The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-09-05
Patriots WILL Register-Others MUST
LIVING At CAMP CODY

give the following account of the CHI
matte conditions at Camp Cody, hav-
ing this concise statement of the con
ditions from Prof. w. H. Powers, who
spent some time there this summer as
librarian:
There have been so many rumOrs
and reports of disagreeable and even
unwholesome conditions at Camp
Cody that a report from one who has
spent two months there may have
value AZ reassuring those who are
properly anxious about their boys.
at must be admitted that the sand
storms are violent, but when that has
been said everything unfavorable has
been said. These are not constant;
there are many days without storms
and very many more with storms of
only short duration. The writer met
thousands of men and did not learn
of a single case of real injury brought
on by the sand storms. How much
exaggeration there has been one in
cident may exemplify: He had been
told of a boy who had lost sight and
hearing, probably permanently. When
he saw the young man, rugged and
hearty, he could not help exclaiming,
why, l supposed you were a con-
firmed invalid and almost helpless"
In reply to explanations the young
man broke out: Nothing to it. My
eardrums were affected after long
time on the rifle range with firing or
all sides of me kept up for hours. I
was in the hospital for ten days, but
otherwise there has not been any
thing the matter with me-" And his
looks confirmed his words; for a fin
er specimen of rugged youth could
not be found.
when the sand storm is over there
is an end of discomfort. There is
to be sure a little shaking and sweep
ing. But the effect is cleansing. We
have all read of the sanded floors of
our grandmothers. There in Cody ma
ture provided for cleanliness. The IL
brary floor was kept constantly
secured and clean and it had in four
months use never been scrubbed or
mopped.
"Walking is always good. The de-
sert is dry and hard, there is never
any mud to track or carry the weight
Of. The occasional showers merely
make the soil more compact. The air
is dry and clear, exhilarating, and
free from all contamination. To
breathe it is a delight. To watch the
changing lights and play of colors on
desert and mountain is an education
in the beautiful. No one can remain
Indifferent to such surroundings.
These atmospheric effects are more
noticeable in the morning and even
ing. Then the mountains become the
envy of every artist. They seem
chiseled and painte din designs of in
finite variety and marvellous beauty.
They are always the same and yet
never for two minutes change. One
effect one has to experience; one new
er can believe the stories of decep-
tive distances until he has seen noun
tains that he knows to be twenty
miles away rise up seemingly at no
greater distance than three miles.
And familiarity never destroys this
illusion. To the sight it is truly a
%wondrous country. And after the heat
of the day, for the afternoons are
hot, the cool of the evening is so re-
freshing; before morning blankets are
always needed.
"Cody has a river. deep and broad;
but strange to say, it is dry. Only the
floods resulting from sudden deluges
of rain ever wet it's bed. Yet Cody
is supplied most abundantly with the
best of water. 1t is got at depths
varying from ten feet to many hun
dreds of feet. and in such abundance
as to imply that the river is flowing
underground. Water of finer quality
can nowhere be found. 1t is strictly
pure, clear, cold. sparkling. More
over it is soft so that it serves every
purpose. At the camp the pumping
station has discovered the secret of
perpetual motion and goes on night
and day. July floods, it is said, have
in some years covered the site of
the camp, But this emergency is pro-
vided against by an elaborate system
of bitches equal to sudden foods. For
fhroo hundrnd and aixfv daus in the