every day. There is q con-
tinual ebb and flow Of troops, men be-
Ing sent across the Atlantic as fast an
n can be accommodated in France
ana new ones arriving to take their
places at the schools. Even after the
war It IL the governments intention
TO rake Camp Humphreys a perma-
nent training camp for engineers, and
All work Is being lone with that scheme
In mind.
One Of the most interesting features
OF camp humphreys Is the light. COM
bat railway which has been CONSTRUCT
ed for the carrying Of supplies through
the reservation, as well as for train
ing men In the construction, operation
and maintenance Of buttle line rail-
roads. A 60-centimeter, narrow gauge
road IL miles In length. similar to the
French roads, covers the camp, and all
day trains OF flat cars ana gondolas
run back and forth with construction
material and supplies. The locomo-
tives are built especially for foreign
service, and the power is furnished by
four-cylinder, 60-horsepcwer motors.
SO we'll trained are the Humphrey
engineers that the construction gangs
can lay. track at the rate Of half q
mile a day.
Thes railways will be- taken Tn
France with the railroad eaigineers,and
1t VIII not be long before they will bo
running from the rear lines to tho
front, loaded with shot ana shell. and
guns for American infantry and ar
tlllery. AS rapidly as the battle uno
changes, the combat railway IAN be
moved to conform with It.
All phases OF engineering are taught
at the camp. When the recruit arrives
he is put through the three principal
schools-the sapper gas defense and
pontoon schools. In order that he may
get the rudiments Of The engineers
work. II he Is found to possess special
qualifications or technical ability HI IL
sent through n or more OF the fol-
lowing supplementary courses: High
way and trench construction. railroad
construction and operation, water sup
ply work, forestry, animal transport
tation, camouflage. surveying. map
production. electric wiring. reclama-
ton, gas n flame, gas ~offense, min
Ing quarring, bridge building. trestls
work and others.
On the correspondents inspection
trip three regiments Of half strength
were marched in review-approximato-
ly 1000 soldiers filing past tho conn
mandant, his staff and his guests. with
healthy stride and military bearing.
marching to lively music of the camp
band. In the outfit was n regiment
whose drilling was especially attrac-
tive. With snap and precision. tho
men Of this regiment marched across
the parade ground, heads high. eyes
front-men who eight days before were
engaged in civil pursuits. They were
the latest arrivals, and eight days az
ter they had answered the nations
call for men, these young Americans
were, to the william eye, q trained
outfit Of American engineers. 'appar-
emily ready to face the foe, to do or
die for the freedom Of the world. Me-
gro troops OF the service battalion also
commanded attention OF the specta-
tors.
When a man has been graduated
from Camp Humphreys and ID sent
abroad. he Is an engineer in the strict
est sense of the word He is moro
han an ordinary soldier-he, In an ex-
pert in his line, the best engineer his
officers can make him, and his off,
GERS are the pick of the engineer dc.
partment-West Pointers and civilian
engineers who have Joined up" so the
country my have the benefit of theil
knowledge and practical experience
~. snllL- a..-1 - Nl-s