Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-07-01
FOREST TURNED
. INTO BIGCAMP
INFOURM MONTHS
Former Wooded Patch i:
Cleared and Now 1900
Men are Kept There.

Cleared and Now 1900
Men are Kept There.
washington, July 1.-Transforma-
ton Of a5forest into a great military
camp in9sfour months Is one of the
achievements Of which the American
Corps Of Engineers boasts.
Early in February. Camp Allen A.
Humphreys, at Belvoir, Va, was vtr-
tually unknown. But American en-
gineers were put on the Job and today
it is a thriving, %pulsating camp, a
great city in itself, housing some H.
900 men, and growing day by day
until by.August it will accommodate
10000.
first Chief OF Engineers of the United
States Army, Is some twenty miles
south OF Washington, just below the
town of Acotink, Va. Its confines
cover the historic Lord Fairfax tract;
to one side is Mount Vernon, home of
George Washington, and in the other
direction is Gunston Hall, plantation
and typical old Southern home Of
George Mason, illustrious Virginian,
author of the Bill Of Rights, the
famous document which HON JEFF
ferson made the cornerstone of the
American Declaration Of I~ndepend-
ence. Camp Humphreys is peculiarly
school. In the hills and valleys
Americas citizen-soldiers are tunnel
lining, mining, quarrying, ~excavating,
fitting themselves for work on foreign
battlefields.
The camp Is the only engineer re-
placement camp in the country, and
It is here the vast supply Of engineers
Pershing 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 all branches of engineering
work were sent to Pershing. The
camp can train, equip and dispatch
men to france at the rate of 1900 a
month. and by the first Of the year
the capacity will be raised to 5000
a month.
Washington newspaper correspond
ents recently were guests of n corps
of engineers OF an inspection trip to
the camp and its vicinity. Every de-
tail Of the work vas explained to
them by headquarters officers of the
staff of Lieutenant Colonel Richard
Park, U. S. A. ar engineer of en-
gineers, who has been placed in
charge Of the greatest replacement
camp.
Seventeen thousand men are at the
camp at present, most of them draft
ed men, and new ones are arriving
from civil life every day. There is a
continual ebb and flow of troops. men
being sent across the Atlantic as fast
as they can be accommodated in
France, and new ones arriving to
take their places at the schools. Even
after the war it is the governments
intention to make Camp Humphreys a
permanent training camp for en-
gineers. and all work is being done
with that scheme in mind.
One Of the most interesting fea-
lures of Camp Humphreys is the light
combat railway which has been con-
through the reservation, as we'll az
for training. men in the construction,
operation and maintenance of battle
line railroads. A 60-centimeter, mar
row-gauge road twelve miles in
length. similar to the French roads,
fiat cars n gondolas run bach and
forth with construction material and
supplies. The locomotives are built
especially for foreign service, and the
power is furnished by four-cylinder,
f1fty-horsepower, gasoline motors. So
well trained a the Humphreys en-
gineers that the construction gangs
can lay track at the rate of half a
mile a day.
These railways will be taken to
France with the railroad engineers
and 1t will not be long before they
will be running from the rear lines to
the front, loaded with shot and shell
and guns for American infantry and
artillery. As rapidly as the battle
line changes. h combat railway can
be moved to conform with it.,
All phases Of engineering are
taught at the camp. When the re-
cruit. arrives, he is put through the
three principal schools-the sapper,
gas-defense and pontoon schools, in
Of the engineers work. If he is
found to possess special qualifications
OF technical ability he is sent through
one or nor Of the following supple
mentary courses Highway and
trench construction, railroad con-
work, forestry, animal transportation
c~aHnorfage, surveying. map produc-
ton, electric wiring, reclamation. gas
and flame, gas offense. mining
quarrying. bridge building, trestle
work, and others.
On the correspondents inspection
trip. three regiments Of half-strength
ately 1000 soldiers filing past the
commandant, his staff and his guests
with healthy stride and military
bearing, marching to lively music Of
the camp band. In the outfit was
one regiment whose drilling was
especially attractive. With snap and
precision, the men Of this regiment
marched across the parade ground
heads high, eyes front-men- who
eight days before were engaged II
civil pursuits. They were the lates'
arrivals. and eight days after the,
men. these young Americans were. tt
the civilian eye, a trained outfit o;
American engineers. apparently read.
to face the foe, to do or die for The
freedom Of the world. Negro troops
Of the service battalion also com
manded attention Of the spectators.
IN When a m1an has been graduated
from Camp Humphreys and is sen
abroad, he is N engineer in tn,
strictest sense Of the word. He /
more than an ordinary soldier-he !
81 expert in his line, the best en-
gineer his officers can make him, an
his Officers are the pick Of the En-
g1nee: DepartmentLWest Pointer
and civilian engineers who hav,
sAsf0ined up" so the country may hav
the benefit OF their knowledge AM
practicAI experience. !.
Roses. Carnations and
Funeral Designs
NS18 ~. t%@ -.--y855sf